Google Plus Or Google Minus: The Great Debate


In Response To My Recent Post 
On The Beginning of Google+ : 

Debater:

Yeah, obviously you have no understanding of what Google+ is doing. Learning from the mistakes of Twitter and Facebook they are taking their time to ensure that plus becomes a combination of blogging, Twitter, and Facebook all in one. They had the fastest rise to 25 million members of any social website ever and that's with it not being fully available to the public. Once they release Business pages in the next month or so, companies will have much better access to what people are really looking for and looking through googles analytics which as we all know is far superior to anything Facebook has. Add on the ability to group message with up to 10 people and share live on Facebook and you already have the makings of a juggernaut. Companies like Dell and Ford are already considering using the video chat with customers. Facebook even finally collapsed on their Privacy stuff and copied Google to a T with their recent changes. Enough of an explanation for you or do I need to keep going? 


Me:

I'm pretty sure I have plenty understanding of what Google+ doing, or should I say trying to do. First off, Google has failed half a dozen times entering the world of social networking (Wave, Buzz, Orkut, etc). Secondly, Google has almost infinite resources so the fact that Google+ hasn't been taking over social media by now is a failure. They may succeed in the end but if they do, and I'm not sure that they will, it will have taken much longer than it should have.

They may have had the fastest rise but how many of those members are high quality and use it more than once or twice before forgetting about it? An enormous number of users just set it up once and never use it again or rarely use it because it is boring and only a small percentage of their friends are using it. Facebook and Twitter have obsessed and addicted users, I don't know anyone or any company that loyal to Google+. Also, most of the people on Google + are just posting or auto-posting their Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blog, etc and not taking advantage of any unique features of Google +. And group messaging / video chat, Oh My how groundbreaking! No other software or website would ever allow you to do that? Sure maybe they will make it more user friendly and convenient but not exactly a mind-blowing premise

I wouldn't underestimate a behemoth like Google but I have no idea why you would be impressed by such an underwhelming product like Google + in its current state


Debater:


Just because a company fails at something doesn't mean they shouldn't try it again or that they didn't learn from it. The issue behind Buzz, Orkut, etc. was Eric Schmidt and his refusal to accept what Social Media was becoming. With the new regime have come huge changes with Google+ included in them. Your wrong about people only going on once and then never going on again. Mashable had a great article about not only how much people use it but how many of them posted things privately rather than publicly. The reason why you don't see more of it maybe in your circles, etc. is because it's still not available to the public thus not everyone can get on. Once Google works out all the issues and opens it to the public you will see much more use out of it. And yes, video chat was around, but never the ability to video chat with 10 people at once and share that live on the internet. Additionally, Privacy and Games have both been changed by Facebook in direct response to what Google+ did in both of those areas. Google even admits they didn't think it would become so big so quickly. You can't make a judgement on what plus will become based on past failures or until everyone gets a chance to use it. The biggest hurdle plus will have is that no matter how great Google+ is or how much it differentiates itself a lot of people don't even want to think about using another social website. Only time will tell. 

Mike's Final Words:

I still think I win the debate, and as far as I'm concerned Google+ has yet to prove me wrong! What do YOU think?






Published By Michael J. Schiemer
Owner & Marketing Consultant
Frugal Business Solutions Boston
Digital Marketing & Social Media

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