Last week I questioned how many active, daily users Google+ really has. We know it has a huge user base – according to Google, it’s over 40 million users. But Google won’t talk about how many of those people are actually active on the service. All indications are that it’s a small percentage of the total user base. My post was strongly challenged by Google+ power user Robert Scoble, who said that I was missing the point. “Google+ is for finding, and talking with, the people who are interested in the same thing you are,” he wrote.
So how to find those interesting people? There are a few main ways to find groups of people in Google+. One is by using the search feature on Google+, which as you’d expect from the search giant is very good. Another is to subscribe to shared circles. The third is by hunting out lists created by the community.
As I started my exploration of artists on Google+, I stumbled upon a group of lists curated by freelance designer and illustrator Leodor Selenier. She created a project named G+Artistic, described as “weekly updating lists about talented people, who share their Skills, Talent, Art, Craftsmanship, and Design.” She targeted Visual Artists, Painters, Sculptors, Illustrators, Graphic Designers, Art Crafters, Jewel Designers and other artistic types.
Part 1 of her project introduced me to 19 artistic people on Google+.
Through that post by Leodor, I discovered an artist named Kelly McKernan (from Atlanta, Georgia). Kelly is using Google+ to (among other things) update her followers on pieces that she’s working on. For example, a watercolor named “Atonement” was posted at an early stage, then a couple more times, and finally the finished painting was posted. The great thing is that an early iteration received a comment that advised a subtle change – which Kelly then implemented! Now that’s the Web at its best, when there is a two-way creative process.
Leodor Selenier has 9 other similar lists, which you can check out by visiting her Google+ profile. Currently she doesn’t appear to offer any shared artist circles, but perhaps that’s coming in the near future.
It took a bit of work to find a shared circle of artists (not sure if that was just me, or the search is inadequate in helping Google+ users find shared circles about a particular topic). However I did eventually find this one by James Day. It features 65 artists. I’ve subscribed and will monitor it over the coming weeks.
Overall, I was impressed by the artists I explored on Google+. They post colorful, creative things and there is a sense of community amongst artists and art fans on Google+.
I still want to know what percentage of the 40M people on Google+ come back and interact with the site every day. But I take Robert Scoble’s point that there are very active niches on Google+, such as the artists I discovered today, which does point to the future of this service.
Let me know of other artists using Google+ in the comments here, as I want to find more of them!
