Getting More People to Use Google+, Part IV: A Static User Hub and Re-examining Third Party Off-Site Elements

People like to see the fruits of their labor and third-party commenting platform tracking should only be the first step

This is not a new thing… people have been talking about the transience of their G+ activity in the Stream since very early on. Activity on G+ is hard to keep track of unless you are very good at curating content/links to posts etc. The +1 page is there… why can’t we have more? Why can’t I show off my conversations? Why can’t I keep track of my private messages?

Yep, it’s true, this sounds a lot like a Wall or a Timeline – where your activity is documented and archived. People like that. Some people don’t. It should be opt-in/opt-out for public visibility – just like posts are. But why wouldn’t you benefit from a little activity stability? Why turn that down?

Finally, Google is exporting elements from G+ to get people ON to G+.

As I mentioned earlier in my Getting More People to Use Google+ series, getting people to Google+ is one thing – but why not bring Google+ to people?

Now… Google has entire teams… and if we are to believe the angry Microsofter-turned-Googler-turned-Microsofter… the entire company working on Google+. So, I imagine that this has been part of the plan all along. Here’s the thing…

This must not be the end of these types of third party elements…

I imagine that people will be able to post their conversations to their streams… or that their comments on the websites will be able to added to a person’s Google+ posts ( much like when you +1 something on a website, it shows up here). This is going to be huge for websites looking to bring traffic in….

Imagine you’re commenting on an article about… I dunno… parenting. The website has the Google+ comment box and once you are done writing your response – the box prompts you with “Do you want to post your comment and a link to the article to your Google+ stream?” Well… heck yes I do! I care about parenting tips, and I want to meet other people who share parenting tips and other parenting stuff… go ahead Google+ comment box!

Of course – you can “not share” or just share it with your… Parenting Circles or what have you… but what would be really nice is if:

Google+ indexes your comment activity FOR you

Yes… this would mean some sort of static page where all of your G+ related activities are logged… +1′s… comments… articles you saved… all of this should be able to be accessed in Google+ proper… JUST like we used to have with Sparks… a page dedicated to your activity. OF COURSE you can personalize that page… hide some of your activity from the public – for example, you went to a medical website because you have a huge zit (this is useful for the newly invited teens) on your schnozz and it gives you tips on how to shrink/lance that bad boy. Well, we want to be able to find that article/conversation later, right? But we don’t want everyone else to see it… blingo-blammo privacy/visibility settings not hard to implement.

But let’s say I want to show off my fancy comments on what I think about social media (I totally do) – instead of having to post the article link and make people find my comment – I can just share that comment with my Public stream – keep it on my static page – and that will speak volumes more about who I am than some About page (which, as I understand, the constant curation of that page is probably going to be too much of a hassle for most users).

Websites would be foolish not to adopt the Google+ Comment Box… Comment+ maybe?

It’s automatic inbound links… automatic conversations… user-generated opportunities… a conversation that people can have about their page without leaving their social network. And of course there is the benefit of it being run by Google! It has to have some effect on search, right? It has to.

Don’t force it on people… just don’t do it, Google.

Allow people to post anonymously, allow them to enter a name – offer them a G+ profile… don’t make ‘em do it. Allow people to become familiar with the third party stuff on their own time. Google makes awesome stuff… alright… awesome… but let people choose. Don’t force a G+ existence on them. This will be most excellent insight for how many people sign up anyway… they must have liked it! Maybe they’ll like more… if you build it, they will come! – YEAH, I definitely used the Field of Dreams cliche… but come on, it’s true right? Why wouldn’t someone want something that makes their life easier?

Google+ for the people, not people for Google+. Not evil. Be here in case they need you. Be here for them. Stymie those blowhard article writers who accuse Google of forcing products on people. Just keep making it awesome. Annnd BREAK! Let’s go team [whistles and phrases of encouragement]!

Getting More People to Use Google+ Series:
Part I – How Extrovert and Introvert personality type reversal on social media might be skewing perception of platform’s popularity
Part II – Creating Stand-alone G+ elements for websites to increase casual-user familiarity
Part III – The “Sentimental” traditional media campaigns are great, but we need “Utilitarian” messages!