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Google Social Networks Technology

Google+ Opens To Businesses With 'Pages' 159

Posted by Soulskill from the you-know-we-call-a-lot-of-things-pages-right dept.
karthikmns writes with news that Google is rolling out Google+ Pages, integrating businesses and brands into its social network. When Google+ launched, it asked businesses not to create user pages, which upset many companies who had grown accustomed to interacting with customers on Facebook. Today's update closes the gap between the two social networks in this regard, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how annoying you find social marketing. "If you’ve established a personal Google+ profile before, then the features offered through a Page will be familiar. You can place people into Circles, which lets you share content with specific sets of users. You can launch video hangouts, which lets you have face-to-face conversations with your followers. And the Pages work through the site’s mobile app. ... But Google has made some key tweaks. The first is that a Page cannot add someone to a circle until that user has already added the page to one of their circles. In other words, a Page can’t start sending you messages until you’ve elected to add them to one of your circles. Another key change: the content on a Page defaults to public (as opposed to ‘My Circles’ for personal profiles) and Pages can’t share with extended circles."
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Google+ Opens To Businesses With 'Pages' More

Google+ Opens To Businesses With 'Pages'

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  • Did you reall mean to find "Bob Smith, Corp" or "Bobsmith Co." or "Smith LLP"

    I worry how this will play out.

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Synerg1y ( 2169962 )

      I'd imagine the same as facebook?

      They don't really bother anybody, it's just another store front so to speak.

      • More importantly (Score:4, Informative)

        by fyngyrz ( 762201 ) on Monday November 07, 2011 @04:24PM (#37977224) Homepage Journal

        It looks, at least, like Google has abandon the "Real Name" policy. Looking at the Google+ Privacy Policy and Google TOS pages today, I could not find any mention of a real name requirement. Unless I missed something (possible), it looks like Google did the Right Thing after considerable pressure from the community at large:

        Anyone know any different? Is it actually permissible to have a pseudonym-based account on Google now?

        • wait... you mean that my sig has no power against you??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fyngyrz ( 762201 )

          Couple of typos, sorry:

          "abandon" should have been "abandoned"; and the last sentence should be "Anyone know any different? Is it actually permissible to have a pseudonym-based account on Google now?"

        • Re:More importantly (Score:5, Insightful)

          by nepka ( 2501324 ) on Monday November 07, 2011 @04:30PM (#37977300)
          They have huge limits on your account if you use pseudonym instead. And they only backed out of real name policy as it become impossible to verify with different nationals and they started losing users. Of course, they are still losing users.

          Google just doesn't seem to get the full picture. They imitate Facebook but do it poorly. Lets take for example this pages change. They didn't implement pages properly, they only modified the profile system a bit and actually restricted pages. Google+ pages don't allow HTML or anything else like Facebook does. The absolutely worst thing is the url though; With Facebook you get facebook.com/nintendo. Companies can easily put that in to ads and other material. With Google+ the url is http://plus.google.com/58493672095786225 [google.com]. Awesome! Google just doesn't see the whole picture.

          • Re: (Score:3)

            by fyngyrz ( 762201 )

            They have huge limits on your account if you use pseudonym instead.

            What are those limits? More to the point, where are they? They aren't on the TOS page, at least I didn't see anything like that.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fyngyrz ( 762201 )


            With Google+ the url is http://plus.google.com/58493672095786225 [google.com]. Awesome! Google just doesn't see the whole picture.

            Just type: +Nintendo or +Pepsi into your browser's google search bar, or into google search directly. Takes you right to the page. Much easier than a URL. Once there, you are on the URL, so if you like, you can bookmark it.

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by nepka ( 2501324 )
              No it doesn't, it gives me normal search results. Besides, that still isn't an URL like facebook.com/nintendo that you can put to your advertisements.

            • Good find!

              Breaks 100% of web standards. It's tough to be in google's shoes though.. do you copy facebook 90% 80% or 70%, facebook dues urls in type a, do we use type a or type b. Myself, I've never gone facebook.com/pepsi, nor do i plan to, nor will i go +pepsi, --> google "pepsi facebook" is good enough for me without needing to remember useless corporate shit. Then again I drink pepsi, I don't see a reason to go to their website for anything, unless my computer gets a soda dispenser that mixes formu

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by fyngyrz ( 762201 )

                Speaking only for myself (anecdote != data), +[name] is quite convenient -- much more so than a URL, standards or not -- and I suspect I'll have no trouble remembering it.

              • Breaks 100% of web standards.

                How so?

                • umm.. not sure if your trolling but, don't talk about the web if you don't know how to use google or what a url is...

                  http://www.w3.org/Addressing/ [w3.org]

                  If you don't understand why HAVING TO USE google's search engine to utilize the + feature does not conform to a url (the thing you use to access websites) then Idk what to say to you, alone indeed. Try the astronomy section of slashdot.

                  • But it's not an url, nor have they ever claimed it to be. Why would you think it's an url? It's a query term for Google Search.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by pavon ( 30274 )

                      No they aren't. They are providing a shortcut into their search, just like Firefox keywords, or the many !codes in duckduckgo, or even the I'm feeling luck search.

                    • That doesn't mean it "breaks" the web standards. It just means they don't use them, and use searches instead.

                    • So if I wanted to access plus.google.com and I happen to be using lynx and I wanted to access pepsi directly, please advise what would I do?

                    • Open https://plus.google.com/111883881632877146615/posts [google.com]?

                      There's nothing in the URL standard that says they have to be "friendly".

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by pavon ( 30274 )

                      The same thing you would have to do with tons of other CMS systems that use opaque numbers for users/articles rather than something more friendly.

                    • They don't make you. You're welcome to type out or click the ridiculously long URL. It was asked why there wasn't a shortcut. There is.

              • google "pepsi facebook" is good enough for me without needing to remember useless corporate shit.

                Link #2: https://www.google.com/#q=pepsi+google [google.com] ("pepsi google")
                Link #3: https://www.google.com/#q=google+pepsi [google.com] ("google pepsi")

                Those searches aren't all that difficult either.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by skribe ( 26534 )
            The biggest problem with G+ is that they've rushed to release. Even the badge code for pages isn't ready. For a startup it looks bad but people would probably just shrug it off, for google it's a fucking catastrophe.

          • [...] Google+ pages don't allow HTML or anything else like Facebook does. [...]

            And that is a bad thing because...?

            • [...] Google+ pages don't allow HTML or anything else like Facebook does. [...]

              And that is a bad thing because...?

              Not allowing HTML on user pages was what made Facebook a lot more appealing to people who didn't like all the HTML on user pages on MySpace.

              • Sorry, in that case I must have misunderstood the PP. I read the comment as saying "Facebook allows HTML, G+ does not, therefore G+ is worse". I do have a FB account but I do not remember seeing any custom HTML on the few non-personal pages I have visited there. Obviously not allowing such customisation is a Good Thing, of course.

                • Sorry, in that case I must have misunderstood the PP. I read the comment as saying "Facebook allows HTML, G+ does not, therefore G+ is worse". I do have a FB account but I do not remember seeing any custom HTML on the few non-personal pages I have visited there. Obviously not allowing such customisation is a Good Thing, of course.

                  I was agreeing with you that allowing user HTML on pages isn't great, and I think your interpretation of the comment is correct. I've not seen any Facebook pages with page owner added HTML either, which is what I suspect the original post was about, but wouldn't be surprised if it is possible.

        • You've missed that, whatever the stated rules, the suspensions and blockings continue.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Omestes ( 471991 )

            I'm not refuting you, but... Have they? Do you have any proof of this?

            In other words: "[citation needed]".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Goaway ( 82658 )

      Yes, just like all other Google products, where you can never find anything useful because of all the spam!

  • Features in the wrong order (Score:4, Insightful)

    by schlesinm ( 934723 ) on Monday November 07, 2011 @04:05PM (#37976966) Homepage
    Shouldn't Google+ worry more about getting people communicating with each other before they start throwing businesses on to the platform? Where is the API?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dskzero ( 960168 )
      Yeah, this is frustrating. I'm just this close to leave it to rot and jump to Diaspora.
      • Judging from my Google+ feed, everyone else has already jumped. They had a golden window of opportunity with great press and they not only blew it, but they intentionally blew it. No API, the real name idiocy, it's almost as if they wanted to have a social network without having to actually understand how people use a social network.
      • Diaspora has more or less no hope of even making it into half recognition. Screwing up at 10x the significance google did. Step 1. Generate tons of starter funds donations etc..., 2, Generate hype, more hype, ask for more donations. 3. Launch a prototype, so full of security holes, bugs etc... that 3/4ths of tinfoil hats realized it was in their best interest to steer clear of the product. 4. Make no more anouncements for a year and a half, let whatever remaining sparks of hype that weren't crushed by step

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dskzero ( 960168 )
          ... well I thought it looked alright. I hadn't really taken the time to do much more than tinkering with it. The concept was, though, very intriguing.
          • Oh I agree, the concept was fantastic. If they had released something half way up to the hype, something that didn't have so many security vulnerabilities to the point that they couldn't find something in your profile that couldn't be hacked, on the first demo, and had it actually launched back when there was hype. G+'s biggest criticism is that they don't have the API's up to strike while the iron is as hot as it's going to get. Diaspora was weak because... well the time for it to strike it big and move up
      • Is there actually anyone using Diaspora?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AP31R0N ( 723649 )

      But the Facebook API is what makes me dread going to my Facebook account. No one on G+ has told me about getting a new calf or asked me to join their gang. My G+ page is just me, my friends and Wil Wheaton (oh and Felicia Day).

    • The API is at https://developers.google.com/+/api/

      D

  • Huh? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    The first is that a Page cannot add someone to a circle until that user has already added the page to one of their circles. In other words, a Page canâ(TM)t start sending you messages until youâ(TM)ve elected to add them to one of your circles. Another key change: the content on a Page defaults to public (as opposed to âMy Circlesâ(TM) for personal profiles) and Pages canâ(TM)t share with extended circles.

    What is this inane gibberish, how is it news for nerds? Does anyone care abou

  • Interacting? (Score:3)

    by vlm ( 69642 ) on Monday November 07, 2011 @04:09PM (#37977026)

    I deleted my FB account a year or two ago, but

    many companies who had grown accustomed to interacting with customers on Facebook

    I never saw much "interaction" unless you mean spamming with marketing messages, or simply ignoring them. Is/was there any other form of FB interaction?

    • Of course you're right, it's mostly marketing. But some companies do a good job of responding openly to criticism or simple questions on facebook.
    • There were pleas to "like" them in various games in order to get minor virtual rewards. I guess that counts as interaction.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by nepka ( 2501324 )
      Not all of them spam like that, especially small business owners. I have friends around the world and spend most of my year living elsewhere too, and especially in Asia some expats have small businesses on the side, like restaurants or baking things you can't get elsewhere. When they post "I'm baking (food we eat in my home country), they just went to oven!" it really doesn't seem like bad marketing. So I go visit, grab a beer and buy and eat a piece or two while talking with the guys at the same time. In a

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by vlm ( 69642 )

        Not all of them spam like that, especially small business owners.

        I do see your point, that a heck of a lot of people follow Ms Limor Fried (misspelled?) and she posts a heck of a lot of good stuff on G+ but a lot more people would be able to find and follow a G+ ladyada.com page.

        Ian Lesnet from Dangerous Prototypes always posts to his blog, which is perfectly OK, but I imagine a lot more people would follow +DP than +Ian.

        Uncle Leo and TWIT probably don't qualify as merely being small businesses anymore, but I could see that none the less being easier to find. Hmm... +Tr

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dskzero ( 960168 )
      That's the "Interaction" they speak about. Though every once in a blue moon, they advertise some contest or something that might be worth reading.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by batkiwi ( 137781 )

      Canon Australia does the following through facebook:
      -photo contests
      -"what's your best tip for a new photographer" discussions
      -"why do you shoot photos?"

      etc.

      And they routinely give away free stuff to good posts.

      I would call that interaction. It's creating conversation and adding value in addition to simply marketing.

  • I feel like... (Score:3)

    by joocemann ( 1273720 ) on Monday November 07, 2011 @04:09PM (#37977030)

    ... Google needs to finish refining the product and then re-produce (since they did it before) the media campaign they carried out to drive excitement and interest in Google+. So many people came, got in, found few friends in the system, and left their G+ accounts stagnant --- or came, and didn't even get in --- that they really need a massive campaign to drive interest again. And since most people that use social networking already know about G+, they should approach it as such; they should be saying "come pop in again, and get your friends in for real this time" or something of the sort.

    Like most of the people I know with G+ accounts, I appreciate it and its merits beyond facebook, but the long transition from the level of contact I have via FB to any level close to that in G+ looks like it is so far out that I hardly ever check G+ at all. Not only that, I see absolutely no trend of migration. I came to G+, got a few friends, invited some that came, and since then there has been NOTHING.

    Come on Google! For your sake, and also for those of us who recognize your product quality, make yourself visible! (Its not like you don't have massive advertising, for free, within your reach, lol).

    • Google could afford one hell of a marketing campaign if they wanted to, but I don't see much evidence of this. Why did they not do a full on media blitz at launch?

      I can only assume that + is internally still considered a sort of "soft launch" and they won't start mass marketing until they reach feature parity with Facebook. Maybe they're hoping to "seed" Plus with early adopters now, who will make the service more attractive when it "really" launches, but they run the risk of losing a lot of those early ado

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dskzero ( 960168 )
        Not to mention the early adopters who will run away at the change of the service.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Synn ( 6288 )

        > Why did they not do a full on media blitz at launch?

        It hasn't launched yet. As a biz account user, I wasn't even able to create a plus account until last week.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hoppo ( 254995 )

      There's just no compelling reason to use G+. Everyone I know is on Facebook, and it's not like G+'s UX sets itself so far above anything else on the web that friends will drop Facebook in droves.

      G+ is a Facebook knockoff, and Google is going to have to do something pretty drastic to shake that perception if they are to see an uptick in real users.

    • Its not like you don't have massive advertising, for free, within your reach, lol

      Actually, Google doesn't have free advertising within its reach. Not as much as you might think, anyway. Every Google+ ad they show that displaces a paid ad has a very definite and easily-measurable cost. And even ads that don't displace paid ads (Google often chooses not to show ads if nothing particularly relevant is available) have a non-zero cost to Google because they increase "ad blindness" in users.

    • Hell, my circles *leapt* enthusiastically onto G+, then were largely driven away because they're all prone to using Funny Names On The Internet. My G+ stream went from being a happening thing to a ghost town.

  • So now, all of my cats can have their own page! I love it. I'll do one for Fluffy, and one for Buffy, and one for Muffy, and one for Satan (he's incontinent). Rockin!
  • . . . with a way to organize 'fans'. This will probably tie into Google Analytics.
  • Baiting Apple for the lawsuit's free publicity. Pretty transparent ploy.

  • + operator (Score:3)

    by Barryke ( 772876 ) on Monday November 07, 2011 @05:19PM (#37977992) Homepage

    I see Google now wants me to google ' +Brand Or Business That I Want To Videochat With '
    So that is why they disabled the + search operator, now requiring two double quotes surrounding the word you insist on actually appearing in every search result.

    • Wow, you're right! I did notice that my +something searches were not returning the results that I expected, but I had no idea that this was a permanent change. Thanks for posting the workaround.

  • I think it's fairly obvious that Facebook's enormous success is at least in part because so many businesses have gotten on board. Even little mom and pop stores have "like us on Facebook" stickers everywhere. Which in turn makes people, even old people and such that aren't usually so tech-savvy, want to check out this Facebook thing. Which makes more businesses want to sign up, and we have a nice feedback loop going.

    Yes, people need to be on + for its success, but Google has just taken too long to get the
  • So I've created a "page" for my business. It seems my own G+ account is linked to this "page" so only I can admin the page... I'm sure this will be fixed, but surely its kind of obvious?

    Also obvious, but is it possible to create a "page" via a Google-Apps account? 'cos that would make sense really.

    But I can see no obvious way to do these things, and whilst I'm sure it will be solved in time, it's annoying because as a business, I feel compelled to secure my "page" right now.
  • From Linus on G+:

    Linus Torvalds - 4:24 PM - Public So the google pages thing might actually work as a reasonable place to do kernel release announcements. I always felt like I wouldn't want to do them on my personal page, but having a G+ page dedicated to Linux makes the announcements actually make sense. So if you are following me because you expected to see kernel announcements, and you haven't figured out already that I'm very spotty with that, you might want to unfollow me, and follow the Linux page instead. Of course, I might be spotty there too. It's not like I'm the most organized person in the world. But at least there is one release announcement there now.

    And the actual announcement:

    Linus Torvalds - 3:53 PM - Public By popular demand... Linus Torvalds shared a Google+ page with you. Linux - you know you want it

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tyrione ( 134248 )

      From Linus on G+:

      Linus Torvalds - 4:24 PM - Public So the google pages thing might actually work as a reasonable place to do kernel release announcements. I always felt like I wouldn't want to do them on my personal page, but having a G+ page dedicated to Linux makes the announcements actually make sense. So if you are following me because you expected to see kernel announcements, and you haven't figured out already that I'm very spotty with that, you might want to unfollow me, and follow the Linux page instead. Of course, I might be spotty there too. It's not like I'm the most organized person in the world. But at least there is one release announcement there now.

      And the actual announcement:

      Linus Torvalds - 3:53 PM - Public By popular demand... Linus Torvalds shared a Google+ page with you. Linux - you know you want it

      So yeah, like who gives a rat's a$$ about kernel announcements who isn't already following the kernel changes on a daily basis?

  • Apparently, their naming policy is still very much geared toward individual users. Upon trying to create a page for my non-profit, we were first required to update our profile, and then warned that our name was not consistent with their naming policy, so I had to update it. After doing so, it allowed me to create a page, but the profile has a warning saying that it has been disabled because our name was flagged as being inconsistent with their policy. I understand that this is in an alpha stage, but the pro

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