Illustration: Jeanette Mercado

It’s been approximately five weeks since Google opened the invites to try Google+ and estimates now have the user base sitting somewhere between 10 to 18 million (I know this is a far cry from Facebook’s 750 million users worldwide). With many regarding Google+ as the search engine’s attempt to go after the social market and take on Facebook, I thought I’d use this post to conduct a feature-by-feature comparison. I quickly realized that had already been done in the blogosphere.

I took a step back and asked myself: why would Google even attempt to go after Facebook? Surely they realize that being this late to the game puts them at a disadvantage. Then it hit me: what if Google really isn’t going after the social market? Instead, they have an entirely different plan around the use of Google+. One word resonated with me: convergence.

Why is convergence important? Simply, because it consolidates the many activities that a person normally does, using different applications and platforms, and groups them together to make them accessible through a single access point (being the cloud in this case).

To fully understand the idea of convergence in the Google landscape, let’s take a look at Google’s offerings:

Communication: With over 170 million active Gmail users it’s the second most used webmail platform within North America. This provides Google with a large base of individuals that actively communicate through this tool.

Collaboration: With it’s free Office Suite (Google Docs) available through the web, Google allows the user to share and collaborate on documents in real-time.

Platforms: The buyout of Android was a huge and surprising coup when it happened, however the move towards a mobile operating system provided Google with another platform in which to operate. With Android devices gaining popularity and the increasing number of apps available in the Android marketplace (including Google+), Google is looking to expand its reach.

Additionally, the introduction of the Chromebook has allowed Google to introduce its lightweight, Chrome operating system as an alternative to traditional operating systems such as Windows and Mac OSX. This development further entrenches Google in the area of cloud computing. With no applications stored locally on the machine and access only available via the Internet, all the user needs is a Gmail account to gain access.

This all leads back to the initial question, what does Google really have in mind with Google+?

Think about Google+ as being that collaborative layer that connects all of these applications and platforms together. By having a Gmail account, not only is communication taken care of, this account becomes the backbone for the authentication of Google Docs, Google+ (both web and Android app versions) and the main login for the Chromebook. Now imagine that both the Android and Chromebook have access to all the features of Google+ available on the respective “launchpads.” Having access to circles, and video chat, and combining that with the collaborative nature of Google Docs, it’s very easy to imagine a rich collaborative environment used by businesses and students to share work, complete group assignments and provide meaningful discussions.

So, if Google+ is built with convergence in mind, what can we expect next?

Tags: Android, Facebook, Google, Google Docs

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