I was right.
I’ve always wanted to start off a column like that. Now, what exactly was I right about? I was right about Google Plus.
At the start of the semester, I wrote that Google’s foray into social networking felt a little uninspired. While it did have good ideas — prompting users to sort friends into circles was one of them — the site did not have anything that compelled me to abandon Facebook, which already served my needs well enough.
More importantly, Google Plus did not compel many of my friends to leave, either. Had a large number of them decided to migrate, I would’ve followed, but the majority of them stayed and those who left eventually returned.
So what happened?
Despite very impressive initial growth, traffic to the site has been in decline for some time now. Users simply don’t feel motivated to keep coming back. And Google must know this, as evidenced by last month’s not-supposed-to-go-public statement by one of its engineers, Steve Yegge.
“Google Plus is a prime example of our complete failure to understand platforms from the very highest levels of executive leadership down to the very lowest leaf workers,” Yegge said. He went on to call Google Plus “a pathetic afterthought,” for launching without an application programming interface.
I think the brunt of Yegge’s full rant was accurate: Google chased after Facebook’s success rather than innovating and creating its own. And now, it does not appear to me, at least, that the search engine giant has any hope of beating its chief rival.
So, what could Google have done differently to achieve victory? Or rather, what will the next challenger to Mark Zuckerberg’s behemoth have to do?
One thing is taking Steve Yegge’s advice: Give outside developers access at launch. Don’t be so cautious that you ignore one of the best ways to encourage early adoption. And another thing: Be flexible when it comes to brand pages. That’s crucial.
Early adoption will always be the most important thing to keep in mind when setting up a social network, and though its invite system did work wonders at first, Google Plus failed to give users a reason to keep coming back.
Now, I expect some Google defenders will berate me, claiming that it’s the users’ fault if they can’t find anything to do. But that’s silly. If users need to be told how to have fun on a networking site, then the site itself is flawed. Period.
I’m not declaring Google Plus dead — I’m sure plenty of folks will continue to enjoy it for what it is. I’m just pointing out that those who wanted a ‘Facebook killer’ had better keep searching.
Steven Zoeller is a journalism sophomore.
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LauraGibbs 6 months, 1 week ago
Although these words - "traffic to the site has been in decline for some time now" - are so vague that it is hard to determine what they mean, I expect the "decline" refers to the dropoff after the huge spike of traffic when Google+ opened to users without invitations in September. There was indeed a huge spike at that time for a couple of days, when all kinds of people from Facebook showed up at Google+ expecting it to be like Facebook. When they found out that Google+ was a place where people were networking in very different ways from Facebook (much more professional networking, not just games and fun), those people left. Hence the dropoff after the spike. Just speaking for myself, I am glad those folks have Facebook and can leave Google+ alone. People who want the things Facebook can do for them should definitely stay there; people who are looking for something different can use Google+ instead. As someone who uses Google+ for professional networking as an educator, it is the most useful online network I have found.
joshhendo 6 months, 1 week ago
To put it in the most blunt of terms... I think you're wrong. People were saying Plus failed simply because it didn't steal away all of Facebook's market share overnight.
There are 2 things to consider. Firstly, it isn't Facebook. It is different at the moment, and I think that's a good thing. I'm using it a lot more than Facebook. That said, if people were on it, it could be used in a very similar way to Facebook.
Secondly, it is less than a year old. As far as I can see, my stream is getting more and more active, and more and more people are moving over. In fact, data released by NASA of how long it took them to reach 20000 follows on different networks. In short, 468 days on Twitter, 276 days on Facebook... 4 days on Plus.
Things like Plus integration into Ice Cream Sandwich and heaps of other Google products are just going to keep getting market share.
When Plus launched, I was cautiously optimistic. I wanted it to succeed, but after what happened with Buzz, and Google being so late to the game, I didn't expect it to. I was wrong. Seriously, 50 million users in 6 or so months? I'd hardly call that a failure.
ryzmn 6 months, 1 week ago
Honestly, the reason why I think Google Plus is currently a failure is because it has yet to open its doors to the under 18 market. Kids make a HUGE difference. I will be you everything that G+ wouldn't be how it is now if teenagers were granted access to it. Once teenagers are, adults who are in supervisory positions will be more inclined to use it, and adults who are not will follow in suit because their friends will be on it.
jack_ryder 6 months, 1 week ago
Josh, are you really going to refer to the number of signups as some sort of way to measure Google+'s current status? There are a good portion of people who are included in that 50 million user count that haven't touched Google+ in weeks or months and will never go back again. It's a misleading statistic to downplay its disappointing performance. It's already been mentioned that less than half of that number are ACTIVE (which is what matters most) in the grand scheme of things, which is disappointing considering the hype and attention it's received. Also, the goalpost moving from some of the fans is hilarious. First it was going to pluck a huge number of facebook users with curiosity surrounding the invite system, then it was being open to everyone except kids, now it needs the under 18 bracket to beat Facebook? These "wait until" comments from some of people are hilarious and sad at the same time.
Google+ fans need to stop with these dreams of the service taking over and crushing Facebook and making it irrelevant. Google+ will be a decent niche alternative for a certain sector and can co-exist with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and others. Just be thankful Google hasn't decided to pull the plug and go on anyway with the service.