How to Find People on Google Plus (Google+)

If Google Plus continues to experience the kind of incredible traction it has garnered over the past couple of weeks, it will quickly be a major network. If you are looking to find people or source candidates, it should offer a unique way to both search for and find profiles and then organize profiles with the Circles technology.

To follow up with an article about recruiting with Google+, we wanted to discuss ways to search and find people on Google Plus. The problem is, there aren’t many specialized services developed yet. We’ll try to keep this list updated as new Google Plus people search options are launched. If Google’s social network continues expansion, there will of course be many new services and applications built around the profile system.

Ways to Find People on Google Plus

• Native Google Plus Find People search: Google Plus has limited functionality, but indexes the entire profile based on text. You can enter any keyword on the profile, including name, and the search tool will return a list of users. As of this writing, they don’t appear to offer a specific way to limit the scope of search to particular profile fields. However, it does appear to contain a complete set of user profiles, whereas regular Google search does not.
• Regular Google Search: Public profiles (and updates or posts that a user creates for that matter) is course searchable via regular Google search. Users have a variety of privacy options that can limit public search, but most information on the about page and profile fields should remain public, even with enhanced privacy option development. Bill Vick, on our last post, suggested using regular site search through Google, like “site:plus.google.com (people search keywords.)” For example, “site:plus.google.com (recruiter OR recruiting OR recruitment)” Additionally, if you are looking for a status update, you can add “Post By” to the search query.
• FindPeopleonPlus.com offers people search based on all of the regular profile fields of Google+, including Relationship Status, Gender, Looking for (reason for using the service), Number of followers, Occupation, and specific geographic fields. The application was developed by Exponential Labs Inc. This Google+ directory is the first application that we know of developed specifically for people search.
• Gpeep.com : A new service (like they all are) with a directory and search indexing only Google Plus. They have a nice little search box which appears to auto suggest keywords – type in “ja…” and it suggests Java Developer, Deja Vu, and Jazz Music. They even incorporated the Google-centric “I’m feeling lucky,” which returns a random (it seems) plus profile. Daniel Travolto developed and built the search service.

Google Plus promises to be a great way to find people. Google will no doubt keep a lot of profile information public and open to their own search engine and to the open web. If you have any Google Plus search tips or spot a new application for finding people, please let us know here and we’ll add to this article!