Internet giant Google Inc has decided to extend its social networking service, Google Plus, for businesses and brands also. The new feature ‘Google+ Pages' will allow organizations to connect with their customers, be added to the customers' circles and also spend time with them through options such as ‘hangout'.

Global business majors such as Macy's, Toyota, and Pepsi have already set up their pages on the social network. A Google spokesperson here said that even Indian companies such as Maruti and e-commerce site Fashion and You have joined. The idea is to differentiate individual accounts from brand accounts, the spokesperson said.

Google Plus business pages will be available through both on the social network and as well as through Google's web search engine. Google said that users would need to add a plus symbol, followed by the page they are looking for, such as +Toyota. The search, called Direct Connect, only works for a limited number of pages but that "many more are coming.

Google Plus has attracted more than over 40 million users since it initial launch in June for select users, indicating a huge interest in such services from internet users. But rival Facebook, which has been around longer, has over 800 million global users.

“Just go to Google and search for + followed by the page you are interested in We will take you to their Google+ page, and if you want, we will add them to your circles,” the social networking platform informed its users.