Hangouts: 9+ Creative uses for Google+ Hangouts

As I predicted a few weeks ago, Google+ Hangouts is driving usage stats for G+ and seems to be growing exponentially. One group is trying to set the longest G+ hangout ever which is now well over 4 days of a continuous hangout kept going by scores of people. Hangouts is also being used in many other creative ways. I stumbled upon a cooking hangout recently and was tickled by the variety of live feeds. Yesterday a friend posted a concert Hangout conducted by +Daria Musk, I checked it out for a bit. Other unique ways Hangout is being used include Teaching, Meditating together, language learning/practice, press conferences, job interviews, customer service and as I mentioned in a previous posting home surveillance. I expect that by the time GooglePlus is opened to all the Google+ team would increase the number of users per session.

One limit set to Hangouts by Google is the number of G+ users who can Hangout at once, which I think is around 10, but many people have got around that by Live streaming the Hangout on Broadcast platforms like Ustream, JustinTV and Veetle. Hangouts open in a new window and with just a few clicks you are hanging, provided those you invite respond in a timely fashion. Many folks on Google+ have been scheduling Hangouts and asking people to "Register" in advance either by commenting on their post, adding their name to Google Calendar or on a website. I feel the best ways to register people for a Hangout is via a public Google Calendar or if you want more information from them, create a Form using Google Docs. You can open your Hangout to the Public, just your Circles, just a few Circles or Just a few friends (provided they are in your Gmail Contacts) exactly as you do when posting to your Stream.

Read more about creative uses for GooglePlus Hangouts here: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-9-creative-uses-for-google-hangouts-you-didnt-think-of-2011-7

Google+ see fastest growth in History with 20 Million users in 3 Weeks

I have seen my Stream and Circles of friends steadily grow on Google+ during the two weeks I've been using Google's new social networking platform. Today the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google Plus has reached 20 Million users in just 3 short weeks. Usage is also widespread across the globe where we see early adopters in large numbers in India, the United kingdom, Canada, Germany, Brazil, Taiwan and France among other countries. Another thing I noticed is that I spend much more time on Google+ than Facebook, and maybe the newness factor is driving this usage, but I can honestly say that it is so much easier to use when compared with Facebook. For instance, like Facebook, Google+ has notifications (also RED) so you can see all new updates to friends, comments, messages and posts, but unlike Facebook, Google+ allows you to expand the specific thread right within the notifications panel (UI), that is pretty revolutionary! This is better. It allows you to continue whatever you were doing without the hassle of toggling between a bunch of pages.

Crossing the Chasm for Google+, what's the magic number?

Whilst it is still too early to predict much regarding Google+, I anticipate that Live Hangouts and Huddles will drive sustained participation. right now early adopters are driving growth, but until Google+ crosses the chasm we won't be able to predict anything. That however poses a huge question, what number would constitute crossing the chasm? Facebook and twitter has set the bar extremely high, Facebook was not first to market but Twitter was first. Google is the market leader in search, digital advertising and many online productivity apps.

These and many other factors will determine that number, it could be 150 Million users, or 189 million or 220 Million, many will say 100 Million worldwide users. Determining that number has become a science for consumer electronics, so marketers know exactly what they need to do to reach that number, not so much in an unpredictable world of social networking platforms where there are many more failures than successes. To be sure, whatever the number, getting there will take a very flexible and highly responsive strategy from the Google+ team. In my opinion, beating Facebook, or killing fb as some have suggested, is not part of Google's objective, but building Google+ to function similarly as fb functions (and thus capitalizing on established habits), is a clear indication that they want to encourage significant G+ adoption. This, I think, is the main factor that will help Google+ to cross the chasm.