Google+ Opens Up to NPOs

Google+ finally is allowing charities (and businesses) to have their own pages on the Google+ platform. No more work arounds.

Beth Kanter has already started pulling together a circle of all charities who have a page. Another reason why I love to read Beth’s work.

John Haydon has created a video explaining how to create a Google+ page for your website. This video is one of the reasons why John Haydon rocks! John, thanks for your work on this.

Do you have a Google+ page for your agency? If so let us know so we may add you to our circle and let Beth know so you’re in hers, too.

Google+

Google+ (Google Plus) is Google’s newest foray into social media. The service is about a month old and is still being rolled out on an invitation only basis. It took me a few weeks before I received an invitation for it. It’s now over 20 million users. I, like most others, are kicking the tires to see what it really does. Some think it might be a Facebook killer. Others think it will be the new form du jour of blogging.

I like how you can place people into Circles. Google+ Circles are similar to categorizing your Facebook friends with labels. Hangouts are where you can do group video chats. Google+ integrates your Google tools, like Picasa, into its service.

Marc Pitman has a nice write up why your nonprofit should consider Google+. Here is a cheat sheet with Google+ tips. Mashable has a Complete Google+ guide that is helpful, too.

Here’s a video from Google about the service.

Is Google Plus a Facebook killer? I don’t know yet. Are you using it? Let us know your reaction.

Update (3 p.m. 7/25/11): I came across an additional Google+ best practices resource for nonprofits that I needed to share with you.