Add Google Plus to your New Year ResolutionsDid you watch CNN this morning? It reported Paul Allen’s stats that Google+ growth is exceeding expectations. According to him, Google is now over 62 million users and adding about 625,000 new users every day.

His prediction? Google+ will have over 400 million users by the end of 2012.

400 million users in a year in a half.

Don’t ditch Facebook

Granted, there is a difference between “users” and “active users.” Facebook reports 800 million active users–people who actually use Facebook. And it reports that half of them log in to Facebook every day.

Facebook currently has more active users each day than the projected total users Google+ will have by the end of 2012. So you definitely want to get good at using Facebook. I recommend checking out John Haydon to get really good at using Facebook.

But explore Google+ in 2012

But even with Facebook’s success, when asked a question they can’t answer, people don’t say they’ll “Facebook” it. They still say they’ll “Google” it. And herein lies the secret to Google’s success.

CNN reports that Google has more monthly visitors than Facebook. And Google is advertising Google+ prominently, especially with the omnipresent black bar on many of its products.

The people will try out Google+. And as Google opens up it’s API, more developers will be able to create applications that interface with Google+. (Think Causes in Facebook. Or, unfortunately, Farmville.) These new applications will help “users” become “active users.”

Add to that all the changes Google is making to accomodate Google+ in all its other products, including and especially its search results, it’s important to your nonprofit or business to get familiar with Google+ now. It’s still an early adopter phase which means people are more forgiving when a company or nonprofit makes mistakes.

You don’t want to end 2012 wishing you’d checked out Google+ a year ago.

Some tools to help you get started

I’ve written a lot about Google+ and why I think it’s great for nonprofits. All the posts are available here: Google+ for Nonprofits on FundraisingCoach.com. Here are some of those articles:

Here are some quick videos on YouTube about aspects of Google+:

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