No joke: Google promotes Will.i.Am’s Google+ profile on its search page

In an attempt to promote its new social network, Google has placed a link to musical artist Will.i.Am’s Google+ profile on its search engine homepage.

In July, Google launched a new strategy to get more celebrities to join Google+ in an effort to help publicize the social network. The strategy is one that greatly benefited microblogging social network Twitter’s early popularity.

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And it seems to be working. Will.i.Am’s Google+ profile is currently in 270,706 people’s social circles.

The link on Google’s search page is promoting a Google+ Hangout —  a group video chat that lets participants watch the same video concurrently — for Will.i.Am’s band, Black Eyed Peas.

The promotional text invites people to hang out with the band on Google+ just before they go on stage later tonight (6 p.m. EST). This isn’t the first time the band has done a special Google+ Hangout session, but it is the first time Google has linked to it on its most coveted piece of web real estate  — the search homepage.

Will.i.Am is no stranger to the technology scene. Earlier this month, VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi reported on the musician’s experience as director of creative innovation at Intel.