As of this afternoon, it looks like all brands are gone. But here’s the interesting thing. My KOMU News account may be down… but the link continues to work and when I’m logged in, I can see people continue to circle our newsroom. Also, I can continue to add people into circles and read our stream. I know some newsrooms chose to leave Google+ including the NBC News account. I am not sure if the managers of those brands did that on a recommendation from Google or not.

I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I’m mad or disappointed. How can I be mad when I’m having so much fun in this new space? KOMU’s account started on July 1st and ended 19 days later. Google didn’t tell brands to get out and stay out until July 6th. Google’s Christian Oestlien posted this message on Google+ asking for brands to stay out.

I won’t complain about the fact Google made this announcement five days after I had my newsroom up and running inside Google+ because this is being considered a “field test” until it opens to the public on July 31st.

I am glad Google offered a form we can use to alert them to our brand. You can fill it out by going to this link. But what I wonder is even if I’ve had the opportunity to experiment and help spread the word about the uses of Google+, how long will it take a little newsroom like mine to get the chance to test a business page? Also, will a business page be a part of Google Apps? How much will we have to pay?

In the meantime, interactive anchor Sarah Hill and I will continue to experiment, learn and find new ways to reach out to our market and beyond. If you want to keep up with us, follow Sarah and my Google+ accounts to see what we can think up.

UPDATE: Apparently Mashable and The Next Web pages remain alive on Google+. I’d love to know why.

Another UPDATE: Christian Oestlien posted an update a few hours after I wrote this. Take a look at what he says is in the future of business accounts on Google+.

I took a little time to explain how I harnessed the power of Facebook to coordinate relief efforts. You can read it on MediaShift. I’ll try to write more soon… But my work has priority right now.