Google+ Strengthens Appeal with Google Helpouts

Whether you like it or not, Google+ is going to become a major player in the social media world of 2014.

Since its launch two years ago, the platform has not so much stuttered its way across the electronic ether (it is after all, the second largest social media platform in existence), but it is one that has largely offered nothing but silence to the majority of internet users.

This isn’t helped by the fact that some online marketers used the Google Authorship tool in the hope of jumping their way through the SERPs - though it was confirmed during a hangout very recently that actually, Google Authorship does nothing for rankings whatsoever (something that the SEO world suspected all along).

In the past few months however, Google has begun adding new and specific features to the platform, including vanity URLs and SMS integration.

But the new tutoring service offers something different, something that other social platforms cannot - it can make users hard cash. And it can do it in a way that far eclipses YouTube royalties.

Launched only last week, the Helpouts allow people to pay for a brief one-on-one class with qualified experts of nearly every field imaginable, and international brands such as Weight Watchers and Rosetta Stone have already made use of the service.

But this also means that qualified and experienced individuals can take up the opportunity to guide strangers through their field; costing tutors a mere 20% of the amount that they charge.

For those wary of the quality of prospective sessions however, Google does offer refunds for customers who are not satisfied with their video consultation, and on top of this, they are also free to leave reviews; quality control therefore, is judged to the popular voice of the customer.

The only visible issue is internet connection. Unfortunately, if you were to disconnect from the digital world, this would currently mean that your session is lost (along with your money), as Stuart Heritage of The Guardian found out.

So will this give Google+ the muscle that it needs to compete with Facebook and Twitter?

Not quite, as both Facebook and Twitter offer usability and purposes that can be understood not only by your average ten year old, but also by his 70 year old grandmother.

Google+ however, is a platform that is mainly used by technology fanatics and people working in the digital industry, so although it has opened to people who want to learn, the Helpouts may only serve to cement the platform’s place within its already difficult digital niche.

On the other hand however, if Google keeps adding this kind of innovation (without antagonising YouTubers), little tweaks and additional features may push it a long way forward to becoming something great.