Google+ is reportedly struggling but amidst chatter of a failing platform is there anything interesting here for PR and Marketing professionals?
The answer is, of course, yes. This week’s CommsChat focused on Google+ and during the debate @jonclements and I got chatting and asked ourselves why Google+ wasn’t used for the online event.
I suggested Google+ Messenger would have been a good choice, while John thought a Hangout might be fun.
In reality, both have their own technical problems. Messenger is a mobile only service, while Hangouts limit the amount of people who can participate.
What happened next?
For experiments’ sake Jon and I had a hangout…
Google+ Hangouts
After the initial shock of having to look at each other, Jon and I had a quite nice conversation, he told me about the CIPR Pride awards that he and his team were up for and I told him about my business.
I was introduced to his wife (incidentally, Jon punches above his weight). He said nice things about mine.
All in all the experience was good. We had a conversation and it was useful. Enjoyable even.
Google+ Messenger
Inspired by our chat, I went off and built a circle of all the PR and marketing people I knew in Manchester and then added them to a Messenger discussion.
Adding the circle all in one go was easy and as @Rickguttridge pointed out, Messenger could be a great way for brands, or celebrities or MDs to connect with a community online and hold a meaningful chat.
In reality, this Messenger session wasn’t conceived with any clear objective beyond experimentation and it quickly turned into a silly conversation full of jokey, show off conversation (I count myself in this).
The chit chat was amusing, light-hearted but ultimately not as rewarding as the one to one conversation with Jon.
What did we learn?
Google+ Hangouts is a more social version of Skype, but we knew that already. It’s limited but could be expanded to help brands and business people broadcast.
Google+ Messenger is fun and is better than other messenger services because it is a quick and easy way to reach a pre-existing community (i.e. Google+ circle).
With a purpose or objective it could be a great way to organise a chat, interview or discussion. The only problem is that Messenger can quickly become a meaningless experience with lots of noise but little signal.