How to Enable Google+ on Google Apps

Some believe the Google plus feature should have been automatically activated on their Google Apps account so they could just log in and use it. But, as a matter of fact, this is not how Google Plus works on your Google Apps account. Google has a reason not to automatically activate or enable the Google+ feature on your Google Plus account.

Google Plus has been officially made available to the Google Apps account holders; however, many people are still searching for the right way to activate or enable Google+ feature on their Google Apps account. Some believe the Google plus feature should have been automatically activated on their Google Apps account so they could just log in and use it. But, as a matter of fact, this is not how Google Plus works on your Google Apps account. Google has a reason not to automatically activate or enable the Google+ feature on your Google Plus account. Because there are data security issues if they enable the Google+ feature on your Google Apps automatically. Google cares for your organization and therefore, wants to protect your data and interests.

Therefore, Google has made sure that they educate the Google Apps account holders (especially companies and organizations) to learn the security aspects of running Google+ plus features on their Google Apps account and then activate or enable the same on their own after complete understanding of the potential consequences. Why Are The Consequences of Running Google Plus on Your Google Apps Account?

Before you enable Google+ on your organization, please keep a few things in mind:

  • Your users can interact and share content with others outside your organization.
  • Your users can export or transfer their Google+ data.
  • Your users can’t create or edit their Google+ data when the service is disabled.

Click here for the complete Google+ Rollout Tips.

Ways to Enable Google Plus on Google Apps

  • Log in to your Google Apps account.
  • Click on the “Manage this domain option”. You can choose to open it on a new tab for your ease. It takes you to the Dashboard of Google Apps.
  • Once you are on the Dashboard, look at the “Organization & Users” option next to the Dashboard option. Click on the “Organization & Users” option. It takes you the page that displays the name of your Google Apps users.
  • There are two different tabs such as “Users” and “Services”. Click on the “Services” tab. It shows you the Core Google Apps Suite. Take a look at all features available there and their activity status. Some features are ON as a default setting while the rest are OFF.
  • Scroll down below to see “Additional Services”. If you’re currently on a FREE Google Apps, all the “Additional Services” will be “OFF” as default setting.
  • Look for the “Google+” service. It is located between Google Webmaster Tools and iGoogle. This option is in the inactive mode and you can’t enable it at this step. Google says, you must turn on “Picassa Web Albums” before you are able to enable Google+ feature.
  • Scroll down below to look for the Picassa Web Albums. It is located between Partner Program and Shopping List. Click on the ON option and enable it. Then scroll back to the Google+ feature and you can see it is in the active mode now.
  • When you click on the option to turn on and enable Google+, a pop-up window shows up with a warning signal. This is because Google wants to tell you to read and be familiar with the potential consequences of enabling the Google+ for your Google Apps.

Click here for the complete Google+ Rollout Tips.

  • At the bottom of the pop-up window, there are two options to either Turn Google+ on or Leave Google+ off. Once you read and become familiar with all Google+ Rollout Tips, you can click on the Turn Google+ on option.
  • Then click on the “Save Changes” option.
  • Once you save the changes, open another window on a new tab and log on to Plus.Google.com and you can now JOIN and CREATE a public Google+ profile for your organization.

NB: Before you enable Google+ feature on Google Apps panel, make sure to turn some services off for certain users. It’s like Parental Control on Satellite TV channels. This is an important step to make your data secure and prevent potential misuse of the Google services by any user in future.

About Susanta Sahoo

I'm the founder and content marketing head at Top League. Our team can help you build great content that helps you rank high on Google and generate high-quality leads. Get in touch with us and let's discuss your project. I'm on LinkedIn & Twitter, just so you know.