Google introduces business pages for Google+

After much speculation and request from business to capitalise on Google+ features, pages have now been implemented into the social network.

Announced via their blog, and still in a closed alpha state, the functionality seems to be very much in the same vein as Facebook; but with some slight tweaks in the form of introducing Hangouts to communicate with your audience, grouping particular subsections of your base into circles, and an interesting form of analytical data called 'Ripples,' allowing you to see how your posts spread across Google+.