Google has filed a patent for a new system that allows email users to share content on their social media profiles and pages with the click of a button.
Social media has exploded in terms of popularity in recent years. According to the Pew Internet Project, a whopping 74% of all U.S. adults who are online use social media networking sites. Facebook is holding steady in first place, with 71% of U.S. adults accessing it, while Twitter is in a distant second with 23% of adults using the Big Blue Bird.
Of course, Google is fully aware of the widespread growth of social media. In June 2011, the Mountain View company launches its first successful social media network. Dubbed “Google+,” it differs from traditional networks in the sense that users add friends and connections to their “circles.” Some people have criticized Google for its unconventional approach to social media networking, but with 418 million monthly users and counting, I think it’s safe to say that Google+ is here to stay.
Now it appears that Google is hammering down on the social media game, as it recently filed a patent for a new email-social media integration system. Granted, there are plenty of apps, programs and web browser plugins/addons that perform similar function, but Google is taking it one step further.
The patent, found here, is meant to shift the interaction between email users to social media. Email isn’t an engaging platform for back-and-forth interactions; it’s tedious, time-consuming, and furthermore some messages may land in the user’s spam folder instead of his or her inbox. Google wants to change the way that people communicate by guiding them away from email and towards social media. The new system works by the analyzing links within emails to determine the most appropriate social media on which to share them. It will then create a pop-up window with suggestions on how to share the content and which social media network(s) to use.
“The proposed system is built on email communication, and the idea is quite simple: a link is shared from one user to another. When the link is clicked, Google will utilize a pop-up system that will suggest how to share the link on social media,” explained the folks at MarketingLand.
The system will even generate complete sentences to use in social media posts based on the email link and conversation between the users. If two users are discussing a sports game, Google’s system may automatically generate a sentence like “XYZ sports team is my favorite,” along with a link. And lastly, the system may pull relevant hashtags based on current trending hashtags to create greater visibility.
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