This evening (Thursday 19th) David Beckham will be entering centre stage for Google, becoming the first star to seriously plug the new social networking platform. In a big move by the digital giant, they are going to be interviewing the football icon on his YouTube page (5pm GMT) and then Beckham will be hosting a hangout on his Google+ page (6.30pm GMT).

His page currently boasts an impressive 450,000 ‘fans’ (do we call them that on Google+?) and he has been on the platform since 8th November last year. Since the start of this year, and especially 13th January, there has been a lot of content added to his page including videos and pictures.  He has been inviting fans to ask him questions using on his page using the hashtag #GoogleBeckham since the announcement last Friday which he will be answering during his interview.

It is expected that as part of this coup for Google, Beckham has just announced a new deal to stay at LA Galaxy for at least another 2 years. This will in effect mean that he will see out his days as a footballer in the beautiful surroundings of Los Angeles.

What this will do is guarantee plenty of interest from both fans and the press, especially in the US, and give many a reason to tune into his YouTube interview. Here is his announcement about the Google link up…

This push by Google leads to a bigger debate about Google+ and what the future is for the 6 month old platform. It has grown to a reputed 100m users (numbers vary depending on sources) so it is beyond the ‘early adopter, tech geek’ phase and making its way now into the mainstream audience.

The biggest side affect for most businesses will be around search. Their recent launch of the ‘Google Search, Your World’ means that search will become more personalised but to to gain access to this feature you must be logged into your G+ account.

It means that if your business or club is within a Google+ circle of a user then your content and name will feature more prominently in their search results. This move has been met with skepticism is some circles with the doubt over whether it is actually legal and does it violate anti-trust laws. We shall wait and see.

Social SEO is an area I have been working on recently and will be sharing some of my findings with you. Its certainly an interesting area and one that is developing fast!

We are seeing more ‘big names’ getting involved and starting accounts on G+. This follows along similar lines as to how Twitter grew to the size and popularity it has to today. It started off with a small but passionate user base which constituted of tech early adopters. Then when well known ‘celebrities’ started to use the platform it truly made moves into the mainstream.

In my opinion I see this as as something that will help kick-start the bringing to the mainstream for G+ and will start a trend followed by other celebrities who may either want to expand from Facebook, and Twitter, or have become bored with those and want to try something new (more Hangouts with celebs anyone?).

Will it lead it challenging Facebook now? No. It will certainly see a boost in sign ups and acttive users but it offers something different to Facebook and Twitter. It can complement rather than compete against and I’m sure we will see new innovations being released (Google has never been one to sit still long). It will be interesting to see if they do more of these promotions and if they have any polans around Euro 2012 and especially the Olympics.

Do you agree? Is this a good move by Google and Beckham or do you see it having very little impact for the platform?