If you’re following Sergey Brin, founder of Google, you’ve probably noticed that a bunch of his photos from his Alcedo album (which contains 444 pictures) have been, well… spamming your stream. Someone noted that Sergey posted/put in the pictures during 2006, and that they’re just now appearing in the stream due to comments. As has been noted, when someone comments on your pictures or an old post that you’ve put into Google+, it pushes that to the top of your stream.
Someone else noted that this might be a test of the viral capabilities of Google+. Since the pictures appear in Sergey’s public Picasa album, this wouldn’t be too hard to imagine. If I comment on one of Sergey’s pictures, it will show up in my stream, yes, but also that of everyone following him. If other people comment on it, it goes into their stream, but other people having seen the first comment could inspire other people to go through the album (like I said, 444 pictures worth), and they’d end up commenting on those. Keep going with the thought of exponential gains, and you could have a public stream full of Sergey Brin’s 2006 trip to Alcedo, like I do.
Imagine how you could use this viral instance to create publicity for an event that you’re holding. Post some awesome cosplay pics from an anime convention you held last year in Picasa, put it on public, and maybe comment on your most intriguing picture or post it to your stream. Lots of people would be viewing it at that point, and it’d fill the stream of you and your followers pretty quick. I haven’t used Picasa much yet, but if you can include information on your organization or event in the album, or even in the description of the pictures, you have the opportunity for free, wildfire publicity.
What say you? Am I postulating out of the side of my neck, or could this really be a test? Do you think Picasa albums, as they are, hold potential for great free marketing? Or is it a spammy bug that needs to go?