There has been much fanfare about Google+, mostly revolving aroung how it has trumped Facebook and Twitter is a series of ways, but many in the SEO world have known all along that one of the major reason why Google have invested so much into their social networking layer is because of the advantage it gives them in terms of social rankings.
As BD blogged earlier this month, Google+ has an advantage over Facebook in terms of both privacy and video conferencing, and it is primarily its better handling of privacy that is a key factor in the SEO advantage. The 'circles' strategy, where users can split their friends into different circles, which each have differential levels of access, may mean that users are more forthcoming about what content and websites are being shared socially. The Econsultancy blog have pointed out that this could be a great addition to Google's search algorithm. They have noted that what some call the 'linkerati' - those who own their own websites and blogs, and have the ability to make multiple links to sites - have been the main early adopters of Google+, giving a boon to Google's new '+1' API, which has been designed to compete with the Facebook 'like' and the Twitter 'follow'. This concentration of webmasters and bloggers may see Google generate data on social trends faster than its competitors.
Meanwhile, Reuters have reported that Google+ is beginning to face it's first challenges, as some loopholes in user creation are beginning to be discovered, leading to an acceleration of 'spam' accounts and spam links. Google have been insisting on people using their real names, using the bizarre analogy of people wearing shirts in a restaurant (!). The way Google handles these teething problems will determine how successful it's social networking layer will be, with many groups such as the LGBT community slamming Google for not letting people hide behind pseudonyms for self-protection.
