As of today Google Plus is available for real estate agents and everyone else for that matter. For anyone unfamiliar with Google Plus, I recommend Google Plus Circles for Real Estate and Google Plus for Real Estate.
So Google Plus is Live, Does Anyone Care?
The thing that makes Facebook such a great tool for real estate is that it has a massive user base. Real Estate Agents are able to connect with clients in a new way that in many ways is much more effective than traditional means. With Google Plus being new we have to evaluate whether or not this is the future of social media, a phase or a me too network.
Google Plus was the fastest social network to 20 million users and were able to do so in just 24 days while still in beta. Compare this to Facebook’s 1,152 days and it would seem that Google Plus is set to take over. As impressive as that is, it doesn’t tell the entire story. The latest numbers have shown that Google Plus traffic peaked in July and has been on a decline ever since. In addition to this, Facebook has just implemented major changes that essentially take the best of Google Plus (see How Facebook Updates Affect Real Estate).
Today marks the public opening of Google Plus which means that anyone may now sign up for the service. The question is how many people will? When I first got into the Google Plus beta and started evaluating how Google Plus for Real Estate would work I found that many of the features would be beneficial. As I told people about the new social network, much of the response I received was that they weren’t interested in learning a new social network especially when everyone they knew was already connected to them via Facebook.
Beginning Of The End
So then is this the beginning of the end for Google Plus? Hardly. Google is already working on seamless integration of Google Plus into your Google Account. Log into gmail today? Notice how a “You +” now appears in the top left corner? As you can imagine there are quite a few gmail users out there and Google is obviously encouraging them to start using the network. In addition, every Android phone user is required to have a Google Account, the same way iPhone users are required to have an Apple ID. According to the latest from Nielsen, Android accounts for the largest smartphone market share at 37%. Clearly, Google Plus is going to be here for awhile.
So as of today we officially have a new social network in play and if nothing else, it should be interesting to see how users embrace or reject it.
Agents who read this Google Plus article also read:
Google Plus Available for Real Estate
Google Plus Circles vs. Facebook Friends
Google Plus Circles for Real Estate
Google Plus Invites for Real Estate Agents
Google Plus for Real Estate
Google Plus Library
To view related articles, visit our Google Plus Library.
Michael Darmanin
Chief Operating Officer
Sellstate
Twitter.com/SellstateCOO
Facebook.com/SellstateCOO
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