Google Plus has been making waves ever since it was announced. Within just two weeks, it has managed to amass millions of users, and millions more are desperate to get in. The biggest strength of Google Plus is its engagement factor. Google has finally made a social product that’s genuinely fun and addictive to use. As a result, we are seeing people like Kelvin Rose ditch their blogs in favor of Google+.
If you are one of those folks who are already hooked, and you are from India, then there is some good news for you. Now you can update your Google Plus status, on the go, via SMS. All you need to do is send an SMS to 9222222222 with your message text.
You can even specify post visibility while updating via SMS. Here are the modifiers you can use:
- @[circle name] – To share your update with selected circles.
- @extended – To share your post with your extended circles.
- @public – To make your update visible to everyone (including search engines).
- @[email address] – To share your update with a particular person.
If you don’t specify anything, your post will be shared with everyone in your circles.
It’s slightly odd that this feature is currently available only in India. Normally, the focus during early field testing is strictly on US residents. However, Indians might also represent the ideal demographic for this feature. India is a country where mobile phone penetration is very high, but smartphone penetration is low. Additionally, SMS is dirt cheap. The Indian masses will almost certainly appreciate this feature. But, the question is, how many of the masses are using Google Plus? In these early days, it’s mainly tech and social media enthusiasts who are dominating the social graph.