While people and pages have always shown how many other people have circled them, Google has now added the ability to see how many times your profile or page has been Viewed.
+Kenneth Manesse Sr. pointed out that now, on your profile page next to your follower count, there’s a new metric called Views. The metric is there for both personal profiles and business Pages.
Perhaps more importantly, for Google+ Pages, the +1 count has been replaced with their follower count. It would appear that Google has removed the option to +1 a Page and now users can only circle Pages, just as they would other users.
The metric is not displayed on hovercards, nor does it appear on embedded profile or Page widgets.
If you want to limit who can see the View Count, simply go to your profile or Page settings and scroll down. There is an option to hide the metric from others, but it is on by default.
Interestingly, the setting indicates that it’s “your profile and content.” Hopefully this is an indication that more metrics will be coming for actual posts, as this is an area where Google+ has lagged painfully behind Facebook. Facebook Page owners have long had a rich set of metrics available to them (Facebook Insights) showing how well each specific post has been received, while Google has been content to allow third-party providers like CircleCount or Steady Demand to fill that gap.
Another possibility is that the metric includes views for both your profile and the content that you’ve posted, meaning that an update you shared to the stream and received views added to the tally. There is no official word yet from Google as to what the metric includes, or if more is on the way.
UPDATE: According to Google Help, “Views” tell you “how many times your content has been seen by other people, including your Photos, Posts, and the page [or profile] itself.” So this confirms that the View Count is an aggregate number that includes every time your posts have been seen throughout their lifespan.
Like any metric, the new Google+ View Count is interesting but also needs to be applied in a certain way to be most effective. While it may be fun to compare View Counts with others, just like you might followers or +1’s, it’s best used an indicator of quality. If your Page has been viewed 1000 times but has only received 25 +1’s, that may indicate that you’re doing a good job of getting attention, but not providing enough value in your content.
What do you think?How many views has your profile or Page gotten, and do you like the new metric?