My favorite line from the movie Fletch is “I have a lease with an option to buy.” Although Chevy Chase’s character is talking about rubber gloves in this scene, it has always stuck in my head as the perfect analogy for dating.

shared freely with love via imageforwardblog.com

Dating is a form of courtship that consists of activities that help assess suitability as a long-term partner.

I have been in a relationship with Google products for many years, starting with GMAIL and of course Google Search. I eased my way into blogging with the very intuitive platform Blogger, Google Analytics to track blog hits, Feedburner for subscribers to blog email updates, Google Alerts to track media for clients and industry specific stuff, Google Docs/Google Drive for cloud storage, Google Calendar for appointments, Google Maps when traveling, Youtube for watching music videos, and the love of my life Google Chrome as a browser that jumps from computer to computer with me and stays the same!

Over a year ago Google invited me to join Google Plus Beta version. Like most people on a new social media platform, I was confused but definitely bewitched and found it attractive. Being in a pretty heavy-duty relationship with Twitter and Facebook, I was slow to merge and non-committed at the time. A few months ago I started dating “Gplus” much more seriously and I’m quite smitten with the platform for a variety of reasons:

- Seamless integration with Google services such as Gmail, Google Docs, Images and Picasa
- Public posts on Google Plus integrated into Google search engine
- Video chat called Google Hangouts that are much clearer and sound way better than ANYTHING else I have used
- Live Stream video broadcast that goes directly to your Youtube channel
- Easy to use privacy settings
- More than 60% of its users are male (as a single gal this is a bonus)
- Comment thread that allows you to reply directly to someone when you add an extension

Tomorrow I have scheduled CMA Awards Nomination Reactions LIVE Google Hangout with an outstanding panel of Country Music Industry Journalists and Insiders including:
- Charlotte Autry, Musician and Host of Young Country TV;
- Rick Barker, Artist Consultant with Music Industry Blueprint and former Manager of Taylor Swift;
- Matt Bjorke, Editor-in-Chief of Roughstock;
- Lauren Jo Black, CEO/Founder of CountryMusicIsLove;
- Chuck Dauphin, Multi-media Journalist and featured Columnist on  Billboard’s Nashville column “The 615″;
- Jennifer Smith, Owner of Lovin’ Lyrics  Music Promotions;
and produced by Google Hangout Rockstar and Co-host of Social Sports and Entertainment Show #SSEshow Charles Hogge. 

After getting some of these people on Google Plus for the first time, or just helping them use a LIVE Stream Google Plus Hangout On-Air, all my conversations so far this week have been about how fantastic the platform is, and ended in something like “WOW, I didn’t know you could do all this with Google Plus.”

Chris Yates, a veteran TV Sportscaster since 1989, has been using Google Hangouts since November 2011. Yates has worked for ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX Network but says,

“Google Hangouts are exactly like a TV Network show but is more interactive. The tools will only improve over time and I see this as the real game changer for how people interact online. We have been able to do live reports from the Olympics, with NBA Team Presidents, NFL Players and The PGA Tour. It is so easy to use that we are getting the best guests in the world and they don’t have to come to a studio. That allows me so much flexibility and potential to reach a mass audience. I am a big fan of Google Hangouts and continue to grow our audience.”

Obviously as you can tell from my post, I am very excited about Google Plus. Have I stopped using other social media platforms and moved everything over there yet? NO, but just so you know, I AM picking out China patterns.

What’s makes you want to “date” a social networking site?

To join and participate in this LIVE CMA AWARDS NOMINATION REACTION COUNTRY MUSIC CHAT BROADCAST use/follow the #CMchat hashtag on Google Plus, Twitter or RSVP here and it will automatically start live streaming when the broadcast starts at 4pmPT/7pmET on September 5th and will last approximately one hour. You will also be able to watch it from Country Music Is Love.com.

 SIGN UP FOR GOOGLE PLUS HERE: https://plus.google.com. You will thank me one day.

edited by Corinna C (Joyce Cherrier‘s daughter)

*** Join me every Monday from 8-9pm CT for Country Music’s largest and only LIVE Chat and 24/7 Community on Twitter. Use/Follow the #CMchat hashtag to participate. More info at http://www.cmchatlive.com ***

September Guests