Image via CrunchBase
Google Plus is up and running. As of last week, there were over 20 million users worldwide, despite the fact that Google is (sort of) rationing invitations.
Our take: Google Plus is a brand new social network. Most of the people on it are early adopters who are trying to figure out its capabilities. Business accounts are not yet available. Google Plus may turn out to be important, but it will have little impact until a lot of people start ditching Facebook. That hasn’t happened yet and probably won’t for months if not years. Some think the ultimate purpose for Google is to have access to a large part of the social networking stream for search purposes—since Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can protect its content from Google if they want to.
Impact on your business: None yet, but you might want to get an account and check it out for yourself. Contact us for an invitation.
Spotify is a streaming music service that is popular outside of the US but just launched in this country. It is growing quickly but like Google Plus, is managing invitations for its free version. Paid subscriptions at $4.99 or $9.99/month are available with premium features and no advertising.
Our take: Perhaps the simplest and best way to listen to a song of your choosing online, when you want to hear it. Search the vast library and you will be surprised if you cannot find what you’re looking for. No downloading, but think about it: if you can listen to a song any time you want, you might not need to download it.
Impact on your business: Improves your online listening experience, which might well improve your day. Also, signing up allows Spotify to grab your computer’s music library for distribution to others, so don’t be shocked if you find your most obscure favorites on Spotify. They might have come from you! Contact us for an invitation.
LinkedIn has just launched a one-button “apply for a job” feature. The “Apply with LinkedIn” button functions somewhat like the Facebook Like button and can be embedded into a company’s website. Essentially the user can submit their LinkedIn profile to a job application, no cover letter included. Once the application is submitted, the user can ask for referrals from individuals they are connected to via LinkedIn.
Our take:Â Intriguing feature that will make application simpler and perhaps more modern than the traditional resume.
Impact on your business:Â Easy to implement on your website and something to consider next time you have job openings.
