Google+ is testing new features that could see it extending into a social network for workplaces, to put it head to head against services such as Microsoft’s Yammer and Salesforce’s Chatter.
The search giant will hope that by allowing business users to engage with each other via Google+, companies will be more inclined to grow out their brands’ Google+ strategies.
The new features gives employees more control about the content they share with the rest of their workplace over Google+ and integrates other tools such as Hangouts with its portfolio of business related apps, which include Gmail, Calendar and Docs.
Google Apps’ product management director Clay Bavor says in a blog post the company feels Google+ can help colleagues “collaborate more easily and get things done – and get to know each other on the way”.
Business users of Google Apps will now be able to mark Google+ posts as restricted, so they can only be viewed by employees of their organisation and can never be re-shared with anybody outside.
They can also run video meetings via Hangouts directly from Gmail or by adding a hangout to a Calendar event. Once inside the Hangout video conference, business users can open a Google Doc to make it easier to edit documents together.
Google says the changes are “just the beginning” and adds that it has a “a lot more plannd for the coming months”, which includes a mobile version of Google+ for enterprise users and more administrative controls.
