The fact that it comes from one of the giants of the internet age means that it’s inevitable that Google+ will be compared to Facebook, the hugely successful leader in the social media sphere. Particularly because Google have tried more than once before to “crack” social media. (Hands up if you remember Buzz and Wave.)

Having said that, this time around, they seem to have produced something that may have “legs”. It looks a bit like Facebook in some ways and a bit like Twitter in others, and it is still in the early days of its development. But it has some coherence to its structure. Indeed, some of the concepts that it has introduced have been seen on other networks.

But it may turn out that the comparison with Facebook may be irrelevant.

Why ? Because it has been designed to play to Google’s strengths on other places on the internet landscape.

The most important of these is Google’s continued dominance of search, particularly local search. Google are, in turn, linking this strongly to their offerings for mobile technology.

But it seems to us that it really does all revolve around search. In spite of the pre-eminence of Facebook, huge numbers still make Google their first port of call when they want to use the internet to find things.

This trend is strengthened because Google’s mobile software, Android, is running most of the new smart phones sold around the world: guess which search tool Android points users towards ?

It’s worth saying again that these are still early days for Google+. There isn’t a widely available structure for businesses yet, though it will come quickly. But because of its strategic links to other vital parts of the business internet world, it’s something that should be watched by all business owners.

UPDATE: As expected, the “Business Page” concept has been added to Google+. Click on the logo to take a look at ours.