Trending Topic Tuesday – Google+ becoming ‘Google Streams, Photos, and Sharing’?

Our trending topic this week comes from an article on Mashable.com regarding Google and their efforts at social media and recent news on Google+. We have found that as part of any online marketing effort for small business, you want to find as many ways as possible to get the link to your website on to Google run ventures. They are still the dominant force when it comes to being found online. While Facebook has made significant progress on smartphones to get your business found Google still is the king overall.

While this article documents the likelihood of Google phasing out the Google Plus social media stream, we still recommend paying some attention to it while increasing efforts on the more successful Google run ventures like Google Photos and especially YouTube (Yes Google owns YouTube as well)

Here are the conclusions of the article after a recent announcement of Bradley Horowitz a top executive at Google:

Inside the failure of Google+, a very expensive attempt to unseat Facebook
by Seth Fiegerman @sfiegerman

…”The buried news in the Horowitz announcement: Google had begun referring to its social operations as “Google Photos and Streams.” In Horowitz’s blog post this week, that name expanded to “Streams, Photos, and Sharing.” By rebranding in this way, Google can separate the failure of “Streams” — the feed activity that most associate with a social network — from the more successful features bundled with it.

“I’ve concluded that it’s time for a ‘pivot’… or more precisely time to talk more openly about a pivot that’s been underway for some time (and in fact is reflected in the name of the new team),” Horowitz wrote on Monday, announcing the end of requiring a Google+ account to use Google products. “Google+ can now focus on doing what it’s already doing quite well: helping millions of users around the world connect around the interest they love. Aspects of the product that don’t serve this agenda have been, or will be, retired.”

Translation: Google+ is shifting from a Facebook clone to more of a Pinterest lookalike to see if it can build momentum. At the same time, Google is investing resources to build more standalone social products like the Photos app, which has generated plenty of positive press.

“I don’t think that owning a pure-play social network is important for Google at this point, but having a connection to social is important,” says Brian Blau, an analyst who covers Internet companies for Gartner.

If and when the Google+ brand is phased, as many we spoke with expect, Google won’t need to say it killed Google+. Several years from now, when nobody is paying attention, a Google employee can just publish a long list of features that have been done away with as part of a routine spring cleaning. Halfway down that list, an astute reader will see the word ‘Streams.’ ”

Read the full article with some excellent background on Google’s efforts on social media over the years at: http://mashable.com/2015/08/02/google-plus-history/

Once again we would like to stress this is not a reason to stop using Google+ in the immediate future. The important thing is to stay tuned to news of when and where Google’s priorities shift, because you want every advantage you can get towards having your small business website found online, and when Google prioritizes something it is just common sense that you have that as a priority as well. Assuming, that is, that you want your business to thrive online. If we can be of service to your small business marketing, we do offer SMM services, for more info or contact us at Info@eRoseWeb.com for how we can help you Make Your Business Bloom!

Stop and Smell the Roses…Remember to Enjoy being an Entrepreneur!