For those of you who use Google Apps for Business, you may have wondered when you could use your Google Apps email account with Google+ (see previous post on Google+ to build your online community). Well today is the day you have been waiting for! You can now connect your Google Apps account to Google+ so you do not have to have two seperate accounts (or to different browsers open) to connect with your circles! According to this blog posted earlier today from the Google Enterprise team, you can now enable your Google Apps account to join Google+! I admit that I was very excited when I first joined Google+, but a big issue for me was that I am never signed into my Gmail account. I always used my Google Apps for Business (the professional version of Gmail), which until today did not have access to Google+, so it is an exciting day for many who use Google Apps!
How to Enable Google+ for Google Apps
Even though you can enable Google+ it is not as simple as just going over to plus.google.com with your Apps account and joining, since you need to have it enabled for your domain. This post will show you how to enable Google+ on your Google Apps domain. Keep in mind that you will need to have adminstrative access to do this, or request that you can enable this to your adminstrator. So let''s get started! Assuming you are the domain administrator, log into your Google Apps account and click on Manage Domain. Once you you are logged in, click on Organization & users --> Services.
Next scroll down to review your services. Between Google Webmaster Tools and iGoogle, you will find the option to turn on Google+ for your Google Apps domain.
After you turn on Google+ on your Google Apps domain, you will receive a prompt that provides all of the legal ramifications of doing so. You definitely want to read these, as enabling Google+ for your domain may have some unwanted ramifications. You can read the legal considerations of enabling Google+ for Google Apps here: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=1689647
How to Migrate Gmail Google+ to Google Apps Google+ Account
For those of you who were early adoptors of Google+, you may be wondering, "How do I migrate my personal Google+ account to my new Google Apps Google+ account???" Well as of today, there does not seem to be a solution to this problem. According to the good people at Mashable, Google is working on a way to migrate your personal Google+ Circles and information, but it may just be a one-way street. This means you may not be able to transfer the data back to your Gmail based Google+ account, but that is still to be seen.
So what do you do if you leave your job, and no longer have access to your Google Apps Google+ account? If this happens, you should be able to export your data including their profile, circles, streams, contacts, and photos, using Google Takeout. You can access this function by signing into Google+, going to Account Settings -->Data Liberation -->Download Your Data. Employers may want to keep this in mind, since your users can do this even if you disable their account! For this reason, you also have the ability to choose which users have access to Google+, instead of giving access to EVERYONE in your organization.
Should You Enable Google+ for Google Apps?
So is it worth enabling Google+ for your Google Apps account? Well, you no longer will need to have two profiles, and frankly, you may end up using Google+ more than previously. However, you may want to be selective with who you give access to Google+ in your organization. Perhaps only officers or high level executives should have access. On the other hand, if you are an empolyee, you may want to stick to the Gmail version, since you will "own" that profile. Either way, Google+ may start getting more exciting again (for me at least), so I ask that you add my new Google Apps based Google+ account to your circle by clicking here: Brandon Aday is on Google+ (again)! Who knows, I may actually start posting some thing 
Google+ Resources
Not sure how to use Google+ to help build your online community? Check out some of these resources for more information: Google+ for Business: How Google's Social Network Changes Everything
, Google+ For Dummies
, or Sams Teach Yourself Google+ in 10 Minutes (Sams Teach Yourself -- Minutes)
.
