One of the largest mobile and Web developer conferences, Google I/O, kicked off this week with Google delivering a considerable smorgasbord of goodies for its attendees of tech developers. The three-day conference erupted with cool announcements on its first day, with the company unveiling new products and updates that included the latest version of their mobile operating system / development platform, Android Jelly Bean, as well as under the hood updates to some of their Web services.

Day two is no different, with a handful of announcements about the Google computing and dev platform. Aside from unleashing significant refinements to the company’s stable of products, these news and tech updates can easily make waves in the social Web, and the way people and brands thrive in it.

These can help drive innovations on the mobile and Web fronts, help brands refine their social media presence, and generate various engagements opportunities. Here are some of the announcements the tech giant made on the second day of the Google I/O conference.

Chrome Active Users Double
It’s no denying that Google Chrome has become perhaps one of the most popular and reliable browsers today, carrying many features that offer good security, and fast load speeds.

Because of these, the browser’s active user base has reached 301 million from the rated 160 million last year.

This can provide further strengthen the growth of the Chrome developer community, and motivate the creation of more tools and browser extensions that can benefit online marketers and SEO practitioners.

Maps API Updated
Google Maps has found itself in multiple implementations online and on the mobile. Many sites use it as an essential component on their Web sites, while others leverage on it for their social media marketing campaigns. The new updates to the Maps API include—

• Offline Google Maps for Android. After downloading the app or updating the one in your Android phone, you can save and access a specific region on it even if you have no Internet connection. Phones with GPS will still be able to track your location on the map.
• New Map Layer: Public Transport. This new layer adds routing by public transport to Google Maps and its API. The transit routes include stops, directions of travel, and it even tells you what vehicle you will be travelling on. This is great for brands with stores and for those holding events as it can help people take the best public transports and routes to get to you.  
• Symbols and Heatmaps for Data Visualization. Two of the API updates to Google Maps include better visualization of geographical data via Symbols and Heatmaps. These can add a range of customizable animated symbols and shapes on the map to represent add more context.
• Customizable Styled Maps. Now you can decide on the appearance of the maps you implement on your online social profiles. With the Styled Maps Wizard, you can specify colors in different hues and saturations, separate color sets for outlines, interiors, text and icons, and adjust the width of line features such as roads and rivers. This is great for designing a map that can fit in a Web site’s general look and theme.

Google Plus Dev for the Mobile Platform
Brands wanting to integrate Google Plus into their mobile marketing ecosystem will now be able to start mapping out their implementation plans. The Internet giant announced that it has initiated opening its platform up for the mobile dev community.

The dev platform includes social plugins and the Google Plus SDK to allow third party developers to integrate its identity, sharing and history components into mobile apps.

This will definitely motivate and empower companies to create a comprehensive, and more engaging experiences for their targeted markets. And while the initiative jumpstarts in its early developer preview, brands should expect and prepare for its eventual launch and expansion across the mobile Web.

Tags: Google, internet marketing, Mobile Marketing, online marketing, social media marketing, Tech