I ran a CIPR Social Media workshop session on Google+ and Author Rank in London last week. Google+ isn't just another social network. It's an influencer and identification system that lies at the heart of incremental changes to the Google algorithm over the last 18-months.

Here's the slidedeck from my session.

Google+ gives the public relations industry the opportunity to regain the ground that it has lost to search marketing in the last decade. Whether it will grasp it is another thing entirely of course.

If you're new to Google+ here are some helpful resources to get you started.

• Why you need to use Google+: Author Rank and social search
• Google gives the public relations industry a second chance
• Review: What the Plus! Google+ for the rest of us by Guy Kawasaki
• Google+ is an untapped PR opportunity for brands
• Google+ and AuthorRank, breakfast workshop, Newcastle,10 May