Google Plus which is Google’s recent attempt to create a social network is branching out and has just implemented a Games feature to its social network. Users are now able to play games while they are on Google Plus much like Facebook.

This is a big year for Google as they have launched a large social network in front of the world's top social network, Facebook.  After the launch of Google Plus the statistics show that it is much better than what Facebook had in its early days. It took Facebook 38 months to reach 20 million users, Twitter 34 months and an astonishing 24 days for Google Plus to reach20 million users. That’s really something to be proud of, and with more of the population having access to the internet it’s expected to gain a positive response and much more users especially by offering applications such as social gaming.

Google Plus games won’t be annoying
When you play games on Google Plus, you have the opportunity to share game updates, messages and gifts with your circles and you can also invite users of your circle to join you.

When you get an update from a Google Plus Game, it won’t bother you by popping on your main stream page, rather, when your friends share game updates, you will see it on the Games stream of your Google+ Games page. Your game invitations, gifts and messages will show up in Game notifications at the left side in Google+ Games page.

Battle of game developers
Google + games creates a huge opportunity for game developers which will lead to lots of competition and many people will take advantage and make some money out of it.

Zynga, the game developer that has been a huge part of Facebook's gaming success by creating games such as Farmville, will now also develop for Google+. "Zynga Poker" is one of the options that will be available on Google+.

Google + has launched 16 games so far including:

Will Google + give Facebook a run for its money?
Technology analyst Scott Steinberg says there are about 25 million users on Google+ whereas there are roughly 750 million on Facebook, so when it comes to making money, there's real no contest between the two. However, when it comes to social gaming, there are thousands of games on Facebook, and the only way Google + can compete is if they market their games in order to get noticed.

"Games are an activity that is enjoyed by all ages, at work, and at home. The costs are lower than ever, and the selection is higher than ever. There has been a huge surge in popularity, and you have access to thousands of titles at nothing or next to nothing.” says Steinberg

Facebook has not gone unnoticed and has responded to their competitor’s introduction of social gaming by announcing what they called the “biggest set of changes to the Facebook homepage since its initiation.” Changes will include more room for gaming apps and a variety of changes with gaming updates, bookmarks and alerts.

Can Google + compete?
Although Google+ is the fastest-growing social network the online world has seen, it's still sitting at around 25 million users.

By adding the games feature to Google +, they have no doubt entered into the competitive world with Facebook, but they have just started out and it will take a long time for them to develop thousands of games that are already available on Facebook.

"The selection of games being offered isn't going to put a massive dent to Facebook, but the fact that Google is committing to a game strategy speaks volumes about its interest in the space. Overall, the service has a potential to be a serious threat to Facebook's strong hold on social gaming," said Steinberg.

Google+ is making its mark on the social network and it won’t be long until they become well known with effective advertising and marketing. With this early and solid investment in social gaming it is clearly an aggressive move towards social networking dominance.

Related Link:
Google + gives Game Makers Fresh Fields to Sow