Google groups were originally created as bulletin boards in order to communicate among the various users in the early ’80s when there were no emails or chat services available. At present, after the advent of emails and many other popular online communication methods, Google groups find their relevance because of its ability to network among specific groups.

A Google group is a mass mailing system where a user will be allowed to send mass mails to all the recipients at once. This is one of the most effective ways of improving the communication among like-minded people.

Google groups are boon to many websites to identify the target customers or the websites that sell related services. With the help of the Google groups, one can reach to a number of users who can be useful to their website in improving the rank of the website.

Google groups have become a popular means of search engine optimization. It has become a common practice among the website owners to communicate to similar websites using the Google groups. They participate in threaded conversation using keywords relevant to each website. Then the websites exchange their links, and thus these conversations act as the valuable contents rich in keywords. In the present search scenario such interlinking helps the websites to push themselves into the top of the Search Engine Result Page (SERP). Thus the websites get optimized with the help of Google groups.

Google groups have great marketing value for the websites. This e-mail directory acts a freely available database of hundreds of potential customers to a business. By sending the business or service details of a company to all of these members of a particular Google group, the website becomes popular among the key customers and thus earns benefits in the long run. To make the network wider, a user from one group can invite other groups to join him. Usually this is done by sending an email invitation, and those who are interested to join him will respond positively. Thus the network grows like a chain reaction.

There are possible hazards involved with these groups. Google groups are vulnerable to spam and other forms of virus attacks. Spammers use the mass mailing system to steal the data or to spread virus to a large number of PCs at one-go. Also, there are risks involved in sharing the personal information such as photographs, telephone numbers, or bank account number, etc., through this system of networking. As always seen in other popular communication means, there are attempts of exploits in Google groups also.

To sum up, Google groups have been used as an effective tool to facilitate better communication among the like-minded people. Whether it is intended for commercial, educational or entertainment purpose, it is one of the widely accepted methods of social networking. Webmasters identified it as the best means to share the links between the websites. The relevance of such groups will increase in the future, provided the reputation of such networking is not affected by illicit practices such as spamming and intrusion.

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