Did you take my advice a few months ago and sign up for Google +? Have you done much with it? Most folks I talk to haven’t. Plenty of folks talk of its failure to launch, but I think that’s a premature evaluation.

Darren Slaughter just blogged about closing down his Facebook fan page and going all in on Google + with his post Goodbye Facebook…Hello Google +.  He earlier wrote about the importance of social networking for construction companies and now casts his vote to Google +.

I haven’t taken the time to really make Google + work yet, but I’m ready to try. I’ll keep you updated on my progress. At the very least, it makes for great video chats with my grandkids…which gives me enough motivation to get it done.

By the way, if you want to understand why social media will affect your future so much more than most people realize, read this great article. Those that miss this boat will have trouble catching the next one.

Wired broke the story that Google Plus went from an invitation only Beta site to live today. Now anyone with a Gmail account (if you don’t have one, get one right now), may signup to participate in Google Plus. This social network should be much more useful than Facebook. I think G+ will change the way design and construction teams collaborate.

Google improved the Hangout feature in G+, which will allow scheduled and impromptu virtual meetings. We can video conference from our smart phones or desktops, share screens, SketchPad and Google Docs all at the same time. We can also create information circles around a particular project that keeps everyone in the loop and on current documents.

In an earlier post, I encouraged you to jump in with Google and smart phones.  The reasons to stay current with technology just got stronger today. I’m going to download the G+ app to my Android and see where it takes me.

Has anyone gotten any results yet or have anything to share on this topic?