2 ms·
To be honest Zuckerberg could've taken an annual sabbatical and it wouldn't have made a jot of difference to Google Plus's future. When G+ came out Facebook wa
by leonroy 10y ago
To be honest Zuckerberg could've taken an annual sabbatical and it wouldn't have made a jot of difference to Google Plus's future.
When G+ came out Facebook was pretty damn popular amongst my peers and younger friends and colleagues. G+ had some interest I'll grant you but the big question to everyone I know was 'Why? I have Facebook.' Despite that I and a lot of friends signed up. The problem was that Google's social network felt like a geeky waste land. Like a place where you post things that you don't care if anyone else sees.
Pity because from what I understand their photos app has uncanny facial recognition and auto tagging capabilities. Their email clearly is solid. Hangouts is also pretty damn good. Google have so much opportunity in the social space if they could tie all these services together in a compelling way but they really seem to be missing some key ingredients - thoughtful leadership perhaps?
- beagle3 10y agoThe tie in was flakier in the past, and at some points in time was done in a strong-arming way, which killed a lot of goodwill (YouTube unification, real name policy -- enforced from day 1 much more vigorously than Facebook and applying to old gmail accounts, ...) and there was not enough to start with anyway). Couple that with the Buzz fiasco before it .... But that would not have mattered if FB wasn't there. The real problem is network effect: Most people were already on Facebook, and maintaining two presences (FB and G+) was a chore. So most people kept to FB. Everyone I know kept their main profile on FB, and had a "professional" or "interest-based" profile on G+, which naturally saw about 10% or less activity.