May 17, 2013
It is one of the big players in the world of social media, with over 300 million active users and a place at the social media top table. Not content with being the world’s second largest social network and being used by 25 per cent of the global Internet population, Google+ is aiming for the next level.
This week at the I/O conference in San Francisco, Google announced that they are adding 41 new features to Google+; including a new look to the stream and profile pages, hashtags, trending topics, photo enhancement and greater integration with Hangouts.
Taking full advantage of the fact that visual content is key for brands on social media, Google has redesigned the news feed, giving it a bit of a spruce up in a style reminiscent of Pinterest and Facebook’s new design. When it comes to photos, the new features include Auto Enhance, which will improve your photo by tweaking the brightness, contrast and colour for maximum effect. Combine this with the new Auto Awesome feature, which allows users to merge photos together to create the perfect image.
This integration of editing features on Google+ could lead to an increase in the number of brands embracing the platform. Instead of just focusing on the search benefits of the platform, these new changes and a more user-friendly feel could work wonders.
Other new arrivals include the “What’s Hot” section, covering the trending hashtags to get involved with and supplying you with relevant communities to join. Hangouts also get an upgrade, as they will now be integrated with Google Chat to allow users to IM and video chat with their connections from the newsfeed.
This fresh redesign and the range of new features bodes well for Google+, as they borrow the best parts from other networks and bring it to their platform. So what do you think of the new Google+?