Since Google+ was released about a month ago, the internet as we know it has begun to change.
The internet itself is really about sharing information. Of course, there are many forms of information. There is news related information, social information, how-to information, technical information, academic information, product information, information on information… I think it is quite obvious that this list could go on forever.
Traditionally, internet users have had many different mediums to distribute and receive information.
News sites were for current events, MySpace was for social information and blogs were for sharing many different types of information. In fact, the evolution of blogs also revolutionized the internet and, in a way, the media.
Anyone could create a blog and write about whatever they wanted. People began to follow bloggers instead of news outlets because they found the information more honest and more personal.
Blogs also allowed a great deal of interaction between the blog’s author and the blog’s readers. This helped bloggers understand what their readers were looking for and, in turn, provide more relevant information.
Then social media revolutionized the internet. Although bloggers and news sites still posted their information on their own site, they were able to distribute their content much more effectively through the use of Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Social media also allowed bloggers and content providers to interact with their followers in real time; something that blogs never really accomplished. In the end, however, bloggers interacted with their followers in social media and then directed their followers back to their blogs.
Now we have Google+ and everything has changed– or at least is changing.
Google+ allows users to produce content without character limitations, interact with their followers, share other content that they have found, distribute information freely or privately, communicate with friends, advertise their content, read news, follow their favorite bloggers, see sports updates, etc.
I think it is quite obvious that this list could go on forever.
Sound familiar? Of course it does, the list containing the different forms of information at the beginning of this post could also go on forever.
So if the point of the internet is to distribute and receive information and there are limitless forms of information and limitless ways to share, interact with and control that information in Google+, then… You should be starting to see the picture now.
Google+ is everything that the internet was intended to be from day 1.
Google+ alone provides users with the same functionalities that used to be encompassed within 4 or 5 web platforms.
Also remember, Google+ has not even been out for a month yet. Not one month.
One month and KevinRose.com no longer exists. Instead, it points to Keven Rose’s Google+ profile. Bill Gross (founder of Idealab) has also pointed his blog to his Google+ profile.
This is big. Really big.
Are there areas where Google+ needs to improve before it “revolutionizes the internet“? Of course there are.
The main areas include the ability to advertise in your stream post, being able to use more rich media in the body of each stream update and slightly more control in terms of circle organization.
It is even possible that Google+ will be ousted by a competitor who takes the model Google has invented for information sharing and creates an even better one. Who knows?
Regardless of what information sharing platform actually stands the test of time, there is no doubt that Google+ is changing the internet as we know it.
For more information, check out my article: How Google+ is Different
