Yes, Google+ is Google's answer to Facebook, but not in the directly competitive sense many journalists assume. Google+ is core to Google's mission "to organize the world's information", and that's a better frame for thinking about this service.
Here are 35 slides to help kickstart a different perspective on what Google+ really is - a "shared interest graph."
4. Social Networks
A community is a social network
connected by relationships.
4
5. These guys used our web links to make it
easier to use our information networks.
5
6. These guys used our relationships to
make it easier to use our social networks.
6
7. Then these guys came along and made it
easier to connect with people we didn’t
know.
7
8. And our social networks subtly changed.
They were no longer just connections with
friends...
8
9. And that
led to
people
using social
networks
to connect
information
networks.
We became “information networkers.”
9
10. To fulfill its mission,
Google needed a social
network to help
information to organize
the world’s
networkers organize
information
information networks.
and make it
And so, a universally
new accessible and
social useful.
network
was born.
10
11. Plot a network with dots and lines like this,
and it’s called a network “graph.”
11
12. Map me to the things I’m interested in, and
it’s called my “interest graph.”
Gideon
Rosenblatt
12
13. Guess who
has a really
good
understanding
of your
interest
graph...
13
15. You see, Google+ isn’t competing with
Facebook to build the world’s best “social
graph.”
/
=
It’s using the social graph to build the world’s
best interest graph.
15
16. Let’s take
a quick
look at
how that
interest
graph
connects
people...
16
18. Drew writes about Fran curates information
Dalmatians. on Dalmatians.
Drew, Fran and Alex Alex loves to read
all have an interest in about Dalmatians.
“Dalmatians.”
18
19. They express their interest in Dalmatians by:
Searching for information on “Dalmatians”
Likes and Plus Ones on Dalmatian articles
Sharing articles about Dalmatians
19
20. These interactions improve the Interest Graph...
So search engines
give us better
results...
...publishers give
us more relevant
content...
20
22. When you include the flow of social
interactions, the interest graph also shows
influence.
Influence
22
23. Drew writes. Fran curates.
Writers and Alex reads.
information curators
strongly influence
readers.
23
24. The “Influence Graph”
Map the flow of
content through
our social
connections, and
you find the
“influence graph.”
24
25. Writers and curators are
extremely valuable to search
engines (and advertisers) because
of the fanout effect of their
influence on a social network.
25
26. is building a whole business
around the influence graph.
But Google is
paying close
attention to
the influence
graph too.
26
27. Look at that influence map again to see
what Google’s really doing.
Content
Curator Content
Content Consumer
Producer
Influence
27
28. Content producers already benefit from
Google’s attention.
Sear
ch E
ngin
eM
arke
ting
ization
O ptim
h En gine
Searc
th or
A u
e l=
R
28