Google+ accelerates business profiles, as news organizations join early

Mashable
Google is speeding up its plans to develop an official way for news organizations and other businesses to interact on its Google+ social network. In this early trial phase, Google+ only supports personal profiles for individuals, but many news organizations and other brands (including Poynter) have joined anyway as the network quickly gained momentum with users. Some speculate the network may have 10 million users, heading to 20 million by this weekend. A Google executive now says it will pick partners next week to test official business profiles, while continuing to deactivate the unofficial profiles that have sprung up. “Thousands upon thousands of businesses” have applied to join the trial program, Christian Oestlien wrote. After the trial, business profiles should be open to all later this year. || Related: News organizations with unofficial profiles can download and back-up their data in case Google deletes them. Should photographers worry about Google+? || Earlier: What Google+ means for news and what’s missing