Regular readers of my blog will know of my interest in Social Media. When Google announced to the world that they would be launching a social network it made perfect sense for a number of reasons. Firstly they are one of the best known and trusted brands in the world, secondly, their homepage is the worlds most visited each day and finally they have hundreds of millions of users of their Apps, such as Gmail, Docs and now their Android user base.
I think they underestimated 2 key things however; familiarity and free time of their ‘users’
You see, most people have a Facebook and/or Twitter account. Some of us write a blog. Some of us are on Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning, Bebo etc etc. And over the past 5 or so years of cultivating our social networks, can we really be bothered to a) start a new one, b) get used to another user interface c) have the time to actually maintain it properly.
As we all get busier in the hectic lives we lead, I for sure don’t have time to actively ‘manage’ another social channel. I spend (afford) myself about an hour a day to maintain LinkedIn, my Blog and my Twitter feed. If I add another network, it will dilute my ability to respond and manage my existing ones.
I can’t help but feel that Google have missed the boat… By about 5 years.
The initial uptake was strong. And why wouldn’t it be. Intrigue made me as well as millions of others an early adopter to Google+. They received a staggering 20M visits to Google+ in the 1st 21 days of service. But numbers are declining. The chart below, created by VentureBeat in August shows Facebook’s domination in the social world and just how far behind Google is.
I have to say I like Google+, I like the concept of Circles, Hangouts and Sparks, but the fact is I haven’t logged on for more than 3 weeks now. And I don’t really feel I need to anytime soon. My ‘familiar’, existing social environments that have taken a lot of time to get feeling just right, are serving me fine thank you…
UPDATE: This post has been featured on Social Media Today – View it here
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I think you’ve hit the nail on the head there Gareth – it’s all a bit too late, and way too much effort involved to build another social network when Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn are doing everything to fulfill all our requirements for social networking with friends, colleagues, peers and prospects. Google has a large following of like-minded techies and social media and marketing types – but, crucially, our friends and families aren’t on there, and are not likely to be anytime soon, so what’s the point of adding yet another prong to the already efficient multi-pronged approach of the existing social media networks.
Posted by indentmarketing | September 19, 2011, 2:29 pmI think you underestimate the reach of google. I expect currentl bloggers to hate it, they have built up a following on facebook and twitter and feel comfortable, however if your search results of your blog were placed higher on google becuae they were posted via G+ …. hmmmm I wonder how quickly the turn would be then.
Posted by Kevin Newton | September 19, 2011, 8:24 pmGood point Kevin. Google do have the levels of control to turn this into an SEO issue. But if they do that and noone’s got the time to really spend on Google+ and engage with the blogs posted there, there’s a danger it’ll end up being a bit of a spam site or dumping ground. And I’m sure Google don’t want that!
Posted by Kat Morris | September 20, 2011, 11:41 amKevin hi,
Your statement adds up perfectly to what I had in mind back in time when I tweeted: “If Google link all its services with Google+ there will be no Facebook in the future”. Sure Facebook and Twitter are by far the most successful platforms atm but (and this is only an assumption) what if all of us had to log in our Google+ accounts to access our: wrodpress, gmail and all the other great services? What if Google links Google+ with your Business Google places profile which is vital for Location Based Marketing and send messages directly to the Google+ Business page currently under development? I am not sure if theywould ever go that aggressive in the virutal world and what impact that would have in people’s perception of Google but…what if….food for thoughts 🙂
Posted by Yiannis Gedeon (@akronsound) | September 26, 2011, 9:59 amGood discussion. As a late, but now enthusiastic, adopter of FB, particularly for business, it is with some reluctance that I approach having to learn about and adopt something new. One suspects that when business profiles come out later this year, with Google’s dominance of search, there will be little option.
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Posted by Gene Kiester | September 28, 2011, 8:36 am