The power of ecosystems? On Google+

Google Plus

I don’t know what type of guru I am – I believe none at all – but it felt like time for my take on Google Plus. And let’s start with the hottest topic these days: SEO and Google+.

Google’s announcement on G+ integration

Regardless of the fact that Google Plus looked like “a Facebook” at launch, Google always insisted that it concerned a “project of bigger scale”. How big that scale is became clear with the announcement made by Google at the beginning of January 2012.

Simply stated: Google plans to integrate information from Google Plus to personalize search results. For SEO gurus it was a signal to jump into action. Suddenly SEO drastically changed: it’s no longer about how to get sites ranked high in search results but about having content on Google Plus. This not rarely resulted in advice similar to “you need to be on Google Plus.” As a result, brand pages flourished like mushrooms.

Of course, I cannot have anything against enterprises and brands being on Plus, but I can object the proposed tactic by the gurus. I believe the “New SEO” is more about getting real people post information about a business or brand on Google+. That’s something completely different from merely broadcasting marketing messages through a brand page, no?

However, there’s more at stake than just the impact on search. As one observer cleverly noted: “Google has a lot of other products that contain personally relevant information. Google Docs has documents, Gmail has contacts and calendar entries, Google Music has playlist information, and so on.”

Google as an integrated online collaboration platform. Google+ as social layer.

Google+: social layer on top of collaborative cloud ecosystem by Google

Have you ever looked at Google’s navigation bar in detail? You should. I believe it’s not a coincidence that Google Plus is integrated into this bar. Google Plus is a part of a wider ecosystem. That ecosystem is neatly designed through a navigation bar. It contains multiple collaborative cloud solutions, amongst:

Google's collaborative cloud solutions as an ecosystem

• Gmail
• Docs
• Translate
• Calendar
• Search
• …

I have a feeling this ecosystem will pay off. Not in the way that it’ll outperform Facebook or whatever other social network but in an unprecedented position within the organizations of the future it might take.

The organization of the future: fluid networks of interconnected freelance workers

Based upon a study by SD Worx on “the Future of Work”, I’ve deducted 3 core principles about the organization of the future:

• Organization based upon strength individuals
• Individuals work autonomous
• Collaboration between individual people is more than the sum of all individual co-workers

The above means that organizations will form themselves organically between engaged people who connect. This connection can occur online and offline. However, as the strength of the individual becomes key to an organization, they’ll look for the best individuals. During this search process they won’t take geographic borders into account. In order for those talented people to collaborate effectively in a remote manner, they need collaborative tools that are available 24/7. And what exactly is available 24/7? Right: the worldwide web.

There we are: the Google web tools listed above are a great solution for future organizations. A lot of people will work through the Google Docs platform, use Gmail, translate through Google Translate, etc. Added to that is a tool that allows you to easily message, share, video call,…: Google Plus.
What else do you need to effectively execute your job as a knowledge worker? Almost nothing?

Google Plus a social layer for the future enterprise, not a Facebook killer.

Do you see the power of ecosystems at work?
Do you know other products designed with an ecosystem in mind apart from Apple’s app store?