The announcement, relayed in a Google+ post by Product Manager Eduardo Thuler, could lead to greater adoption of Google+ by businesses. Google rolled out the beta version of the program last November, a couple of weeks before it began letting brands launch their own Google+ pages. Initially, the partners were Buddy Media, Context Optional, Hear Say Social, HootSuite, Involver and Vitrue. The company acknowledged at the time that although companies could manage their Google+ pages directly, "we also recognize that some businesses use social media management companies to manage their presence across multiple social networks."
Though Google+ claims 250 million members worldwide, as of June the top brand on Google+, ESPN, had about 1.7 million people in its Circles. Meanwhile, the top brand on Facebook (aside from Facebook itself), YouTube, had about 60.8 million fans.