So, Google+

[Matt Stephens]

I don't know if anyone has tried out Google's social network venture yet (if you'd like to be invited to the site and try it, let me know), but it's not half bad.

I was wondering if anyone thinks it will have as big of an impact in the news industry as Facebook and Twitter do? So far, it seems like a much better tool to simply post news than Facebook is. Have any of your shops started playing with it or added a "+1" button on Website stories?

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Never heard of it.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/84882/

 

[Matt Stephens]

Thanks

 

[Cigar56]

Newspapers will follow suit as the public does. Google plus is brand new, yet already has 10 million people using it -- with the number expected to quickly double to 20 million, according to The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/faster-forward/post/google-plus-could-hit-10-million-users-today/2011/07/12/gIQANlk5AI_blog.html

Also, Forbes and others are predicting small businesses will flock to Google plus in droves.

http://blogs.forbes.com/insidearm/2011/07/14/5-things-small-businesses-must-know-about-google-plus/

So in very short order you could have 100 million or more people using Google plus, along with thousands of businesses.

Newspapers will have no choice but to follow suit. Those of us who have been around a while realize what happened when newspapers ignored AOL.