Google+ Now Has Suggestions for Employers and Schools, Could be Linked to Brand Pages

Google is working on its own version of Facebook Pages for Google+, it's actually moving faster than it initially planned, and some first signs are already showing up.

For example, Google is now suggesting employers as well as universities for those wanting to fill out their profiles. Until now, users simply filled in whatever they wanted, but there are now suggestions, granted, only for big companies and major universities.

It may not seem like much of a big deal, but these suggestions could easily be linked to pages for those companies later on.

Like any good social network, Google+ enables you to add a list of current and past employers, as a resume of sorts. You can also add the schools you've attended to your profile.

Now, as soon as you start typing in any of the two fields, a list of suggestions shows up with companies and schools that match what you've written so far.

That said, unless you've worked for a big company like Google, Starbucks and so on, chances are your employer won't be listed. The same goes for schools.

What's more, the lists are limited to companies and schools from the US and the UK.

But this is just the first step. Google probably pre-populated the list to get a head start, which is why only big names are there.

But once Google+ brand pages go live and smaller companies sign up, you can expect a lot more suggestions.

Having suggestions also has the advantage that you can't misspell your employer or school, or use an alternate name. This makes sure that there will be links to the official pages on your profiles, as soon as they become available, of course.

Google has said it's speeding up development of brand pages and it shouldn't be long now. Already, Google is testing the feature with several companies and organizations.