Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explains how the new Google+ naming system will work, enabling business people and business brands to have custom URLs: short, easy-to-remember web addresses that should make it easier to find a business profile or page on Google+.
For instance, instead of going to https://plus.google.com/111717275116289870961 to get to the Ford Motor Company on Google+, you might instead see https://google.com/+ford.
That link doesn’t actually work as I write this, but this one does: https://google.com/+google.
It’s clearly a far better way to locate business content on Google+, and for a business to make it easier to be discovered.
But that’s not the big deal here, says Vaughan-Nichols:
[…] Look at those custom Google+ URLs closely. Notice something? They’re not Google+ URLs, they are Google URLs. Google CEO Larry Page recently said, “Google Plus is truly at the heart of our efforts to create our social spine. With over 120 Google Plus integrations to date, we’re on the right track. Your user experience on Google just gets better. You can see friends’ recommendations when you’re using Google play and you don’t think about that as Google Plus but it just comes from that infrastructure.”
This new name policy may be proof that Page meant what he said. In other words, Google+ is not Google’s answer to Facebook and Twitter. It’s the spine, the neural network of the next generation of Google. With this move Google is showing that it’s continuing to integrate the personal with the global into its search and other services.
[Update Aug 24] Ford’s says its new vanity URL is now working. And – you guessed it – it’s http://google.com/+Ford.
14 responses to “The Google neural network”
RT @jangles: The Google neural network: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explains how the new Google+ naming system will work, enabl… http:/ …
[http://t.co/vb7rb8dE] The Google neural network http://t.co/940nYrZf
Hobson: The Google neural network: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explains how the new Google+ naming system will wor… http://t.co/lMv5oy17
The Google neural network http://t.co/zYaXxHnv
The Google neural network http://t.co/YAkEZfC7
The Google neural network http://t.co/ibyvEHte
[…] The Google neural network Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explains how the new Google+ naming system will work, enabling business people and business brands to have custom URLs: short, easy-to-remember web addresses that should make… […]
@Jangles: The Google neural network http://t.co/4h2pBnLm
The Google neural network arises: http://t.co/qr5yVJbM)
Google + is readying vanity URLs. But will it really matter? http://t.co/U86HJCEx
RT @ericschwartzman: Google + is readying vanity URLs. But will it really matter? http://t.co/U86HJCEx
I’ve heard about this vanity url this past week or so. Would love to give this a try and use it on my profile, and my business G+ page too!
Very excited about the Google+ vanity URLs! http://t.co/VhI1Mfj0
The Google Neural Network http://t.co/Flfx6r6T via @jangles