The web is oddly quiet given the news that Google Plus is now available to Google Apps for Business users. Google posted the update on their blog last Thursday and has otherwise been pretty hush-hush about the release. For now, Google Apps users are accessing Google Plus with corporate email addresses tied to their workplace, giving organizations complete control over Google Plus accounts that are integrated with their Google Apps accounts.
It's hard to say if Google Plus has long-haul potential for recruiters, given the fact that it has lost over 60% of its traffic since the date it went public. Why the lack of user adoption? This could be for several reasons - lack of comfort, necessity, popularity. Users don't want to have to move to another social network when all of their connections are already on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. No matter how many awesome features the network has to offer, if there isn't a strong user presence on Google Plus, then brands and recruiters aren't going to find them useful.
Does Google Plus really offer recruiters anything different from other social networks? While we shouldn't drop what we're doing every moment a new social media tool comes along, it's important to know how we can use these networks to build engagement and apply these tools to help recruit talent. Will new Google Plus updates benefit recruiters? Let's take a look...
Google Hangouts with Extras
Google Hangouts with Extras has added functionality that recruiters can use to host and manage video chats for interviewing or discussing potential hires. The new tool gives recruiters the ability to collaborate in real-time while screen sharing and using Google Docs. Hiring manager on the road? No problem. It's another way to present candidates and employees with a personalized experience in complete multimedia fashion.
Google Ripples
The new Google Ripples tool gives users a whole new way to visualize how their content is shared and interacted with. Search Engine Watch posted a great video demonstrating the new visualization tool in action. Recruiters can use this feature to track a post's progression and connect with users that are sharing it.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics can now be integrated with Google Plus Profiles, giving recruiters the ability to track social interactions on the Google Plus network and measure how far their public postings travel based on Google's search listings. Recruiters can use this data to evaluate all of their social recruiting efforts on the Google Plus network and monitor how their content is shared.
Google Circles
Great recruiters have the ability to keep recruiting personal and individualized. Although Google Circles isn't a new feature, it is included on the updated version and can be very useful to recruiters. Leveraging technology, like Google Circles, recruiters can share content with selective groups and communicate seamlessly with different departments internally.
Other new features include a photo editing tool kit and an added news stream of popular Google Plus posts called "What's Hot." While the rest of us wait for access to the new features, it will be interesting to see how organizations choose to incorporate their brands on the social network. For any recruiters out there currently using personal accounts for business, Google developers are currently working on a migration tool to streamline the process of moving them over to business accounts.
Will Google Plus be a hit with recruiters in the future or does it ask users one too many questions, like Bullhorn CEO and Co-founder Art Papas says in his Google Plus post? Should the network be a part of your social recruiting strategy?
Currently, the top ten professions on Google Plus are technical professions, according to FindPeopleOnPlus.com, a tool that helps you find people on Google Plus. If you are looking to recruit technology professionals, then you'll probably want to set up an account on this network. Otherwise, you may want to wait and see how the new features pan out with Google Plus users.
Spend some time poking around the social network and take a look at other Business Profiles like Ford's or General Motor's so you are familiar with the network in case it does turn into the next big thing for recruitment. But, even with this great list of new features, the social network will not be useful to recruiters without a strong user presence; I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Stay tuned to the Bullhorn Reach blog for future updates on Google Plus and feel free to share any thoughts below. Are you using Google Plus to recruit talent? What are your thoughts?