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."

1. What is Google+?
(really.)
Gideon Rosenblatt
March 5, 2012

2. Networks: They connect us to lots of
things, including information &
people.
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3. Information Networks
The web is an information network
connected by web links.
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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.
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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.
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11. Plot a network with dots and lines like this,
and it’s called a network “graph.”
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12. Map me to the things I’m interested in, and
it’s called my “interest graph.”
Gideon
Rosenblatt
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13. Guess who
has a really
good
understanding
of your
interest
graph...
13

14. 14

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

17. Let’s connect the dots,
with an example.
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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.”
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19. They express their interest in Dalmatians by:
Searching for information on “Dalmatians”
Likes and Plus Ones on Dalmatian articles
Sharing articles about Dalmatians
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20. These interactions improve the Interest Graph...
So search engines
give us better
results...
...publishers give
us more relevant
content...
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21. ... and both
get more
advertising
dollars.
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22. When you include the flow of social
interactions, the interest graph also shows
influence.
Influence
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23. Drew writes. Fran curates.
Writers and Alex reads.
information curators
strongly influence
readers.
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24. The “Influence Graph”
Map the flow of
content through
our social
connections, and
you find the
“influence graph.”
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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.
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27. Look at that influence map again to see
what Google’s really doing.
Content
Curator Content
Content Consumer
Producer
Influence
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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
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29. Content consumers already use Google to
consume lots of information.
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30. But what about these guys?
Content
Curator
Content
Content Consumer
Producer
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31. Sure, you can produce and
consume content on Google+.
But Google+ is really built for
content curation.
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32. In other words,
Google+ is for
“Information Networkers.”
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33. It’s part It’s part
interest social
graph. graph.
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34. Or perhaps we should call it
what it really is:
our “Shared Interest Graph.”
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35. A service for sharing our
interests with those who share
our interests.
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36. Image Credits:
Spider web: http://www.flickr.com/photos/werkman/
Friends: http://www.flickr.com/photos/timcaynes/
White board http://www.flickr.com/photos/mc_sensei/
Stone tablet: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vagabondvince/
Screen viewing: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xixidu/
Word face: http://www.flickr.com/photos/freeflyer09/5104803562/
Dalmatian: http://www.flickr.com/photos/halften/
Magnifying glass & book: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakebouma/3345296623/
Magnifying glass & money: http://www.flickr.com/photos/59937401@N07/5858011914/
Keyboard: http://www.flickr.com/photos/anonymouscollective/
Typesetting: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/172495285/
Operators: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ironrodart/4154904299/
Scale: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sepehrehsani/
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