Today, Google celebrates the second birthday of its social baby: Google+. Met with very mixed reviews, Google+ was hailed a number of titles from social flop to Facebook killer. There has always been an air of uncertainty around Google+ mostly down to the search giant’s previous attempt at tackling social.

Google+ however has grown to be a much respected social network through it’s simple take on friends/followers with circles, it’s group chats with hangouts and it’s integration with search results through authorship. Google+ has grown to become a force to be reckoned with.

One of the largest implementations of Google+ has to be within the search results. Authorship and publishing has paved the way for a transformed results page with authorship recognition appearing in the form of rich snippets linking to individuals and company Google+ pages.

Moreover, Google+ has grown tremendously since it came about in 2011. It’s now a formidable competitor to the likes of Facebook and Twitter and one to definitely keep an eye on.

From all at RS Digital, we’d like to say happy birthday to Google+!