Marketing: Fun and Useful – try now!

I’ve been following the Google + versus Facebook developments this summer. The fast rise of G+ users has been much reported, and there is a lot of observation and speculation in many much followed sites – Mashable is a good place to read a collection of reposted views with some commentary.  Why do I like Google+? It is the simple and transparent way in which I can put a contact in one or more circles – just as I would in an offline world. A colleague at work who I know runs – I also add them to my running circle.

What will be interesting to see over the coming months is people’s willingness to run FB and G+ in parallel. Will some people keep both for different purposes? Will the switching costs be a deterrent, or will the opportunity to “start over” be appealing for some?

One of the big advantages that FB has currently is the number and ease of ways in which people can publish to FB at the click of a button. G+ still needs to overcome this – for example, Hootsuite is chomping at the bit to be able to add G+ publishing functionality – indeed, it is the most requested new G+ feature in Google’s own user forums. Here’s hoping! Meanwhile, jump in and play and compare: G+ and FB, for both personal and brand use. Experiment and take a point of view!