Google+ (Google Plus or G+) is a powerful social networking and identity service that lunched on June 28, 2011 and operated by Google Inc. As of December 2012, it has a total of 500 million registered users of whom 235 million are active on a monthly basis. Unlike other conventional social networks such as Facebook which are generally accessed through a single website, Google has described Google+ as a “social layer” consisting of not just a single site, but rather an overarching “layer” which covers many of its online properties.

Google+ Pages was launched on November 7, 2011 to all users. It allows entities which are not individuals (such as organizations, companies, and publications) to set up profiles, or “pages”, for the posting and syndication of posts.
Much like Facebook Pages, these Google+ destinations are places where commercial names can not only broadcast news and propaganda to the world at large, but also interact with their fans and critics.
It is similar to Facebook’s similarly named feature. At the same time, Google changed the site’s logo and favicon, from black to a red one, matching the color of the coral notification icon.

More importantly, Google integrates Plus into its web-dominating search engine. With Google+ Direct Connect, searchers can insert a “+” before their query and jump directly to a business’s Google+ page. Type “+YouTube” into a Google search box, for instance, and Google will take you straight to YouTube’s Plus page.

This is where Google will have an advantage over Facebook: With a broad array of services like search and Gmail and Chrome and Android, Google offers tools that are fundamental to the online lives of so many people — and these can be tied to Google+. As Google+ evolves, Google will have the means to promote its social network — and the branded Pages within it — in ways that Facebook or Twitter cannot.

Google+ brand and personal pages are slowly gaining adoption. Obviously Google+ does not have the tools & applications it’s competitor Facebook has. AmericanLayout offers custom Google+ business pages set up and design. Google Plus business page applications, and consulting, scrapbook animations.