Hackers To Use New Gmail Feature?

Google Reveals new Gmail "Hack" That Affects EveryGoogle+ User.

E-Rock Christopher January 11, 2014

Are 540 Million Google users at risk with Gmail's latest feature? Manypeople are shocked at Google's public announcement that reveals astartling new way to connect with other Google+ users, even if youdon't have their email address!

(Newswire.net -- January 11, 2014) Phoenix, AZ -- Can you imagine that oneday you would be able to connect your business to millions of businessowners or people who might be interested in your product or service... even if

you didn't have their email address?

Well that day is has already passed! In a stunning move on Thursday, Google published a blog post that detailsexactly how any Gmail user can connect to almost any Google+ user via email, whether they have that person'semail address or not!

According to Wikipedia, there are over 540 million monthly active users across various Google Properties like Gmail,YouTube, Android and Google+.... basically anyone who has a Google account.

Why would Google do this?

In their blog post, they don't really address why they made this change. I suspect they would claim it would be forease of convenience to connect with people you already know, based on their descriptive page URL.

However, the only real limitation in a user's ability to send emails via this new channel is the number of people theyare connected to on Google+. So if a user (read marketer) wanted to be able to email over 540 million people abouttheir products or services, then all they would need to do is to start using Google+ more often and make newconnections.

More connections would mean more eyeballs, and it is just a matter of time before Google starts offering "PromotedPosts", just like their competitor, Facebook.

Many people are in an uproar and are questioning whether this a violation of a user's right to privacy, but Googleassures its users that they can edit their settings to disable this feature. In fact, Google claims "You're in control" inone of their article sub-headings. However, it appears like it will be on by default and I'm willing to bet that the vastmajority of those 540 million users won't even notice.

So what does this mean for the Google community at large?

It simply means that this is going to be the goldmine land rush of businesses and marketers to utilize the Google+community as a means to do business. With Google+ still being in relative infancy compared to other social networkslike Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin, it appears that Google might be leveraging its Gmail base in an effort to increaseengagement on the platform and acquire new participants.

How does it work this new Gmail "hack" work?Simply login to your Gmail account and begin typing a contact's name into the To field. Gmail will auto populate orauto complete the name in which you began to type, first with your existing connections with email addresses, andthen Google+ connections will be listed below that you can choose from.

The one caveat in this situation is that you will not have these Google+ connections email addresses, but yourmessage will still go through. Keep in mind that when you send your initial message, Google automatically parsesyour email message into their Social Inbox Tab, assuming that feature is enabled. Should the recipient of your emailreply, then their email address will become available in your Gmail contact manager.

Normally, if you were to send an email to one of your existing Gmail contacts that has shared their email address withyou already, then your message would drop into their Primary Inbox Tab. Should the Google+ connection recipientdirectly reply to your message, then their message would start to show up in your Primary Inbox Tab. Any of yourmessages you send thereafter would most likely be delivered to their Primary Inbox Tab moving forward.

Will This Hurt or Help Google+ and Gmail?With such an open ecosystem available to all Gmail users, it does raise the potential for increased spam and contentslow to those people mom looking to receive information. It will be interesting to see me if Google at some point in thenear future enable some kind of filtering system to ban people who abuse this privilege.

Currently not everyone is going to have this feature as of this news release, however it will be rolled out over the nextcouple days to everyone that uses both Google+ and Gmail. When this email announced hits your Gmail account,there will be more information with a link to your Gmail settings, so that you can choose at what level you would liketo be able to receive messages.

However my suspicion is that most people simply won't open the email or let it slide. I suspect that the defaultsettings going forward will be everyone on Google+ will be allowed to receive these direct Google+ connections viaemail.

My editorial opinion is this will last for a limited amount of time, as the benefit of emailing someone you don't knowwell enough to have their email address is far outweighed by the negative backlash and potential abuse this newGmail feature can create.

For more Google News, Updates, and how to use this new feature to grow your business, Circle Me Here.