Google+ Pages: the other +shoe drops

Social media brand ninja guru wom marketers everywhere are rejoicing in a slightly lacklustre way today, as Google+ introduces Pages for businesses and brands, allowing the corporate world to join in on the Google+ fun. Of course, it remains to be seen if Google+ gets enough mainstream traction to be worth the time and effort you would need to build a brand presence there. Google remains heavily invested in the product, integrating it into both its main search product and Google News. And as part of the launch, we now discover why Google removed the + operator from its search:

Google+ Direct Connect lets you quickly navigate to a Google+ page (and even add that page to your circles) when using Google Search. For example, if you searched for the query ‘+youtube’ or ‘+pepsi,’ you could be immediately taken to the YouTube Google+ page, or the Pepsi Google+ page, and given the option to add the page to your circles.

I’ve set up a page for this humble old blog, and you can Circle it, if you like, by clicking on the very, very red button below: