The new age of Google

Lady Gaga has noticed: she has had a profile on Google Plus since January 16, where she has been posting regularly ever since. This is remarkable because the pop icon is a real social media heavyweight: she is at the top of Twitter with 18 million followers, and her Facebook page also has almost 47 million fans. However, she has taken six months since the launch of Google Plus, which is why she has yet to catch up with frontrunner Britney Spears on this platform, who has been accepted into her circle by 1.6 million users. Above all, the "mother of monsters" reacted swiftly to the realignment that the search engine giant announced or already introduced in the first few weeks of the year.

The fact that the wind is blowing against Google is not as noticeable in Germany, where the search engine giant has a market share of well over 90 percent, as it is in the US home market, where the figure is only 65 percent. And Google seems to have fallen behind: Last May, Microsoft and Facebook set out to rival Google with the concept of "social search". To this end, Microsoft's search engine Bing and the Facebook platform were more closely interlinked in order to take greater account of the opinions of a user's Facebook friends in the results. Google has now countered this by launching "Search Plus Your World", or SPYW for short, which is sometimes pronounced SPEW (spit), on January 10. Since then, registered Google users have also been shown results that can be derived from their usage behavior, Internet contacts and information stored online. The aim is to be able to deliver better search results with more meaningful signals about the user and, above all, to be able to display advertisements more accurately.

Companies should push Google Plus
That's why Lady Gaga didn't miss a beat: If you want to appear at the top of as many search queries as possible in future, you need to be included in the circles of as many Google Plus users as possible. And there are more and more of them: at the presentation of the quarterly results for the last quarter of 2011, CEO Larry Page reported 90 million Google Plus users worldwide on January 19. Compared to Facebook (800 million active users), this is still a small number, especially as many have set up their profiles but hardly seem to use them actively. To get things moving, Google is helping out by giving everyone who signs up for a new service a Google Plus account. Not only should Google users become active on Google Plus, but above all they should remain logged in to Google at all times. This is because frequent users of Google services leave a huge trail of data: search queries, of course, but also email messages, videos viewed, location data and now also social contacts on Google Plus. All these signals can be registered and analyzed in order to optimize the search results and, above all, the advertisements for each user.

Listlessly on hold
Under the aegis of Larry Page, co-founder of Google and CEO for nine months, the Google empire is being focused. In recent months, the hodgepodge of services that had been created through acquisitions or own initiatives has been cleared out. His vision: Google products should have a uniform and attractive appearance and be perceived accordingly - just like its rivals Apple and Facebook. Central to this is the announcement that the user data of all services will be merged from 1 March, for which the terms and conditions and data protection rules have been standardized. Google wants to treat its (registered) users as a single user across all services in future, as Alma Whitten, the Google manager responsible for privacy and data protection, explained in a blog post. Just how serious Google's management is about the new strategy was demonstrated at an employee meeting, where Larry Page responded to critical comments by saying that anyone who doesn't understand SPYW should look for a job elsewhere. This statement by the Google boss seems symptomatic of the clumsy communication culture at Google, and the online giant could do with more elegance when it comes to market communication. A wave of enthusiasm (think of all the fuss surrounding the Apple iPhone) for Google Plus and for SPYW is nowhere to be seen. As a survey of social media practitioners conducted by Werbewoche showed, there is hardly any enthusiasm for Google Plus in Switzerland either. Many companies have only registered Google Plus accounts in order to secure a presence for their own company, and sometimes a few entries can be found that are now long out of date - regularly and strategically maintained presences are a rarity.

So far, it seems realistic to wait and see, as SPYW is only in use on Google.com and only for search queries in English. If the new Google era is also ushered in here one day, the question arises as to how widespread it is among the local online audience to be constantly logged in with their Google account when surfing. In Switzerland, this share can be estimated to be in the single-digit percentage range, especially if we look at isolated analyses from the USA. Google will have to be prepared for a long race to catch up and a dry spell before Google Plus is anywhere near as important as arch-rival Facebook. What's more, there is a headwind blowing: the new strategy will certainly be received critically by data protectionists, but also by some users, and it will take a lot of good efforts to avoid a PR disaster (remember Streetview).

SEO forces you to participate
The new Google strategy is basically associated with the chance that a company presence on Google Plus will be seen as more trustworthy than on Facebook, which was geared towards people from the outset. And because Google's SPYW strategy is now aimed at companies pushing the Google network, they will have no choice but to set themselves up on Google Plus. Because if you want to appear in a top position in the search results in the future, you can no longer achieve this with good content and a few rules for search engine optimization (SEO) alone, but must also have a good presence on Google Plus that is accepted into a circle by as many people as possible. SPYW therefore primarily affects SEO consultants, whose business is now subject to new and more difficult rules on Google. Google Plus and SPYW are still construction sites: On average, a new feature has been added every day since the launch, reported Larry Page, not without pride. And when it comes to the question of how to deal with social media data in search queries, practical findings are constantly being incorporated into the highly complex search algorithms. Another opportunity for companies lies in the internal use of the various Google tools in order to apply the concepts of social networking to internal communication (keywords: Social Enterprise or Enterprise 2.0).

However Google Plus develops, it will not completely replace any existing social network. This is also confirmed by the Werbewoche survey: Facebook is the clear favorite almost everywhere, as it is almost impossible to get past it, mainly due to its wide distribution. Twitter is in second place. The short message service is frequently used to achieve additional reach with references to new content and often serves as a customer service tool. Because not all social media users can be found on all networks or use them differently depending on the time of day or situation, it seems appropriate to be present on all major channels - and there is every indication that Google Plus will also establish itself in Switzerland this year.

Christoph J. Walther

The current social media high-flyers:

Werbewoche asked social media practitioners how they use Google Plus
and the other social networks. Here is a selection:

"I believe that Google Plus has very good chances of establishing itself strongly in the corporate environment and will also spread from there to the private sector." Markus Gabriel, Angelink AG, crossover agency, Zurich

"Google Plus hardly offers us any new opportunities that we can't already cover with Facebook." Philipp Furrer, web editor, Swiss Olympic, Ittigen near Bern

"Google Plus certainly still has the greatest potential and could maneuver itself into an eminently important role - but there is still a long way to go." Stefanie Hynek, Public Relations Manager, Digitec AG|Galaxus AG, Zurich

"We are not pursuing a strategy of being present on all platforms wherever possible. Rather, it is important to us to maintain our existing channels in the long term." Manuela Gallati, Communication & Media, Destination Davos Klosters, Davos Platz

"We could do without many of the many networks at the moment, but not Facebook." Sabrina Gubler, Marketing Switzerland, Interhome AG, Glattbrugg

"Facebook and Google Plus are aimed at a broad, interested public. Twitter is good for reaching journalists." Simon Rindlisbacher, Communications and Marketing, Alternative Bank Schweiz AG, Olten

"We use all three platforms as an image platform. This is where we tell the stories of everyday university life." Adrian Stitzel, Marketing & Communication, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne

"The question for an SME is: How do I serve all the social networks without getting bogged down in useless work?" Frank Huber, ADOLA-Trading GmbH, Thalwil

"I like the quality of the discussions on Google Plus." Marie-Christine Schindler, mcschindler.com, Zurich

"Twitter is not a mainstream product like Facebook, especially not in Switzerland." Cendrine Gafner, Client Service Direction & Board Member, Numéro10 AG, Bern

"We're not pushing Google Plus into a corner - there could still be exciting developments there too - especially if Google Shopping were integrated." Evelyn Schneider, Marketing Manager, FashionFriends AG, Langenthal

"For brand protection and SEO reasons, we have created a company page on Google Plus. However, the network is not a strategic priority for us at the moment." Marcel Härtlein, Head of Online Properties, KPMG AG, Zurich

"We are active in that we have integrated the Google Plus buttons on our products, as this also influences the organic ranking." Zeynep Sayin, Head of www.books.ch, Orell Füssli Book Retailing Ltd, Zurich

"We want to be where our customers are. That's why we certainly can't do without Facebook." Jens Wiesenhütter, Group Communications Consultant, Social Media Manager, Raiffeisen Switzerland, St.Gallen

"We see social media as a paradigm shift in the creation of the public sphere - the specific technical platforms are of secondary importance and depend on the time and the way in which users bend these networks to suit their purposes." Daniel Rei, PR Manager, Brack Electronics AG, Mägenwil

"Google Plus has a high level of credibility, Facebook is still often ridiculed as a platform for teenagers." Sandra Albisser, Managing Director & Consultant, SocialCom GmbH, Lucerne

"I consider Google Plus to be an important social media platform, also because of the Plus 1 button and the connection to SEO ranking, which will become more and more social in the future." Tanja Adis, Heartbeatmedia, Rümlang

"Under no circumstances should you rush headlong into all the networks that are springing up everywhere. Behind every commitment there must be a concrete idea with a clear concept for content, form and maintenance." Dominique Locher, Marketing & Sales Director, LeShop SA, Ecublens

"Two years ago, accounts were springing up like mushrooms at Ringier. We've since learned that unkempt accounts don't create any added value - they can even damage our reputation." Jonathan Sejnoha, Social Media Manager, Ringier AG, Zurich.