You know Facebook. You’ve heard of Twitter. And maybe LinkedIn.  But Google+? What’s up with that?

Google+ launched a year ago and has amassed 250 million users, according to its announcement at the Google I/O conference in June. Many people think it’s an alternative to Facebook, as if it’s either/or but there are actually some key differences that could make it worth your while to be involved Google+ even if you don’t want to give up Facebook.

1. Facebook is for finding friends. Google+ is for discovering strangers.
   Facebook is great for connecting with your friends and current customers, but because of Google+’s “in” with search, it’s a great place for finding people you don’t know yet who share your interests. Once that light bulb went on for me, the value of Google+ made itself apparent.
2. One word – Circles
   Circles in Google+ are a way to separate your followers into groups so that you can post content to specific people (work, family, friends, etc) without others seeing.  This makes your posts more private and more strategic.
3. Longer posts
   Facebook allows you 63,206 characters.  You can post the text of the U.S. Constitution twice.  That sounds like a lot, but Google+ lets you post 100,000 characters.  Not sure what you’d use so many characters for? Check out this list on Mashable.
4. Editing posts after posting
   This is one of my favorite advantages of Google+.  How often have you posted a comment on Facebook only to notice a typo? Google+ lets you edit your posts. Facebook is  now rolling out a limited ability to edit.

Now, I’m not suggested you jettison Facebook in favor of Google+. Facebook is simply too big to ignore, but adding Google+ to your social media quiver would be well worth considering.

You can circle us on Google+. We’ll circle you back!

In our last post we discussed the reasons for why I think every business owner needs to look into a VOIP solution.  In this article we discuss which type of general VoIP system is right for your business.