Google+ Added Features, Designed Specifically for Businesses

Google’s (News - Alert) social networking site, Google+, which has been the biggest rival to Facebook, offering many similar features and functions with its platform, has new added features built with businesses in mind. The site may now provide the solutions many organizations have longed for from a social network site and can become more than just another conventional social network for users.  

The new enterprise Google+ features  that were revealed this month are getting a lot of attention these days. Here’s why: Those organizations that have already a Google account are able to use Google+ to collaborate and get things done much easier, Google said.  

Some of added features for Google+, which are designed specifically for business use, include: private sharing restrictions for posts, integrated video chats with Google Calendar, and enhanced administrative controls. These new business-focused features may be worth looking into as they show Google’s commitment to have business people embrace the Google+ approach by using the service at work.

Businesses that are interested in using the new features of Google+ are able to do so by signing in with their Google Account, for free, through the end of 2013, said a Google spokesperson. Organizations of all sizes can begin to build relationships with their customers by taking advantage of the new business-focused features within Google+ that are not offered by any other social networking site.

The added feature Google+ Hangouts, which is integrated with Google Calendar, Gmail and Docs, allows users to have online face-to-face meetings with up to 10 external participants, on a laptop, mobile phone or tablet.  What is nice about Google+ Hangouts is video meetings can be set up to have restrictions to make them private. Hangouts also makes it possible for someone in the meeting, in a video chat session, to be able to give a presentation, share their screens with other users or edit documents together online.

Google+ also added a feature to set specific administrative controls on what employees can do with Google+ posts. It permits users to set the sharing restrictions: users can either prevent posts from being shared externally or only share posts with specific partners or colleagues outside the organization.

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Edited by Brooke Neuman