The PR and marketing implications of Google+

It even occupied about half of yesterday’s episode of FIR.

For those unclear on Google+, it’s the new social network Google has cobbled together from a variety of the technologies it has developed over the last several years. That’s not a criticism; Google has done a masterful job of weaving these technologies into a well-integrated network that bears some similarities to Facebook and to Friendfeed.

What I haven’t seen yet is much discussion about the implications of Google+ for communicators, marketers, and PR practitioners. While it’s way, way too early to be sure of what Google’s latest (and best) attempt to enter the social media party will mean in the long run, it’s not too hard to draw some early conclusions.

Monitoring. There’s no escaping it. Google+ is one more venue you’ll need to monitor for brand references and other mentions. Most of the monitoring services haven’t had a chance to add Google+ to the lists of social media channels they follow. Radian6, for example, told me it’s not monitoring Google+ yet; I haven’t heard of any competing service that is doing so.