Social Media Design For Dummies

Chapter 9

Generating a Google+ Profile

In This Chapter

• Start by understanding how Google+ fits in with other Google sites.

• Get inspired by other Google+ designs.

• Create your own Google+ profile!

It took Google, the Internet behemoth, a couple of tries before getting the hang of creating a social media site. There were Google Wave, Google Buzz, Bebo, and many other experimental social media sites that died quiet deaths on the testing servers in Silicon Valley.

But out of all that has come Google+, which is starting to get traction; see Figure 9-1 for a look-see at a Google+ site. Sure, it doesn’t have the billion users that Facebook (the global phenomenon and market leader) has, nor does it have the flash and dazzle of some of the newer entrants, such as Pinterest or RebelMouse. What Google+ does have, though, is the considerable technological edge that comes with being part of the unquestioned leader in organizing the collected knowledge of all of humanity.

If you want to improve your SEO (search engine optimization) hits, Google+ has much to offer. One of the most popular features Google+ has rolled out is Google Hangouts, where you can conduct virtual teleconferences, share screens, take turns speaking, and collaborate on linked Google Docs.

Google has also carefully started to link and merge all its online properties; the videos you watch on YouTube, the calls you make ...