Google+ Social Network Capabilities and Enterprise Social Software

Since its launch on June 28, Google+, the latest social networking service from Google Inc, has taken the public by storm. Google+ attracted over 20 million unique users in just three weeks, inspiring bloggers and social users alike with its innovative concepts and ambitious scope. So, what explains the explosive uptake of Google+ and as it expands beyond individuals into the enterprise social software sphere, what kind of competition might it pose for NewsGator Social Sites and for other enterprise social platforms?

What is Google+?
Google+ infuses social network capabilities into existing Google services, including Gmail, Google Maps, Google Profiles, and Google Buzz, to facilitate increased collaboration and sharing in a condensed space. At first glance, the platform’s structure mimics that of Facebook, with profile pictures and news feeds offered as central features. Google+, however, extends and refines the concepts of presence, connectivity and sharing with innovative features such as Circles, Sparks, Hangouts and Huddles. Here is a brief overview of some of these features:

Circles: enables you to group your friends into more definitive context circles, making it easy to target sharing more specifically by type of connection – family members, school friends, work colleagues, etc.

Sparks: using Google search, this feature locates and suggests videos and articles it thinks you’ll like, tailoring your feed based on your individual activity pattern and historical preferences. 

Hangouts: enable group video chats for all active users. Currently, this feature is limited to a maximum group size of 10 for any particular Hangout at one time.

Why so much hype around Google+?
So, does Google+ really present us with anything new or was the shroud of secrecy surrounding its “invitation-only” trial period the real reason for all the hype? Is Google+ anything beyond effective marketing strategies?

While sifting through my array of BlackBerry mobile applications, the real implication of a “Google+” in the social networking field began to take shape. In one tab, I swept cleanly into my Facebook, where walls and inboxes bridged weak social connections and picture albums packaged up my random moments like keepsakes. Next, I moved to my twitter feed, and news poured in to me with ringing urgency. My email inbox beeped, diverting my focus once again. In three separate applications, I saw different, but oddly similar information scattered before me.

As competition drives social networking platforms to churn out new capabilities, our established networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, are innovating away from rather than towards one another. Why do we waste so much time monitoring different sites used for different purposes when one repository could condense these social network capabilities into a common space?

With Google+, we see a real movement towards that integration—aspects of blogging, twitter, newsletters, and e-mail all incorporated as key features. Google+ has taken what it deems to be the best qualities from multiple networking communities and rolled them into a “single package,” simplifying the process of sharing and connecting with people and topics. This movement towards “simplified sharing” is critical and also something that we at NewsGator have had in place for some time now.

How does this translate to enterprise social software?
The popular consumer constructs offered by Google+ for social are equally, if not more, important to enterprise social software. For any productive organization, the ability to gather and share information, and collaborate in a focused environment is critical. With NewsGator’s Social Sites platform, we’ve been integrating multiple social network capabilities into one efficient stream long before Google+, and our customers actually have the tangible business results to show for it.

Our News Stream allows colleagues to post microblogs, innovative ideas, ask questions, share links, and search for relevant hash tags, all within a common space—streamlining content and expertise discovery. In addition, we let users pull Twitter and LinkedIn feeds directly into Social Sites, eliminating the time wasted in sifting through multiple webpages. And for the ultimate in simplification, NewsGator’s award-winning enterprise social computing solutions integrate seamlessly into existing SharePoint infrastructures to make collaboration for businesses quick and painless.

It’s actually exciting to see Google picking up on a trend we’ve been at the forefront of for years: integrated collaboration platforms simplify sharing, accelerate ideation, and greatly improve end-user satisfaction. So will Google+ succeed? Ultimately, only time and results will tell. In the meantime, NewsGator continues to push the productivity and innovation boundaries of the streamlined enterprise social software platforms.