Google+ To Have Business Profile Pages
Jeff Huber, Google VP of Local and Commerce, has indicated that Google+, at some point in the near future will include the option for business profile page. Here is his comment: … He has additionally indicated that he will be using Google+ as his primary voice …
Context & Ripple Effects
Jeff Huber, the VP of Local and Commerce, has confirmed that Google+ will add business profile pages 'at some point in the near future' — notable because his division owns the local search side of Google's business, meaning the new network is being wired directly into commerce rather than run as a standalone social experiment. The pickup across outlets from the L.A. Times Tech Blog to SiliconFilter shows how much attention the launch is drawing, with commentary already framing it as a direct challenge to Twitter and Facebook.
The move also extends an arc Google started years earlier, when Google Maps first went social back in 2007; layering business identities onto Google+ gives those local listings a social surface, and Huber's own stated plan to make Google+ his 'primary voice' signals executives are expected to treat it as more than a side channel.
First-order effects
- Businesses wanting a Google+ presence must wait for the official profile option rather than improvising on personal accounts, since Huber's confirmation means branded personal profiles have no sanctioned path right now.
Second-order effects
- Facebook and Twitter face pressure to respond to a rival whose business pages would sit alongside Google search and Maps traffic — commentary at the time, such as SiliconFilter's piece arguing Twitter should be worried, treats that competitive threat as the story's real stakes.
Third-order effects
- If business profiles take hold under the Local and Commerce group, Google's local listings and its social network could converge toward a single business identity spanning search, maps, and social — a consolidation of local web presence around one platform account.
The trend: Social networks are being rebuilt as business platforms, with Google folding merchant identity into Google+ through its local commerce organization.