Inspired by a tweet from my friend Bobby Cherry this morning and a link to a Slate article on Google + and its imminent demise I’ve decided to chime in a little here with my thoughts on the subject.
I made the analogy just this morning….
If someone came to you and said “I invented this thing, it has 4 wheels, a steering wheel and it’ll take you places. That’s all it has and that’s all it’ll do right now but it’s going to change the World” what would you say?
I know I’d do a fair amount of scoffing. Sure, some people might be sold on the idea especially if there’s a huge, influential company behind it.
Essentially Google tried to reinvent a pretty well worn wheel.
Of course, like and good Google fan I signed up for Google + as soon as I was able to. I’ve checked in maybe 5 or 6 times since then and haven’t done a whole lot with my + Page/profile.
I didn’t see or feel the need to maintain it. I didn’t have the time to maintain yet another Social Media Profile. I believe this was the case with many, many other people.
Too much times was already invested in Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other Social Media in general to add another, Beta, unknown, service to the proverbial Social toolbox.
Since its inception Google + hasn’t been a complete Social Networking platform – well, by complete I mean it hasn’t lived up to any potential.
In my opinion, Google tried to put something in place, tried to fill it with ‘cool stuff’ (that people already use) and tried to compete in a very short time – they’re still working on it. It took other mediums years to put all of these ducks in a row and get the right features in place and remove the ones that aren’t working.
With a ‘product’ as… well… normal.. as Google +. Google can’t stay in Beta. They can’t start with half a product and add more as time goes on. Someone already did it! You’re just trying to play catch-up.
Really Google? You can do better than that. You can do better than Google +.
What do you think? how many of your Social Media Eggs are you going to load into the Google + basket?
