Have you noticed that you are getting Google+ invites appearing in your inbox over he last week? Don't worry, it isn't Google spamming you (well not yet anyway) - it is the new social networking product that has come out of the Google stable.
While the likes of Google Wave and Google Buzz arrived in a whole heap of hype and quickly disappeared into the background, I think that Google may actually be around a lot longer!
There has already been much written about Google+ so I am not going to replicate some of the excellent G+ guides like the one from Mashable here. I have just started to look at it in more detail and while I am certainly no Google+ expert, here are my observations and opinion on what it looks like so far (to me).
What I want to do is try and explain it in more simple terms for people wanting to use it for recruitment etc
What does Google+ consist of?
- Stream (a newsfeed)
- Sparks (a recommendation engine)
- Hangouts (a video chat service)
- Huddle (a group texting service)
- Circles (a friend management service)
- Photos
Now before we look at it in more detail - you first need to get into Google+ - at the moment you need someone with a Google+ account to invite you in - if you want an invite to get started - just email me and I will send you one.
When you get the invite, you need to set up your account then fill in your Google+ profile.
Remember that your profile needs to have the keywords that you want people to find you by - it is Google so all text will be searchable! I used my LinkedIn headline profile as a starting point.
Right now you are ready to go.
The quick overview of the different parts of Google+ are:
- Stream: like Facebook, this is a feed of all the updates made from people within your Circles (your self selected network)
- Sparks: this is Google's way of recommending content to you that is the most relevant to your search words.(Your didn't think Google wouldn't get an opportunity to use it's search algorythms here did you?)
- Hangouts: clever, clever, clever. Essentially a group video chat function for up to 10 people at any time. The clever bit is the way that Google+ switches from person to person in the group chat depending on who is talking into the microphone at the time.
- Huddle: think group instant messaging for people in your Circles and you get the idea.
- Circles: the deal breaker for Google+. It allows you to create your own unique social networks and add whoever you want into them. You can then interact and engage with these individual Circles. (If you are in recruiting or sourcing - this is has HUGE potential
- Photos: a comprehensive photo application - with Picassa sitting behind it.
- Search: I have added this as an extra, because with my recruitment mindset, finding people is key to me. Google is all about search, and with Google+ there are great ways of finding people (as you would expect!)
For me (with a recruitment hat on) the Circles aspect of Google+ is the really interesting part.
As a recruiter, the ability to segment, manage and interact with candidates is absolutely essential. Getting the right message to these segments or niches that is both relevant, interesting and most importantly, engaging, is the difference between successful recruiters and the also-rans.Google+ allows you to create your own social niches/segments/groups that are private to you, and it allows you to do this very easily, by using a drag and drop method.
You can of course do this with closed LinkedIn Groups, Facebook Pages, private Twitter Lists and closed Facebook Groups very well.
With all the problems around privacy within Facebook, Google have got this right (so far) because the one word they have focused on here is PRIVACY. These circles are private. You only put people in YOUR circles that YOU want.
We all share, communicate and engage with people in different ways. Google+ allows you to do just this - and if you get your Circles right - you may well save yourself from any social media screw-ups!!
Search with Google+ will no doubt get much better, but for recruiters wanting to search for candidates, there are a couple of good ways to do this already (outside Google+ ironically for the moment)
1. http://findpeopleonplus.com/ - a search engine for people on Google+. This works very well and is worth trying first.
2. Go to Google and do a boolean x-ray; site:plus.google.com (add your search keywords here)
The Hangouts part of Google+ is one I will be looking to test in more detail over the coming weeks, and it is something that recruiters could well make use of, both with their clients in briefing sessions and with colleagues (especially with remote working).
SO, is Google+ the magic answer to your recruitment? Is it going to change the way you recruit? Is it going to suddenly replace Facebook or Twitter as part of your(integrated) social recruiting strategy?
The answer right now is a definate NO.
But could it be a really useful tool to trial and start using for recruitment? YES
At the moment there are simply not enough people using it to make it a game changer today. Some people are evangelising about Google+ like they have seen the next messiah walk amongst them. I certainly wouldn't go that far (especially with the track record of Buzz and Wave), but this time I do believe that this one might just work out for Google. Even if it ends up just being about the Circles, then having this easy ability to easily create your own closed social networks makes it worth sticking with......... for now anyway!
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