Why am I saying that Google+ will have huge advantages for composers and musicians in general? (Please keep in mind that I am not trying to compare it to other social networks. We all know what’s possible with them … and what’s not!)

Circles

At first sight it might look a bit irritating, but once understood, the concept of Circles make big sense. Basically, Circles are nothing more than lists you are able to create for specific people. You can create a Circle for all your clients, or one for all the musicians you might considering hiring for your next project. You may create a Circle for friends and one for family.

The possibilities are almost endless. Just a few examples:

• You have close friends, spread around the globe and you feel like sharing some private news but don’t feel like involving all of your clients? Simply set up a specific Circle by only involving your friends!
• You are looking for a guitar player to hire for your next project. Isn’t it a great option to only send a post out to your “hire musicians” Circle and leave the stream “uncluttered” for your clients or friends?
• One of your hobbies might be Lucid Dreaming and you want to share and spread your experience but also learn from other people. Put them all in a Circle.

Hang Outs

This is really a great feature! A Hang Out is nothing less than a group video chat conference. Wouldn’t it be simply cool to hang out with your bandmates who are spread around the country and working out a new idea? Wouldn’t it be of great advantage to have a video conference between an audio director and a co-working composer discussing an upcoming project? Wouldn’t it be awesome to directly talk to your hired remote musician to discus that violin arrangement?

Huddles

Woot? Yes, a huddle is basically a “text chat” between two or several members on your mobile phone. It works really well and gives you the option to arrange, e.g. a changing meeting, letting several people know that you might be late due to a traffic jam or whatever … you get the idea!

The Stream and your posts

There is really lot to the Stream and how you can post content on Google+. One of the strongest features is that you are not limited to 140 characters—you can almost write a full-length blog post. I couldn’t say it better than +Mike Elgan did:

Instead of saying, ‘I’m going to write a blog post now,’ or ‘I’m going to send an e-mail,’ or ‘I think I’ll tweet something,’ you simply say what you have to say, then decide who you’re going to say it to.

If you address it to “Public” it’s a blog post.
If you address it to “Your Circles” it’s a tweet.
If you address it to your “My Customers” Circle it’s a business newsletter.
If you address it to a single person, it can be a letter to your mother.
I’d say this is pretty revolutionary.

I simply have to agree with him!

I hope I was able to give you a bit of an insight of what is possible with Google+. In my opinion, social networking is vital, important, and necessary—especially as a self employed composer. Please consider that Google+ is still in beta and I am sure there are lots of awesome features to come.