I have good luck with Google stuff as I usually get an early invite from Google to test out their new products. It’s nothing special. I happen to be one of those people who get things rolled out to their account early. Just like Google Wave, Google Buzz, I was able to join in on Google Plus early (and without any invitation, of course). My first reaction was, ‘this is it!’
Google+ is an amazing platform. Although there are things that can be argued about, overall Google+ is a hit from my end. It turned out to be more interesting to me when I figured out that I can actually use it for blogging purposes as well. Not only that, I thought for a few minutes and came up with a few reasons why blogging on Google+ may actually be better than blogging on an actual ‘blogging‘ platform.
Today, I’d like to share those reasons with you and know what your opinion is on them.
#1: It’s Fast
When I say fast, I don’t really mean its speed. I mean, you can post real fast. For example, when inspiration strikes, or when I’m feeling like writing a post, I often get distracted by the need to log in to my blog host, open up the Add New Post page, choose categories, worry about relevant tags and all that stuff you know. However, have you ever felt the same distraction when you update your status on Facebook or Twitter via Web?
I bet no, because your status comes straight from your mind. I figured that you can apply this to your blogging, too. You can actually write a post on Google+ avoiding all those distractions. So, if you are a social networker who has a dedicated tab for Google+, you will find it lightning fast to write and share a post.
#2: It’s Formattable
When I talk about this regarding Google+, some people will obviously ask why not Facebook then? Well, you cannot do little formatting on Facebook such as bold, italic, etc. However, on Google+, you can bold, italic or strikethrough your text anytime you want. Wrap up your text with asterisks (*) for bold, underscores (_) for italic and hyphens (-) for strikethrough. And there you are! Your text has been nicely formatted.
I believe for a blog post, at least bold and italic are important formatting options. So, in this case, Facebook is not an option.
#3: It’s SEO’d
By which I mean, it’s already optimized for Search Engine especially Google (and many of us only care for Google, right?). A few days ago, it appeared on news websites that Google+ posts are now appearing on Web Search Results depending on your privacy settings on individual posts. I haven’t seen much Facebook notes on Google search results (there are a few, though). But Google+ posts will be more visible on Google search results for Google’s very own interest. So, right from the start, you know that you’re getting indexed! It’s a big point in my opinion.
#4: It’s Reshareable
This comes in handy for those that are already on Google+. If they like it enough, they can actually reshare it on their circles (and with a chrome extension, on any social networking site including Facebook and Twitter). This eventually drives you more traffic without any doubt. And if your main target is to get your voice heard, you should be convinced already.
Who Fits Best?
That’s the main question. The admin at FamousBloggers.net cannot really move the blog to Google+ nor can he announce that from now on all posts will be published on Google+ only! Because, the purpose doesn’t fit in. So, Google+ fits mainly for personal branding as well as personal blogging purpose. You cannot widgetize your sidebar, you cannot place adsense, you cannot modify any bit of the site, all you can do is just write, share, sit back and reply to comments. If that’s all you want, you can blog on Google+.
Some of you might argue that Facebook has a similar option called Notes. Well, I’ve read a couple of blog posts years ago when they said Facebook Notes can be used for blogging purposes as well. But in my opinion, Notes are outdated. I don’t see many people using notes, nor do they usually open up to read the entire content of a note unless it’s something very interesting. Plus, if you want to use Facebook status as a blog post, well, you’re practically limited by 420 characters where Google+ lets you write really long posts.
So, in a nutshell, Google+ as a blogging platform fits best for:
- those who never created a personal blog thinking that it’s just a waste of time.
- those who have something to say but don’t have a place to do this.
- those who want to share an idea or criticism with a wide audience.
However, when sharing something on Google+, always remember to make sure that you choose an appropriate circle before you hit the Share button. If it’s something that anyone on the web should be able to read, choose public. On the other hand, you might want to choose a specific circle, a few specific circles, Extended Circles, or a bunch of people from your circle (in which case the post will be visible to the tagged persons only).
What do you think of this concept? Are you going to start personal blogging on Google+? Let’s spark a discussion below. Also make sure that you drag me in your circle on Google+ if you find me interesting. 🙂