At the time of  it?s test launch in June 2011, Google+ was hailed as ?the future of social networking? and was at the time the newest social networking service on the web.  Sceptics were quick to mention non-starters such as Google Plus and Google Wave, and it seems that the jury is still out on whether Google+ will rival Facebook.  But is that what Google+ is trying to do?  Or is there room to sit alongside Facebook in the social networking world?  Read on for my initial thoughts and findings.

Some Google+ features:

• Allows group chat with up to ten people (instant messaging)
• Allows you to leave a video message
• Easy to share information with specific friends
• Connect with your facebook and twitter, as well as other social media sites
• Delivers content, blogs, and articles from the web depending on your given criteria

All of which Facebook does.  However, at the core of Google+,  is the ability to set up different groups of people, using either Google?s default circles such as friends, family or colleagues that you can put people in, or by creating your own.  This creates a big difference between the Google+ stream and Facebook’s News Feed. The Google+ stream is actually an accumulation of many separate streams – one for each of your circles. On the left-hand side of the page, there’s a list of all the circles that you’ve created. Click any of those circles, and you’ll immediately see the individual stream for that circle. (You can see a feed from just one Friends list in Facebook, but it’s not as obvious or easy to do.)

To me, this is the biggest advantage in using Google+ as for many people the separation of work and home life is clear.  It then becomes clear that perhaps Google+ is more targeted for people who use social networking for both home and work.  It’s an innovative platform that takes a new approach to social networking by putting you in control of how you share with people.

Google+ used properly, allows for innovative integrated use, and can be a great tool for your business. It can incorporate and connect to your existing Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other Google accounts (YouTube, Google Mail). It?s a great way to get yourself online, and connect with all of the people you communicate with through your other accounts.  Google+ also includes a number of intriguing features, such as one that makes it easy to ferret out content that interests you and share it with others.  The +1 feature is also different and offers users more ways to get their websites seen.  Again, being used as a business tool is more apparent than Facebook is.

If you have a social media marketing plan in place, which uses Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube, you already have in place a sound plan.  Not using Google+ is probably not going to harm your business prospects.  Using it can complement your existing strategy, as long as you don?t spend all your time on it.  Follow the principle that any use of it should be integrated with the rest of your marketing and it can be effective.

In my opinion, Google+ is never going to replace Facebook, and I think there is room in the world for both of them, especially as it is useful and simple to use.  As of February 2012, Facebook has more than 845 million active users, and is going through a period of change with it?s public floatation.  According to a recent statistic from a researcher, Google+ has just reached the 62 million mark, and will have more than 400 million users by the end of 2012.  I?m sure the facebook and Google+ users will be one of the same, it?s not a case of choosing one or the other.

Talk to us about your social media marketing plan, it will save you a lot of time.