Google+ is now the second largest social network in the world, with 343 million active users per month. Let that sink in for a second.

Though Facebook still dominates, Google+’s ascension is dramatically altering the social media world, with Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter now making up the  top 4 social media sites. (Last year, Facebook and Twitter towered over hundreds of inconsequential networks, and YouTube didn’t even qualify).

Google+ has expanded quickly for two simple reasons: it has stolen millions of members from smaller networks and it’s a more intimate network overall. Plus its easier to pick up new friends through Google+, as opposed to picking up suggested connections that, for example, you may have gone to high school with.

What does this mean to you? Well,

1. How to engage within Google+ is now required reading. The key to success in social media is to go where the traffic is, and a big chunk of traffic is now on Google+.

2.  If the fall of Tribe, Friendster, Myspace, and the original Google social networks have taught us anything, it’s that this could, in fact, be a passing fad. Accept the fact that you could, in fact, still lose time on Google+. Worse case scenario, you don’t make a profit. But you still lose nothing, and gain experience writing and analyzing social media posts.

3. Remember how we mentioned that Graph Search is poised to cause major headaches for Google? While it’s too early to make a prediction, it’s obvious that every user who switches to higher involvement through Google+ is a user whose data is no longer relevant in Graph Search.

4. Say what you will about Google, the company is very, very good at making money. Facebook, time and again, has proven it is not. Whether or not Graph Search ultimately becomes a useless function, the fact remains that, if Google can pull more money from its Google +accounts than Facebook can, Google+ will wind up crushing Facebook into a MySpace sized ball. Again, it is still too early to tell.

We love the fact that the social media landscape has become more complicated again, but what about you? Did you ever like Google+ to begin with? Could you use guidance from a qualified social media firm to help you through these difficult changes and give you the branding you deserve?