Google+

There has been a been a lot of chatter on various social networks, okay on Twitter, that Google are pulling of out of the Social Networking business, and closing Google+.

We love Google+ and in our social business workshops we talk about the benefits, especially the Google Authorships combined with Google+'s apparent effect on search and SEO.

In the boring old real ‘analogue’ world, ideas of authorship and authority naturally sit together. Over time we work out who is talking sense and who is full of hot air.

While I can work on simple hypotheses like ‘if this is written by Melanie Phillips it is almost certainly ghastly rubbish’, a search engine like Google has to calculate authority through a dense mix of keyword density, social cues, link quality, time on page, speed of hitting the back button, etc, etc.

That’s hard work - which is why Google is now starting to account for authorship in its algorithm. It is identifying content by author, and is starting to calculate the authority of different authors. So all things being equal, if Delia Smith and Jamie Oliver are both writing about breakfast, the author with the highest authority will rank higher and (cue drumroll) bring home the bacon.

Google hosted their sellout Google@SocialMediaWeek event in London on Thursday 16th February 2012 at the SMWLDN 2012 Hub, sponsored by Google! (What a mouthful!)

If you weren't one of the lucky one's who managed to snap up a ticket, you can now watch the event online, right here!

Hear the latest thinking on social media and our wider social worlds from Google experts, academics and advertisers.

Google+ could surprise the doubters, says GlobalWebIndex founder Tom Smith.

It’s not hard to find critics of Google’s attempts to harness social in recent the years. But the sceptics should be wary of underestimating the power of the Mountain View behemoth.

The latest data from GWI.6 suggests that although widely known for its core search product – reaching more than 85% of global internet users every month (up from 76.1% in GWI.1) - Google+ is becoming the exciting new contender in social media.

This year, Social Media Week London (taking place next week, Mon 13th - Fri 17th Feb) has a fantastic hub, located at the Design Council in Bow Street (map), sponsored by Google+

There is a full agenda of great events at the hub during the week including events from Nokia, Google, Ogilvy, Constant Contact, as well as some of Chinwag's own and SMW's Global Keynote. Take a look at the SMWLDN Hub schedule below to see whats going on.

Jump to Monday // Tuesday // Wednesday // Thursday // Friday

Remember to RSVP!

Google+ started life as an attempt to be another Facebook. If I am honest it did a better job - but then again, it's not hard to stand on the shoulders of a giant (metaphorically speaking). The problem with Google+ is it doesn't offer anything additional to Facebook on first viewing.

Google+ is beautiful and easier to use than Facebook - my mum could set up an account on her own which is saying something. But after half an hour she was back in Facebook. Why? None of her friends were using Google+.

So does Google+ stand a chance? Until recently I would have said no.