Google+ Corporate Accounts Testing To Launch Next Week

When the new Google+ social platform was announced for beta testing over two weeks ago, it attracted plenty of interest from personal account users as well as businesses. However, the latter was denied access, told to hold off until Google was ready to roll out corporate accounts. Now it looks like select businesses will get the privilege to trial Google+ corporate accounts starting as early as next week.

Thousands of businesses have already signed up on the waiting list, which has spurred Google to speed up development on the Google+ corporate accounts. Originally set to launch sometime towards the end of this year, Google+ for business will likely hit sooner, although no specific dates have been announced or speculated thus far. To be a candidate for next week's Google+ business trial, you will have to sign up before this Friday when the application form will be closed.

Social media as a marketing tool is becoming critical for many businesses and hence to have an early presence on Google+ is highly important. Many businesses have already attempted to sign up using personal accounts for their business or brand, but Google has proceeded to delete those accounts as they come across them.

"We won't be able to accommodate everyone, but your interest has got us very focused on accelerating our development plans," said Google product manager Christian Oestlien in a Google+ post. He also said that he and his team will focus next week on selecting a diverse set of business partners for the trial. "We will be communicating with these partners next week, and will let the world know who they are soon thereafter."

[via CNET]