Britney Spears, Google+’s Ashton Kutcher

Britney Spears has done it again, and this time there’s no need for cloying interjections, the newly engaged singer gained the distinction of being the first person on Google+ to reach one million followers. Ashton Kutcher shares the same honor, but on a different network: Twitter.

There seems to have been a very concerted effort on behalf of Spears’ management to ferry her across the magic threshold because, as many have been pointing out, there’s an enormous section on her official homepage existing for the sole purpose of enjoining visitors to follow her on Google+.

Despite the still-somewhat uncertain merit of making it big on Google+, at least at this particular instance in time, the triumphant score will be something a great many Britney fans will be cheering. The Google+ achievement can certainly also be credited to her enduring popularity, and perhaps, also, to the nostalgia people feel for the era she defined. Critics and skeptics, as if we needed a clue, will no doubt patter on and on about the lack of competition from other major stars that Brit faces in the network that has been out only since the summer.

Either way, seems Google+’s tech adoring users have a soft spot for a singer.

Read More:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2397948,00.asp

Britney Spears Beats Larry Page as Google+’s Most Followed Person

Tonight, Katy Perry may be “giving thanks” in grand style with a free concert in L.A.’s Staples Center, but this Thanksgiving Eve, Britney Spears received an unexpectedly special gesture of thanks from her own fans. As of today, they’ve managed to propel her to the very top of Google+ popularity, which means she’s wrested the top spot from Larry Page, Google’s co-founder and CEO. And, that’s not to pile on faint praise on the often controversial singer. Larry Page himself had to contend with taking the top spot from Mark Zuckerberg, his social networking nemesis, a few months ago.

Although this remains good news for Britney, it’s spelling out even better news for Google’s honchos, including Page. As industry writers have been diligently pointing out, riding the high popularity crests of Google+ had been limited to consummate tech-ists like Page and Zuckerberg for a while. Sure, these folks are celebrities, but they’re mostly extolled by the extant and proudly persnickety gaggles of technophiles out there. That these divergent groups are growing at astounding speed no one doubts, but it must be pretty reaffirming for Google that its social network is finally becoming, as some put it, “normal,” thanks to the stronger showing of mainstream celebrity following. Snoop Dog currently occupies third place on Google+.

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http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/11/britney-spears-best-thing-happen-google/45374/

Business World Says Hello to Google+ Pages

Google+ is now officially open for business and to business. Entrepreneurs who were pining for the missing, and increasingly important, social network in their consumer outreach portfolios can now stop holding their breath and create a new business online home asap. The business section of Google+ will go by the slightly retro moniker “Google+ Pages” — an echo of the still delivered, but rarely used, Yellow Pages. Google has made the new business tool available worldwide.

Businesses, brands, and organizations were initially excluded from Google+ because, by Google’s own account, the recently launched social network was not fully outfitted for engagement with those types of entities. Google was so strict on this rule that businesses that rushed to join saw their accounts abruptly terminated, posthaste. The doors are now open and music groups will also be delegated to Google+ Pages — All American Rejects are already set up there.

Along with the Pages, a new search feature has also been rolled out: Direct Connect. Direct Connect allows searchers to type in the plus sign [+] before the name of a band or business. The plus sign will zip users to that organization’s home in the Google+ Pages. For clarity’s sake, Google has also pointed out that its Pages now form part of Google search results.

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http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/google-pages-connect-with-all-things.html

In Order: Improved Sociability and Google+ Incorporation for YouTube

YouTube has been the property of Google for a good number of years now, but as its parent company reaches out for improved sociability and “sharing” features, the famed democratizing broadcaster of video content still has some maturation to undergo. To help YouTube achieve its full social potential, Google acquired the startup Fflick, along with its sharp development team. The goal is to have Fflick’s developers helm YouTube’s integration into Google+, the online behemoth’s newfangled social network.

Out of Fflick’s team of four developers, Ron Gorodetzky has been getting especially good press — Nathan Olivarez-Giles, a Los Angeles Times tech writer, recently profiled him. In the piece, Gorodetzky says that selling Fflick to Google, a mere six months after launching it, was not a decision he took lightly. Google zeroed in on Fflick’s ability to take social data and content — like tweets and online conversations about movies — to create useful applications. Fflick’s most prominent product was a movie recommendation website based on just such materials.

Although Gorodetzky did not divulge any technical details of how the integration of YouTube was going, he did mention that his bosses were trying to extract more useful information form YouTube comments. He also made it clear that Google had most definitely turned its focus to “sharing.”

Read More:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/11/fflick-google-plus-youtube-ron-gorodetzky.html