Everyone likes to talk about what’s shiny and new and I’m no exception so today I’d like to spend a minute or three on Google+. As of this morning, there may be as many as 10 million folks on G+ – not a bad adoption rate! I spent the weekend playing around on it and I have a few thoughts I’d like to share. 
If you haven’t received an invite yet, ping me and I’ll send you one. If you’re on it, let’s see if my experiences match up with yours. If you’re here today looking for a massive business lesson, come back tomorrow.
I’ll preface this by saying I know G+ is technically a beta and a work in progress. As has been the case with most Google products, there are going to be subtle changes made over time based on this initial wave of feedback. For me, the best part of using G+ is the lessons I’ve learned from a few years of Facebook, Twitter, and other social tools. The biggest one is to keep my business and personal selves separate, so I’ve actually got two G+ accounts. As I’m sure you’ve seen or heard, the basis for organization on G+ is “circles” and while my business and personal circles sometimes overlap, I’m not sure those folks looking for business insights from me also want to see pictures of my latest cookout. You can accomplish the same thing on Facebook but it seems simpler and more intuitive here.
I mentioned the rumored 10 million folks on the service already. The strength of any social network is who and how many are on it and active. Each day, a few more of the folks I know seem to join but the streams (the equivalent of Facebook’s news feed) are pretty quiet . Of course, part of the difference could be that there are almost no commercial efforts on G+ yet and as I look at both my Twitter and FB streams I’m surprised how much of them are, in fact, populated by commercial accounts (think about how many brands, musicians, websites, etc. you’ve “liked”). I’m most curious to see if this new form of social breeds new forms of commercial integration. A recent study found that 79% of the Internet Retail Top 500 retailers have Facebook pages, yet only 12% offer apps or widgets that enable e-commerce transactions on the social network. Will that change here?
Google+ reminds me of my “second penguin” theory – the first penguin in the water may find all the fish but also is at risk of getting eaten by polar bears so be the second penguin and learn. I think Google has done that here. The question for you is what have you learned from your experience on other social sites? How will you use this, if at all? What will be different?
Consult Keith 