Within hours of becoming ‘closed beta’ status I received an invite to the highly-leaked new social networking platform from Google called Google Plus (Google+ or G+). After playing with the platform for about three days now, I’d like to share some of my initial thoughts, reactions, and predictions.  If you’re not familiar with what Google Plus is yet, be sure to watch their overview video.  I’m not covering every aspect of Google Plus here (we will cover that in depth later) but did want to share some of the things that stood out after three days of ‘playing’.

Please leave a comment in this post if you are currently in the beta program for Google Plus with your thoughts (or a link to your own post about it) or if you are curious on what the big deal is.

Initial Thoughts

This is not Facebook. It is not supposed to be Facebook or function anything like it. No walls, no pokes. There is a +1 feature behaves like a Like button and I’m glad there is a function for it. Any social network platform will become cookie-cutter if YOU let the content you allow into your space to be the same. For me, I’m going to limit the people I ‘follow’ to folks I have met in real life and consider to be friends in some capacity. In the beginning I will keep it social and not overly ‘business’ because it’s important to see how I can use this platform differently than I use Facebook.  By figuring out what you want this to BE will determine what it IS – to you.

User Experience

It seems that Google has learned a thing or two about user experience from epic failures like Google Wave and moderate flops like Google Buzz.  The main people-grouping feature called ‘Circles’ has a nice visual drag and drop interface that lets you click on the photo avatar of someone you want to put in a circle and just drop them in to include.  You can use a tab/checkbox format also, but I like the visual hand/eye movement of putting people in buckets.

My initial reaction was that Google Plus works better with how people want conversations laid out on a screen, but after doing a bit more of a deep-dive, I’m seeing where improvements need to be made.

Security Considerations

Although I have always been comfortable with how the security settings in Facebook work, a lot of people were not happy with either how they functionally worked or the granularity of control. Let me just first say that nothing you put on the Internet should be of such high confidentially that you wouldn’t risk it being on a billboard on the Turnpike. (In my opinion, no data online is every 100% safe and secure 100% of the time.)  With that said, Google Plus appears to have learned from mistakes both with Facebook and Google Buzz. When you first ‘follow’ a person they are granted no access in return, making it function similar to Twitter in that relationships can exist one-way.  Facebook requires a mutual connection, but also leave loopholes to your data depending on your contacts security settings.  While it seems initially that there is more work to be done to put people in buckets and control who can see what type of information, THIS is exactly what users have been asking for.  Google seems to be delivering.

Conversation Flow

Google seems to finally have gotten how people want to talk to each other. The concept of ‘Circles’ allows you to group people (notice I didn’t say ‘followers’ or ‘friends’) When at an in-person party, you don’t talk to the entire room at the same time, you have conversations in circles.  Google Plus allows you to publish content to specific Circles of people (and in extension excluding others), so you are not creating noise for the rest.

Hangout (Video Chat)

Wow. Just wow. You can create a video chat room with up to 10 participants – TEN LIVE VIDEO PARTICIPANTS – as well as have a text chat.  Any people beyond the 10 person limit can still view the video feed. If they add screen sharing and moderation abilities, Skype and WebEx should both be wetting their pants in fear.

Sparks

This is supposed to be a keyword content curator (hey, they are Google after all, it’s their job to find content based on your preferences) but I’m not finding I use or like it much. Google Reader would be a much better fit in this space. Reader allows me an amazing level of content organization and tagging, and it would be a much better use of space to just integrate a strong pre-existing product here.

Brands and Businesses

On my third day in Google Plus I started seeing companies show up to the party (Ford Motor Company and Hubspot for example.) I can’t begrudge them for wanting to come in and experiment at all. What I will be on the lookout is to see if businesses regurgitate content from Facebook and fret over how many circles they are in (which would be the closest relation to a Fan Page count). Please, I’m *begging* you, do something different. Innovate. Create. Find the box and kick the snot out of it – but whatever you do, don’t go IN the box please.

Recommendations for Google Plus

• Make it customizable like iGoogle has the ability to be.  Let us move around widgets and change colors.  You know, all the things Facebook denies their users…
• Let me determine how I want to view order in my main stream of content – newest updated, FIFO, or possibly even have a VIP list that messages always bubble to the top from.
• Mute a conversation Sometimes you follow chatty people, or a particular thread catches fire, and I don’t always want it surfacing to the top of my stream all the time. — This was actually implemented last night due to requests submitted (PS – Google is taking suggestions and implementing changes at a lightening speed, their interest and response is refreshing.)

A word on the purpose of a closed beta program…

Note that Google Plus is highly beta and very closed right now. The invite system was shut down by Google due to the onslaught of invites sent by those of us that got in ‘first’ (guilty!)  Google Plus is a work in progress and will evolve and thrive when the current users inside the beta actively work to test the system, submit bug reports, test drive features, and submit constructive feedback. It’s not a place (yet) where people should worry about being left out of conversations or purchase invites on eBay. To be honest, the geeks need to be in there right now to stress the system and look at it with a critical eye. Wanting to be a part of Google Plus just for bragging rights is not a valid reason to be in a closed beta program.

How would you like the best of the best in social media tips, tricks, strategy suggestions AND the “latest & greatest” in social media and technology news delivered to your inbox?  To celebrate Purple Stripe Productions brand new professional education and information service we are GIVING AWAY 5 free subscriptions to Ahead of Social!  Our introductory price is $4.99 a month (it’s a steal… we know!) but you can enter for a chance to win a year subscription for FREE!

The social networking space moves fast – Ahead of Social is your ‘drip feed’ to getting ahead in the social space!  Ahead of Social is a email newsletter filled with tips and tricks for finding, using and excelling with social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and more – tips you can use right away to see results! Whether you are an individual looking to make the most of social networking or work at (or own!) a large company looking to get to the next THREE steps in social networking, Ahead of Social is for you!

To Enter

To enter the Purple Stripe Productions Ahead of Social Contest we want to know your social media story!  How did you get started using social media?  Do you use it for work or personally?  Have you always wanted to get started but think it’s too difficult?  What are you excited about trying in 2011?  Do you have a success story that sets you apart?  Come on and be social – we want to know!

To enter, you can choose one of the following methods:

• Write your story on your own blog and link back HERE
• Leave a comment HERE with your story
• Tweet it! Just be sure to use #AheadofSocial in the tweet
• LIKE us on Facebook & leave your story on our Wall!

Contest Rules

Each blog post, comment, or Facebook Like you write and link back to this post will count as a submission.  Winners must have a valid email address to receive newsletter content.  Entries will be discovered via trackbacks to this post, comments on this post, and by searching #AheadofSocial on Twitter.  Contest closes Sunday January 16, 2011 at 12pm Eastern Standard Time.  Winners chosen by Purple Stripe Productions staff based on quality of submission.  If you are an existing paid subscriber of Ahead of Social your free 12 months will start at the beginning of the next billing cycle.  Good luck!

PS…

When the contest closes, our subscription price DOUBLES (still a cool $9.99 a month) so you may want to consider taking advantage of the offer now!  If you do win the contest, we will halt your payments and subscribe you for FREE.  If you don’t win – you still get Ahead of Social for HALF PRICE for as long as you keep your subscription active!

The Purple Stripe team is actively working on a suite of professional education and informational products that you will not want to miss!  Since it is still under wraps, we’ve decided to at least kick off the new year with a bit of a ‘teaser’ product – Ahead of Social.  Enjoy!

(Comments closed – stay tuned for the winner announcement!)

Winners : AngiePedersen, FtballCoachDoug, writingtosanity, mercerchamber & cecilyk

Breaking News on NJ Social Media Hall of Fame

Voting begins today until Sun. April 25, 11:59pm EST to choose the NJ Social Media Hall of Fame Inductees! Vote only once, by leaving one comment on the Facebook Fan Page (must be a fan to leave a comment), naming your choice of Finalist (hopefully Lynette!!) & briefly explain why they should be inducted into the NJ Social Media Hall of Fame.

List of Finalists to choose from (in reverse alphabetical order by Twitter user name):

• @tweetamar Itamar Kestenbaum
• @podcaststeve Steven Lubetkin
• @njplaygrounds Sheila Sayah
• @njfamilymag Lucy Banta
• @lynetteradio Lynette Young
• @leoraw Leora Wenger
• @jessicalevin Jessica Levin
• @jerseybites Deborah Smith
• @hhrmediagroup Don Povia
• @AmyVernon Amy Vernon

We are happy to announce that Lynette will be speaking at TEDx on May 7, 2010 at the TEDxNJLibrary conference.  The theme is Culture & Community.  TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

It’s been a long time coming, but I’m happy to announce that the Purple Stripe team is moving into larger offices!  We have been crammed in our current space – surrounded by piles of books, overflowing cabinets, and overcrowded power strips (but it’s safe, I swear!) long enough.  The lack of training space is what ultimately did us in, as our seminars have been very popular and hotel meeting space is astronomically priced.  Thanks to our new space, I hope to never again pay $70 for a tray of brownies at a conference center!

Friday we signed a lease for much larger space right off of Broad Street (Route 206) in Trenton New Jersey in the Chambersburg neighborhood.  We are now fortunate enough to have a dedicated conference and training room complete with 50 inch plasma TV and 16 foot conference table, WiFi, a kitchen, a 20′x40′ indoor putting green and a ping-pong table.  The XBOX may make an appearance as well!

November is only one day old and we are busy with clients, and hope to even have time to properly move in during the next week or two.  Timing being everything, I am on vacation for a few days mid-month and away even longer for speaking engagements in New York City.  Fingers crossed we can get in and settled before the holidays!

We have been known to keep random prizes around the Purple Stripe office (I’m a huge fan of Random Acts of SWAG), and now that we have an honest-to-goodness competitive sport located right in our space, there is no time like the present to start practicing your putt!

This past weekend my daughter and I attended PodCamp Philly in Philadelphia PA. For anyone that hasn’t heard of PodCamp, the premise is of an “un-conference’ – where it’s free (or really cheap) to attend and anyone can sign up to speak on a topic they are knowledgeable in. This was my third PodCamp in Philly (sixth overall) and first for my eight year old daughter.  There is something about getting together face to face with other social media and communications people that gets me motivated and inspired to break new ground and help new people.  What I really want is to extend that to YOU.

The spirit of community carried over to me this week, so I’ve decided to offer something special here at Purple Stripe.  Fully understanding how difficult it is to get a small business off the ground, I am offering a free ticket (doesn’t include travel, etc. – just admittance & food!) to Social Media Bootcamp : Small Business Edition in Hamilton New Jersey on October 21, 2009!  If you’re not the type of person to leave things to chance, use discount code “PSPdiscount” to sign up today guarantee your spot in the class!

How do you enter?  Leave a comment below telling us:

1. What your business is
2. Why you would like the ticket
3. Want extra credit? Hit the “ReTweet” button at the bottom of this post!

The winner will be chosen at random (via random.org). Your last chance to enter is Sunday October 18th at midnight EST.  Good luck and happy socializing!

EDIT: Comments are closed! I couldn’t help myself but to give both Kelly & Erik tickets to Bootcamp!

The private alpha launch of oneforty, a site dedicated to being your one stop resource for all things Twitter, is well on it’s way.  Twitter is considered one of the Big Three in external-facing social media communications platforms (the other two being Facebook and LinkedIn)  While the premise of Twitter is simple, you answer one question, “What are you doing?” by typing an answer in 140 characters or less, the platform’s use and meaning goes way deeper … Grand Canyon deep.

Using Twitter from it’s website actually limits you in what you can do (and gain) from the service, but luckily the founders have allowed access via APIs (hook in and out of the data) that let third party companies build tools and utilities.  This allows you to use Twitter exactly how you see fit.  So far, oneforty has cataloged over 1,200 applications for Twitter.  This shows not only the undeniable draw of Twitter for personal and professional communications, but that the community drives a need for using the platform in different ways.

I highly recommend visiting oneforty and putting your name and email on the list.  So now that oneforty has your back on finding the best tools for your needs – are you ready to get engaged with the community out there?  No?  We can help.