Google recently launched Google+, its latest attempt to take on Facebook dominance in social networking. Plancast could be the icing on the cake to nail one of the strongest drivers of social media: events.
This post has been written by Julius Solaris for Event Manager Blog (?).
Google+ launched in late June 2011, quickly reaching 25 million users. And by quickly I mean 1 month.
According to most commentators ‘Operation Plus’ has been a blatant attempt to take on Facebook. And by the look of things the growth is staggering when compared to Facebook, Twitter and (R.I.P) MySpace.
Source: Comscore
All that Glitters ain’t gold
Some other intriguing numbers were reported by Experian Hitwise. Specifically a decline in visits by 3%.
After all the hype and staggering reviews, G+ is experiencing social networks’ predictable decline. Users are asking themselves: Now What?
How can Google+ keep visitors engaged and eminently scare the hell out of Facebook?
By introducing an Event section of course!
The Impact of Events on Facebook
We covered in the past how Facebook is revolutionizing events. Facebook events spread in never-seen-before ways, sometimes causing problems to the organizers.
Events are crucial to Facebook. They were one of the first major social networks to introduce recently event check-ins. The emphasis on events has been consistent over time.
Facebook events are important to organizers. We all remember the epic EventBrite report measuring the impact on tickets sales of Facebook Likes and new event tools for Facebook Pages are created daily.
OK but What About Plancast and Google+
The section missing on Google+ is events. Yes you can create virtual Hangouts. Very cool, but what about face-to-face?
It is my humble opinion that the smart-ass Google Head of Mergers and Acquisitions is now looking at Plancast as a way to deliver the social event component missing in Google+.
Plancast plays with data in a truly elegant way and delivers what Facebook is struggling to achieve in a nifty fashion. I talked about Plancast often in the past. They brought in real innovation to events. Plancast remains the start-up to watch.
Let’s say I bet a candy that Google will buy them and, dear reader, I expect you to post it over to me if I am right.
What Does it Mean for You?
Since I am only hypothesizing, nothing yet.
However, I would suggest to start having a look at Google+.
If Google decides to bring in events in any form this will be an unprecedented opportunity for event professionals. Google products usually mean better SEO and search still represent the biggest opportunity for our marketing.
Bring it on Google!
