Now that we’ve all had some time to test out Google+ and the excitement has died down a little, can we go ahead and call it a failure? Or is it still too early to dig it a grave?
Forbes writer Paul Tassi is officially calling Google+ dead. When he clicks on his newsfeed, all he sees is “tumbleweed blowing through the barren, blank page”. He’s also calling it a “a vast and empty wasteland, full of people who signed up but never actually stuck around to figure out how things worked in this new part of town”.
When he heads back on over to Facebook, he sees a vibrant community full of people still posting updates, still posting photos and still as active as ever.
Sure, people are complaining about Facebook and some of its privacy issues or lack of certain features they want, but they don’t seem to be flooding the gates of Google+. They’re still on Facebook.
So what’s the one flaw Tassi says Google+ has? It’s simple really. He says, “It’s not Facebook”.
So tell us – is Google+ a failure or is it still to early to make a call like this?
It’s not a failure from my perspective. There is plenty of genuine discussion and original content in my circles.
Well, I haven’t used Google+ in over a week – but I’ve been on FB daily. Still not sure … but I think some people will continue to use it, some may have ditched it altogether.
Whilst my business and my own name is on Facebook, I don’t find it the most appealing or immediate social network to use. I signed-up for Google+ and (to my eyes at least) I found myself looking at a web-page trying very hard to be Facebook; so repeating the chores of Facebook means I’ve left my Google+ page relatively empty – until I see it take-off.
Twitter and Tumblr, that’s more like it.
I just can’t seem to get into it. I’ve tried, but I don’t like spreading myself too thin on the different social networks and I just down right don’t have time for all of them either. As of now, I still prefer Facebook and Twitter.
Google+ users haven’t had their “aha” moment yet. It’s not a failure yet, but if that moment doesn’t happen and to enough people, it will be.
Perhaps the author finds a blank page because he’s not interacting with any interesting people. Does he have people in his circles, or is he as lost as many of the early users of Facebook and Twitter?
It’s way too early to judge Google+. Comparing its activity to Facebook is silly; people are still figuring out how it works. And, it doesn’t have the history and general audience yet. I have had some good interaction on G+ already, and am looking forward to the implementation of all the bells and whistles.
Google Plus is not going to immediately beat Facebook because most people are only on social media so they can connect with friends and family. The best place to do that right now is Facebook. So until time passes and people start to check out Google Plus, the masses are still on Facebook.
Regardless of that point, this Forbes writer is a joke and no one should be taking his advice. If you check out his profile on Google Plus, you’ll notice he’s posted 4 times and has had A LOT of engagement – fully contradicting his opinion.
All he wanted from that article was exactly what he got… a little attention.
Way too early to call. What does he think, everyone’s supposed to jump ship at once? The migration from Friendster and Myspace didn’t happen that fast, why should this?
The real issues most people have today about privacy is the amount of information these sites are collecting about its users, the way this information is being collected, and how this information is being used. With all this information social networking sites today have about it’s users, add a real name, add an email, and add facial recognition, not only do people loose their privacy, they also expose themselves to cyber crimes, and predatory advertising & manipulation, etc., Regardless of what sites today promise regarding security, any site can be hacked. An example would the government & banks who have so called state of the art security systems. Social networking sites such as Google+ & Facebook are open door gold mines for cyber criminals. The obvious solution to address these security problems is simple, no real names, no emails. You don’t need a real name and an email address to social network effectively yet with some anonymity, you need this information to sell to advertisers & companies, you also need this information to sell someday to private interest, governments, companies, etc.,Although only 20% complete and still in Beta, ONLYMEWORLD early on seems to realize that respecting its users Privacy Rights is paramount to both longevity & success in the industry. Their platform is similiar to Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Linkedin, yet differ because of their approach to privacy by not asking for real names, and email addresses. ONLYMEWORLD, does not have nor will it ever have Facial Recognition Software!
Google+ is suffering from a catch-22. People don’t want to use it because not enough people use it.
I agree with Amy, this was link bait for Forbes. Google + has 25 million plus users in less than two months. It has already surpassed the total user base of Foursquare and Gowalla combined! And remember this is in a limited, restricted beta. it took me two weeks to be allowed in to google + and I was being invited multiple times and attempting to join several times every single day.
It is still far too early to know if it can really compete with or even kill Facebook. But the “launch” has been an unequivocal success. Now, let’s see where they go from here. What happens when they start allowing companies in and adding more bells and whistles.
but how many of the 25 million plus users are active?
Just give it time, it is still an infant in the world wide web compared to Facebook.
I don’t think it’s done yet! Google will continue to work on this for a long time before giving up on it. There is too much potential to simply give up on it, even if it’s not popular at all at some point in time they could easily breath new life into the platform simply by adding new and unique features/services.
It’s too early to call G+ a failure (and probably too late to describe FB that way), but I can’t help thinking something is going to disappear/fail. I keep trying to model it in my head and no matter how I do it I keep thinking that most people want ALL their social back and forth to come through one tool. They don’t want to check 30 different sites/feeds to get caught up—just one. G+ is an effort to formulate that one platform—combining the ability to select multiple audiences, send long-form text and multi-media, IM/Twitter-like chat—putting all that functionality into one place. Problem is, it’s complicated, needs work and doesn’t have the mass that FB has. But we’ll certainly see…
Way too early to call it a failure. It hasn’t been promoted enough to people who don’t stay on top of tech news. My teenage daughter, for example, had not heard of it before I mentioned it to her. And many of my work colleagues have still not heard of it — nor are they using it. It has been widely adopted by people in the internet/tech industry, and the general consensus is that it’s a great communication tool.
Personally, I love it for networking with people on a more profesional level. For me, it’s more akin to Twitter. I follow complete strangers including fellow SEOs, photographers, tech peeps, web developers, etc — all the types of people who are of interest to me who I follow on Twitter. It allows for great content sharing beyond a 140 word limit.
If google can’t take it mainstream soon it will be a problem.
I find it interesting that people are still approaching Google+ with Facebook glasses. Its a different product. Same industry but still different none the less. And the goal is more akin to Twitter, where you seek inspiration and interesting people. Not friends that passive-aggressively complain about someone they won’t out right name, or how cute mr. fluffy is when he licks ice.
I mean, because the hype and buzz died down, people are all of a sudden calling it a failure, or worse making statements assuming an inevitable demise. Give it a chance, buzz and hype die down, but its not gone. And if your wall is empty, that means you have not tried to use Google+ for its purpose. You have to reach out like Google+ is intended to do.
Look for people who share similar interests (not just your buddies and your family)…. its a way to connect strangers and the familiar alike. But don’t be upset cause your friends aren’t on it and call that a failure. Thats a narrow vision indeed.
Ha. I heard the same thing from a social media marketing guru lately. My feed is full of interesting things…. Maybe both he and Paul Tassi are stuck in people’s acquaintance circles.
Google+ is still in Beta and as any Gamer will tell you it’s just plain foolish to make judgements on a product based on its beta. The product isn’t even finished and Google has done almost nothing to promote it and I still use it more then I use Facebook. Wait until the Brand pages and the API are live before casting judgment. Mr. Tassi is like someone who looks at a ship still in the construction docks with half its core still showing and complains that it’s not sailing yet.
google+ is bland & adds nothing new!! its like old wine in new bottle!!
only fb is still popular and google didnt realize group psychology!!
I wanted to get away from having to deal with multiple sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. I hoped that google+ would make that happen via circles, which is a great concept. Unfortunately, none of my contacts have shown any interest in moving to google+.