In today’s increasingly competitive world of cloud computing, it’s imperative to take advantage of social media, especially if you want to be heard and communicate with stakeholders.  As we’ve written about previously, Twitter can be an invaluable resource for discovering what IT industry analysts, authors, publishers, bloggers/writers, journalists, advocates, entrepreneurs, and vendors are discussing.

But, with more than one billion registered users, Google+ not only rivals Twitter, but is also set to overtake Facebook’s 1.19 billion registered users.  Google+ offers a so-called blank canvas for creating, sharing, and interacting with people all over the world.  For those in the cloud computing space, Google+ provides the opportunity to discover what leading cloud advocates and experts are discussing as well as join in on the conversation.

Here are 30 cloud computing and data center profiles and pages to check out on Google+:

Google+ Profiles

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The following list of Google+ profiles represents lead cloud computing pioneers and advocates on Google+, including chief executives and industry analysts.

Marc Benioff (18,912 have him in circles)

Tagline: “ceo@salesforce.com.”

Add Marc Benioff to your circles.

(16,342 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Uncle Jay. Office of the CTO @VCE. Advisor @Racemi @AwayFind. Traveler. [redacted].”

Add Jay Cuthrell to your circles.

Werner Vogels (5,183 have him in circles)

Tagline: “A Cloud Prophet roaming the earth.”

Rich Miller (3,846 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Editor at Data Center Knowledge. I’m crazy about the data centers.”

Add Rich Miller to your circles.

Reuven Cohen (3,611 have him in circles)

Tagline: “I’d tell you a UDP joke, but you might not get it.”

Add Reuven Cohen to your circles.

John Mark Troyer (2,156 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Evangelist for VMware. Cloud computing, virtualization, and how modern IT is changing to get to where it’s going — call it IT-as-a-Service, “Next IT”, Cloud, Utility Computing, DevOps, Agile, whatever. I don’t care what we call, but let’s get there soon.”

Stephen Foskett (1,966 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Just some guy.”

Add Stephen Foskett to your circles.

James Urquhart (1,961 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Father, golfer, rock star wannabe, cloud computing blogger and thinker.”

Add James Urquhart to your circles.

Navneet Joneja (1,707 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Dad, geek, technophile, product guy, amateur musician  – in no particular order.”

Add Navneet Joneja to your circles.

Ben Kepes (679 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Tech adviser, investor, commentator and evangelist. Entrepreneur. Biz dev guy. Loves the outdoors. Kiwi dad…”

Add Ben Kepes to your circles.

Brian Gracely (597 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Director Solutions @ EMC; Co-Founder @GracelyGirl; Co-Host of @thecloudcastnet; VMware vExpert; Top 100 Cloud Blogger.”

Add Brian Gracely to your circles.

Krishnan Subramanian (492 have him in circles)

Tagline: “Not the aaS in PaaS.”

Add Krishnan Subramanian to your circles.

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Google+ Pages

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The following Google+ pages provide businesses, products, and organizations with a public identify and presence on Google+.  They also offer those in the cloud computing space access to open conversations, news & analysis, innovations & more:

WIRED (+2,684,927)

“The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our lives—from culture to business, science to design. The breakthroughs and innovations that we cover lead to new ways of thinking, new connections, and new industries. We introduce you to the people, companies, and ideas that matter.”

Add WIRED to your circles.

Rackspace (+391,691)

“Rackspace is the open cloud company. We provide Fanatical Support® in all we do! Mission: To be recognized as one of the world’s great service companies.”

Add Rackspace to your circles.

Google Cloud Platform (+279,218)

“This is the official Google+ home of Google Cloud Platform.”

Add Google Cloud Platform to your circles.

IBM Cloud Computing (+9,010)

“We created this presence to have open conversations about IBM Cloud Computing. We encourage your participation in IBM Cloud social media communities and respect your opinions.”

Add IBM Cloud Computing to your circles.

Amazon Web Services (+5,655)

“Cloud Computing from Amazon.com.”

Add Amazon Web Services to your circles.

Data Center Knowledge (+2,377)

“Leading online news source for the data center industry, Data Center Knowledge (DCK) brings readers daily news and analysis about the data center industry.  Our audience includes IT and operations professionals who build and manage data centers.”

Add Data Center Knowledge to your circles.

Cisco Data Center & Cloud (+1,782)

“Cisco Unified Data Center changes the economics of the data center by unifying compute, storage, networking, virtualization, and management into a single platform. The result is operational simplicity and business agility — essential for cloud computing and deploying IT as a service.”

Add Cisco Data Center & Cloud to your circles.

SiliconANGLE (+827)

“SiliconANGLE is a media network that includes the fruits of our blogging operation, live video event coverage, our research partners at Wikibon, and our in-house data team.  If it matters in tech, we’re all over it.”

Add SiliconANGLE to your circles.

IO (+768)

“IO is a global leader in the manufacture of software-defined data centers with Intelligent Control, the next-generation data center infrastructure technology.”

Add IO to your circles.

HP Cloud Services (+546)

“HP Cloud Services (HPCS) delivers enterprise grade public cloud infrastructure, platform services, and cloud solutions designed to run production workloads at a global scale.”

Add HP Cloud Services to your circles.

Windows Azure (+212)

“Step-By-Step” – Guide on Windows Azure.”

Add Windows Azure to your circles.

Wikibon (+162)

“The Wikibon community discusses topics such as big data, cloud computing, DevOps, IT infrastructure, and also performs reporting at the nation’s most popular technology conferences such at Strata Conference,Citrix Synergy, Hadoop World and more.”

Add Wikibon to your circles.

theCUBE (+34)

“#theCube, extracting the signal from the noise, live from the industry’s top tech events with John Furrier and Dave Vellante. A production of SiliconANGLE Networks.”

Add theCUBE to your circles.

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Google+ Communities

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Google+ Communities allow users to develop or participate in a community around a specific shared interest.  The following Google+ communities represent a forum for those in the cloud computing space to share and interact with other members of the community:

Cloud Computing (52,111 members)
“Welcome to the Cloud Computing discussion community! This group is intended for those looking to expand their network of cloud computing contacts, share ideas and discuss industry related topics.”

Join the Cloud Computing community.

Salesforce (1,774 members)
“Very First Tech Community On Google+ :) Welcome Folks To The World Of Cloud Computing. This Community Is Mainly Focused On Helping Professionals Who Are Into Salesforce :) Contributors Needed For This Unofficial Forum.”

Join the Salesforce community.

Cloud Computing (433 members)
“Whether you’re a developer working in the Cloud Computing industry or a business owner looking to discover more about the Cloud then this community is for you. This is a place for sharing. Feel free to get involved in the Cloud talk by posting questions, discussions, and interesting links.”

Join the Cloud Computing community.

Data Center (416 members)
“This Community is for people who are interested in and involved with Data Center Technologies.”

Join the Data Center community.

Software-Defined Data Center (284 members)
“This community is all about the Software-Defined Data Center and how we can begin putting together the pieces.”

Join the Software-Defined Data Center community.

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• Final Thoughts

The above list represents a fraction of the cloud computing & data center profiles, pages & communities on Google+.  What’s missing from our list?  Which profiles & pages would you add to yours?  Which communities would you recommend joining?  We’d love to hear your feedback in the comments section below.