Google rocked the Internet last week when it announced its hardest push for Google+ yet, allowing any Google+ user to email any other user without an email address as long as both the sender and recipient have Gmail and Google+ accounts.

The email inbox is arguably the most private space online. While everything from Facebook to Twitter to even Snapchat is about sharing a piece of yourself with others. Email is where Internet business is done. It's where private communication takes place, where bills are taken care of and so on. It's sacred ground, which is why Google+'s new update upset some users even though they can opt out. No one wants unsolicited email. This is just the latest move by Google to push Google+ onto users. It recently started to require Google+ to leave YouTube comments.

Google is willing to change the rules users have come to expect to get Google+ out there.

Pushing Its Social Vision

Google acknowledges that it missed the boat on social media by not taking action when it had the chance, letting Facebook pass it by for social network dominance. It aims to do things differently with Google+, and it's going all in.

Google+ isn't just a social network. It's not merely a destination that you go to to interact and then leave to do something else. It's interweaved into Google's fabric, creating a single user identity across all of Google's platforms. Google+ isn't Google's strength, but search, YouTube and mobile are. If Google can successfully leverage those platforms, Google+ will go somewhere. Google+ just becomes an online identity allowing any user to communicate how he or she wants where he or she wants.

Google's tentacles into other areas of the web are Google's strength, and it's using that to give steroids to Google+. If I want to use YouTube (you bet I do), I'm going to use Google+, not because I want to but because the value of YouTube is just too great.

A Layer Too Big to Ignore

Google has shown its hand with Google+, and it's ready to go all in, even if it means pushing into users' inboxes. Google+ is a net too big to ignore. It's everywhere and part of everything. Google is, in some ways, forcing it onto users. That may not be the best way to build engagement (which Google is coy on sharing), but it does get user numbers up. Google seems to believe that if it can get people there, engagement and interaction will come.

Google+ is covering a lot of ground in the world of Google, making it impossible for marketers to dismiss and ignore. At the very least, claim your presence for your brand and for yourself personally. Start using the platform from a personal perspective and get to know it. Google+ isn't going away. It's going to get stronger and bigger… even if it's the last thing Google does.