Google+ for business, part one

In the next few weeks a select group of companies will be invited to participate in the first business trials for Google+, then over the following months the service will be opened up to all companies.  This doesn’t mean, however, that companies should wait until the programme is publicly open before investigating Google+ - it has some real benefits and pitfalls that you should be examining today.

Privacy pitfalls

Privacy issues surrounding all social networks have attracted a lot of press attention. Google+ has made great strides in providing a solid privacy model; what is doesn’t necessarily do, however, is provide the right privacy model for companies and their employees.  Companies should have an understanding of company representation within their employment contracts that covers social networks - for Google+ the following areas stand out:

• Profiles are public in general, so everyone on the Internet can see basic profile information unless the employee has set the information to private.

• Basic profile information includes employment history - unless hidden there is an implicit tie to what your employee posts to your company.

• Basic profile information includes connections - if your employee connects to your clients and hasn’t hidden this, then this information is public.  Quite useful for your competitors to cherry pick your best clients.

Of course all of these can be tailored to minimise risk and exposure of your company through your employees’ Google+ activities, but companies need to understand the risks and set standards for activity.

Communication benefits

As young as Google+ is, there are some exceptional benefits for company adoption.  Your employees, suppliers and clients are all likely to be familiar with social networks, and Google+ with its clean interface should not be daunting. This makes it very easy to implement as a tool within company process, with distinct benefits over other corporate communication tools like Yammer, instant messaging and email.  Once in use, the following are easy to do:

• Set up a company circle (group of people), that allows you to send messages only visible to your company in a way that is built to elicit responses and encourage communication.  Departments and working groups also make ideal circles which allow quick, targeted communication.

• Video conference with up to 10 people at a time using the ‘hangout’ feature - unlike alternatives, connecting to people and getting started couldn’t be easier, even for novice users.

• Get access on the move - there are native apps for Android and iPhone along with a great mobile web interface, allowing your employees to have access everywhere they have a mobile phone signal. Being out of the office does not mean that you are out of the loop or that people have to take extra effort to contact you as part of a group.

• Nominate champions amongst your employees and allow them time to share what makes your company different. Rather than shy away from having a presence, make that presence count.

Working with your staff

Companies are often reticent about using social tools - they are perceived as a threat to productivity, and with games, friends and everyone’s favourite Farmville there is certainly a risk.  However, companies have to recognise:

• Social networks are not going to go away.

• The Google+ platform already seems to be evolving into an identity framework that would underpin other Google tools (specifically Google apps), which will then bring even more business benefits.

• If the productivity risk is too great to adopt the latest social tools, it may suggest more about the company / employee relationship than the efficiency of the tools.

Google+ certainly sets some interesting challenges and opportunities for businesses, and since in the first few weeks from launch the network is now sitting at more than 18 million accounts, they are challenges and opportunities that your company should address now, before they become pressing.

This blog post was written by Gemma Mahoney

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