Although I’ve written about technology for ages and among of my friends and acquaintances I’ve got a reputation as a tech geek, I’ve never really been an early adopter.
I’m more like a late early adopter. LinkedIn already had 5 million users by the time I signed up in September 2007. Twitter had been around close to two years by the time I joined in December 2009. I can’t remember when I signed up for Facebook, but it was definitely after my two oldest kids were experts.
But that was then. Social networks have become vital research and reporting tools for journalists and freelancers, so that when a new one comes along it’s smart to check it out sooner v. later.
That’s why this week found me digging into Google+, Google’s latest effort to beat Facebook at its own game. The online network is still in wide beta testing – meaning you have to get an invitation to try it. But some industry pundits are calculating that close to 10 million people are already on it.
Using Facebook has been a problem for people who wanted to separate their private lives from their work. The only options were either creating a separate fan page for your freelance work or small business or give up and accept friend requests from work colleagues and mix business with pleasure.
Google+ solves that problem by letting users create groups called Circles so they can share work-related updates with work friends, family updates with family, shop talk with fellow hobbyists and the like.
Will Google+ take off? It’s way too soon to tell. Right now the biggest topic of conversation in my Circles is Google+. However, I could definitely see using it for my freelance business to:
- Exchange instant messages instead of email with an editor to tell her I’m finished loading a story into the publication’s content management system
- Hold a video chat with the group of writers I edit
- Track sources
- Read articles in newspapers and magazines
- Do a video chat for the WordCount Blogathon (I just thought of that, now that’s a good idea!)
But a lot of those things would replace social networks and other tech tools I already use. So the big question is, is Google+ good enough to make me change my ways?
See for yourself. Here’s a post I did for SecondAct.com on Google+ – maybe it will help you decide whether to open the invitation that’s sitting in your inbox.
Are you using Google+? If so, I’d love to hear your initial reactions. Please leave a comment, especially if you have tips for how journalists and freelancers could benefit from using it.
I think Google+ is a great new broadcasting medium along the likes of Twitter, except you can target specific articles to specific groups of people. Feedback is instantaneous and people can even reshare your post with their circles.
And since it allows for much longer posts than Twitter does, you can write things that don’t necessarily warrant a space on your blog, but need more than 140 characters to get the point across.
It’s more “Twitter meets Tumblr” than “Twitter meets Facebook”. I love it.
Appreciate the observations Harry. I hadn’t thought about the Tumblr comparison before.
Michelle
My son has always been about all things ‘google’- so he got us ‘hooked up’ with google+ so far I like it- because I have everything in the same place– my blog reader…my documents…an easy link to my circles….last night I communicated via video chat on google+ with 4 separate parties at the same time. (I’ve used video chat with skype for quite awhile- but can only do it one person at a time- or with their new beta video you see everyone in panaroma view) Google+ allowed me to see everyone in panaroma view but when someone spoke it highlighted them on the bigger screen- it was great!