I know, the thought of creating a new social network profile is not too appealing. I wasn’t so sure about Google+ when I first checked it out, but it is legit and here to stay. Of course, when I canceled my Myspace.com account and signed up for Facebook I felt the same way. Why do I need another social network?

For your personal circle of “friends” it is entirely likely that you do not need another social network. Facebook has over 750 million users and is on track to hit 1 Billion by next year. There is no question it will be a major platform for the foreseeable future. However, for business users, you’re going to have to get on the Google+ bandwagon.

Google+ has announced it will have a “business profiles” feature by the end of the year. Once companies are able to create business profiles, you are going to start seeing Google+ in a lot of marketing. Once that happens, the user base will take off. So why do you care?

Google+ for Business will have many advantages over Facebook for Business. For starters, Google is a search platform and it is very likely they will integrate Google+ Business results into their Google Search platform. Since Google is the number one search engine in the world, it’s not going to be a bad thing for your business to be on there. As you probably noticed, they have already started the integration of the Google+ icon.

You also have to consider all of the other products and services Google offers, then think about the integration possibilities. For businesses that utilize the Google platform for other things, like Google Docs, Apps, Analytics, Adwords, YouTube (owned by Google), the possibilities are limitless, so it’s not a bad wagon to hitch your social strategy to.

One of the features I really love about Google+ is that you can separate out your friends by different categories, friends, family and acquaintances. Let’s be honest, not everyone in your current list of Facebook Friends is actually a friend. Although, the definition of a friend has probably lost a lot of meaning since social networks came around.

Right now Google+ is in an “invite only” testing phase. I happened to have some invites, so if you’re interested shoot me an email.