In terms of social media usefulness, Google Plus is at a point where it would have to be considered high value.
What do I mean by that?
We’ve seen that social media platforms, while having a tremendous amount of longevity, have also proven to be susceptible to devaluing and overuse. By way of spam, fake accounts and overly aggressive online marketing, social media platforms get inflated and begin to lose value for those who truly have something to contribute to the online community.
In short, it makes it difficult (if not impossible) to find the good stuff, amidst all of the junk.
Take Twitter for example: They’ve seen a massive influx of automated and fake accounts over the past several years, with plenty of accompanying worthless spam links.
That means that a tweet, is less valuable than it used to be, plain and simple.
So in terms of social media stock value, Twitter is on the way down, and unfortunately, there’s little that anyone can do to change that, aside from adding quality content. Even still, the fact is, that social media accounts, given enough time, are going to risk plummeting in value because of abuse and overuse.
Striking While the Iron is Hot
Where does this leave those of us who truly want to contribute, and get the most out of our social media accounts? It means that we need to be at least somewhat aware of this cycle, and target social media outlets that are in their prime, with rising stock.
That brings us to Google Plus.
Positive Outlook for Google Plus
What seemed like a desperate attempt by Google to throw its hat in the social media ring in 2011, has turned into the second largest social network, behind only Facebook.
The way that Google has integrated search results, local pages and blog authorship into Google Plus has made the social media platform unique, and extremely relevant to bloggers and content marketers.
So whether or not the piecemeal social media platform reputation was ever justified, it’s not an issue anymore for Google Plus. With a sleek design and seamless integration with all things Google Plus accounts are going to become more common and more active in the next few years.
This means that the “value” of Google Plus is going to be at an all time high.
Taking Advantage of the Value of a +1 Post
For bloggers and those who are looking to market quality content via social media, Google Plus might be one of the most lucrative spots to do so over the next few years, since to this point, there has been a relatively small amount of abuse stemming from the site.
Knowing how long it is before that abuse starts to increase is impossible to tell. However it’s worth noting that Google has a reputation for cracking down on “thin” or affiliate sites that cheapen search results; thus we’ve got plenty of reason to believe they’ll have mechanisms in place to keep Google Plus squeaky clean for a long time.
Even if a Twitter-esque content inflation is on the horizon for Google Plus, it’s still a long ways off, making this an optimal time to leverage your Plus account and take advantage of everything it has to offer.
Jason Bayless is a professional blogger that gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice. He writes for BestSEOCompanies.com, a nationally recognized comparison website of the best SEO companies in the United States.
