Google, where are Business Pages?

Sure, you can jump in the water without knowing how to swim. But you can't jump into the same water knowing there are hungry sharks competing to get some skin off your bones without knowing how to be a pro swimmer.

Interpretation? Google should not have launched individual pages if they knew business pages were a long ways off. Did Facebook do it? Yes, but Facebook is allowed the "pioneer permission", meaning, they were first to become a huge social networking place, so inevitably, had to make some trial and error shots along the way.

Google, knowing this information, and playing the very in tune spectator, felt they wanted a piece of the networking pie. Orkut and Buzz weren't good enough. So they created a brain child merging aspects of Twitter and Facebook into Google Plus. And the crowds cheered, that finally there was a place online that would be the hub of all things social. That you could check your email, read your favorite blogs, update your calendar, post updates and micro blog, all on the same smooth Google platform.

But then the crowds noticed something blatantly missing: Where are the business pages? Since the debut of Google Plus in July of this year, there have only been rumors and hazy messages promising business pages "as fast as they can code them". Google, dear Google, whom I've stuck with since I discovered Gmail- it's more than a race against the clock. Time is money! And we're losing the interest of big dollar clients by blocking them off from using your social network. After all, if you take away the business aspect of Facebook, what separates them from Hi5, Bebo, Multiply? The ability for consumers and businesses to interact is not to be underestimated! For the consumer and the business. The resources available online have benefited small businesses looking to cut costs and allowed large corporations to learn more about their consumer demographics and buying patterns- literally, to peer inside the mind of those interested in their products. But that beauty in interaction didn't come by staving off upset businesses promising a business profile "soon enough".

Several entrepreneurs and business owners have expressed their disappointment in Google Plus. "I don't want my clients to know me through my personal name; after all, that's not what I'm branding. I need them to reach me by my business name, the one advertised and the one I'm known by." stated a DJ in the New England area. After having his account deactivated by Google for using his fictitious name, he says he is giving up and moving back to Facebook.

At this rate, Google Plus will not be number one. And maybe that's not what they intended. But for the digital marketing reps out there that make a living and a career of promoting businesses- we twiddle our thumbs waiting to have our chance while Facebook hogs all the money making ads and businesses. I'm waiting, Google. We're waiting. We hope you can make a stellar entrance that will make us forget how long we waited. And hopefully, it doesn't come too late.