What You Need to Know About Google Plus A couple of weeks ago I
identified
Google+ specifically
what 1
is and
covered
how to use it to help you rank. If Google+ 1 is to Facebook's "Like", then Google+ itself is to Facebook itself; this is Google's answer to the social network. Google obviously are no strangers to the effect which social search is having on ranking and Facebook's effect on the world and everything in it, and they wanted to carve themselves a piece of the pie, better late than never that is. This post will answer some of the most common questions likely to be associated with Google Plus. How Do I Join? Check out the official site to sign up, though according to Google, they've temporarily exceeded their capacity. By giving your email address they can email you when you have a chance of signing up, so keep checking back because even if you have been invited, there's a chance you won't get in as it seems to be first come first serve whenever new openings become available. Apparently they recently hit the 10 million user mark, so it is indeed filling up quickly. How Is It Different Than Facebook? It's not quite as different as you may think. People's profiles at the moment consist of friends, posts, about, photos, and videos. There are a few features which Facebook does not currently offer. One of which is "Circles". This enables you to drag and drop your Google+ friends into segmented groups of your choosing. Group your friends into categories like school, work, family, or even by musical taste. This means that when you share something, it only goes out to the circle you want. I expect Facebook to come out with a similar grouping system VERY soon as this is a great but obvious feature which they are lacking.