7 ms·

What's it like to work on the Google+ team? are they all kind of blindly into it, or is there any sort of "yeah yeah, we know" there? I guess it's an exciting c

What's it like to work on the Google+ team? are they all kind of blindly into it, or is there any sort of "yeah yeah, we know" there? I guess it's an exciting challenge maybe?

znpy 10y ago
it would be fun to know. I wonder if they perform any actual user testing, when they pick truly random users and ask their feeling about google plus.
- dmoy 10y ago
  You can't strongarm a truly random sample. Alas, hah. For some stuff you have to ask people to come on site, which tends to self select a bit. Sometimes you get... interesting folks. (Just talking generally about onsite user testing, not involved with G+ in any way)
BinaryIdiot 10y ago
Initially Google+ was Google's big foray into social networking and while it gained users it never grew to the size of a Facebook, Twitter or even MySpace. But nowadays it's kept that capability along with bringing in aging Google features such as communities (it seems clear to me that communities will eventually only live in Google+). From the outside looking in it looks to me like Google+ is going to be the hub in which users can interact with all of Google's properties that have a mechanism to work with and collaborate with other, public users. They likely still have millions of users. In comparison to Facebook sure it's a massive failure. But I'm of the opinion that isn't an accurate nor useful comparison.
- awesomerobot 10y ago
  > From the outside looking in it looks to me like Google+ is going to be the hub in which users can interact with all of Google's properties that have a mechanism to work with and collaborate with other, public users. They likely still have millions of users. Yes, but we're talking maybe about .5% of all Google accounts actively use Google+... what's their goal at this point? 1%? is it a "if we build it, eventually they might come" scenario?
  - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
    > is it a "if we build it, eventually they might come" scenario? If they're being at all realistic then I think that idea has to be out the window at this point. Not sure what their ultimate goal is. Since it's Google, even if millions of people are using it I fully expect them to just kill it eventually. I mean they pulled Photos out of Google+, maybe they'll pull out the communities stuff they've been working on and just axe the whole thing.
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      As someone who likes google+ I think what they do now is smart: - decouple things from the g+ name since a vocal minority is still throwing a tantrum everytime the name is mentioned. - g+ identity continues like before only they just call it "your account", not "your google+ account" - why was photos, maps etc so heavily tied into g+ in the first place? I think it is safe to say now that that portal-like idea was a big nistake in the first place.
      - dredmorbius 10y ago
        That just squishes the problem into a new space, and recreates the initial G+ problem. Actually, the original Gmail problem. Until Gmail existed, there was no reason for the typical user to log in to Google at all. Webmasters and advertisers and a few other categories, yes, but search was just Generic, Unauthenticated Search. Gmail changed that. Now the general public had a reason to create a Google acccount. And to have their online Google activity accountable to that. I immediately resisted any temptation to create a personal Gmail account. I may have had several through corporate email (and yes, it was technically far superior to, say, Microsoft Exchange). But man did the idea of mapping my random search activity to my name (and my employer, and my paycheck) not sit well. Any mandated centralised ID across Google services, without the ability to disown or repudiate services, is simply wrong.
        reitanqild 10y ago
        Actually I can agree with you to a certain degree. From googles and the uncaring users perspective it makes perfect sense though: less hassle for everyone.
- drusepth 10y ago
  >Initially Google+ was Google's big foray into social networking and while it gained users it never grew to the size of a Facebook, Twitter or even MySpace. It actually surpassed Twitter (and MySpace) pretty quickly after launch in terms of DAUs and MAUs, and remained the #2 network (behind FB) for as long as they released stats for it. I wouldn't be surprised if it still were #2 -- but they haven't released updated MAU counts* for a year or two. [1] https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b597d8be03e46b4bd142d9649e4d8256?convert_to_webp=true https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b597d8be03e46b4bd142d9... [2] https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-378c3027e991abd6b078dcd9dd882e30?convert_to_webp=true https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-378c3027e991abd6b078dc... [3] https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-28c2654acfc9b8b950de1770ae03a3b2?convert_to_webp=true https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-28c2654acfc9b8b950de17... Also, since everyone always asks: their MAU counts separated "users" from "people posting in the G+ stream" -- the numbers above are for the latter.
Mahn 10y ago
I mean, engineers are generally pretty smart people, I don't think anybody within the company thinks Google+ is killing it. But the thing is, I would imagine that if you work at Google you are going to work on "unsexy" products too. Working on Google+ today is probably not worse than say working on the Ads Platform or some random internal reporting tool. It's not super mega exciting, but it's a job and you get paid.
- awesomerobot 10y ago
  Yes, of course I'm sure the actual work is valuable as an employee... and to say you're working on the Google+ team is to say you're working at Google, which is hugely valuable on its own. I'm more wondering if there's some goal they're all working towards... what's their mission as a team? What's the morale like? Is there a lot of pressure on them to perform better?
  - dmead 10y ago
    perform better how? the failures are in marketing and brand stuff. after all, google+ is really a me-too product reminiscent of late 90s/early 2000s microsoft. Facebook, for all it's faults pretty much spread word of mouth. everything about google+ seems forced.
    - reitanqild 10y ago
      Some people around here (not saying you) have been shouting their hate against g+ so loud that many seems to be unaware that for some users, and quite a few it seems, google+ offers a much better experience than anything else. You say: "everything about google+ seems forced." I say: less forced than twitter, on g+ I can write my post just the way I want anf share with just the people I want. Less forced than facebook: on g+ I can (and I do have) multiple personas, keeping my friends away from being bothered by my taste in music, future employers from being bothered by what I do on my spare time etc. Hint: nothing illegal, I would not trust it to protect me against a police investigation, but for the majority of us (I hope) we don't need that.
dack 10y ago
Not on the team, but know someone who is, and I think it's mostly the latter. I'm sure there are lots of challenges on the project still to keep someone busy, but they're not completely unaware of how it's perceived these days.
w1ntermute 10y ago
It's probably a low-stress way to burnish your resume with a couple year Google stint. If you didn't go to a top CS program, working as an engineer at Google (or similar companies) can get you a lot more professional respect. For example, you can get better positions down the line at other companies. Or if you start your own company, investors will be much more willing to invest in you than in someone without any brand names on their resume. If you apply to YC, they'll probably give you the benefit of the doubt.
1_2__3 10y ago
Little bit of both.
yoodenvranx 10y ago
I am wondering the same thing about the Google HO team. Their product is a horrible piece of garbage (ask any avid Ingress player) and they do _nothing_ to fix it. Who is responsible for this? Is it bad management? Is it bad engineers?

What's it like to work on the Google+ team? are they all kind of blindly into it, or is there any sort of "yeah yeah, we know" there? I guess it's an exciting challenge maybe?

znpy 10y ago

it would be fun to know. I wonder if they perform any actual user testing, when they pick truly random users and ask their feeling about google plus.

dmoy 10y ago
You can't strongarm a truly random sample. Alas, hah. For some stuff you have to ask people to come on site, which tends to self select a bit. Sometimes you get... interesting folks. (Just talking generally about onsite user testing, not involved with G+ in any way)

BinaryIdiot 10y ago

Initially Google+ was Google's big foray into social networking and while it gained users it never grew to the size of a Facebook, Twitter or even MySpace. But nowadays it's kept that capability along with bringing in aging Google features such as communities (it seems clear to me that communities will eventually only live in Google+). From the outside looking in it looks to me like Google+ is going to be the hub in which users can interact with all of Google's properties that have a mechanism to work with and collaborate with other, public users. They likely still have millions of users. In comparison to Facebook sure it's a massive failure. But I'm of the opinion that isn't an accurate nor useful comparison.

awesomerobot 10y ago
> From the outside looking in it looks to me like Google+ is going to be the hub in which users can interact with all of Google's properties that have a mechanism to work with and collaborate with other, public users. They likely still have millions of users. Yes, but we're talking maybe about .5% of all Google accounts actively use Google+... what's their goal at this point? 1%? is it a "if we build it, eventually they might come" scenario?
- BinaryIdiot 10y ago
  > is it a "if we build it, eventually they might come" scenario? If they're being at all realistic then I think that idea has to be out the window at this point. Not sure what their ultimate goal is. Since it's Google, even if millions of people are using it I fully expect them to just kill it eventually. I mean they pulled Photos out of Google+, maybe they'll pull out the communities stuff they've been working on and just axe the whole thing.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    As someone who likes google+ I think what they do now is smart: - decouple things from the g+ name since a vocal minority is still throwing a tantrum everytime the name is mentioned. - g+ identity continues like before only they just call it "your account", not "your google+ account" - why was photos, maps etc so heavily tied into g+ in the first place? I think it is safe to say now that that portal-like idea was a big nistake in the first place.
    - dredmorbius 10y ago
      That just squishes the problem into a new space, and recreates the initial G+ problem. Actually, the original Gmail problem. Until Gmail existed, there was no reason for the typical user to log in to Google at all. Webmasters and advertisers and a few other categories, yes, but search was just Generic, Unauthenticated Search. Gmail changed that. Now the general public had a reason to create a Google acccount. And to have their online Google activity accountable to that. I immediately resisted any temptation to create a personal Gmail account. I may have had several through corporate email (and yes, it was technically far superior to, say, Microsoft Exchange). But man did the idea of mapping my random search activity to my name (and my employer, and my paycheck) not sit well. Any mandated centralised ID across Google services, without the ability to disown or repudiate services, is simply wrong.
      - reitanqild 10y ago
        Actually I can agree with you to a certain degree. From googles and the uncaring users perspective it makes perfect sense though: less hassle for everyone.
drusepth 10y ago
>Initially Google+ was Google's big foray into social networking and while it gained users it never grew to the size of a Facebook, Twitter or even MySpace. It actually surpassed Twitter (and MySpace) pretty quickly after launch in terms of DAUs and MAUs, and remained the #2 network (behind FB) for as long as they released stats for it. I wouldn't be surprised if it still were #2 -- but they haven't released updated MAU counts* for a year or two. [1] https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b597d8be03e46b4bd142d9649e4d8256?convert_to_webp=true https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b597d8be03e46b4bd142d9... [2] https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-378c3027e991abd6b078dcd9dd882e30?convert_to_webp=true https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-378c3027e991abd6b078dc... [3] https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-28c2654acfc9b8b950de1770ae03a3b2?convert_to_webp=true https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-28c2654acfc9b8b950de17... Also, since everyone always asks: their MAU counts separated "users" from "people posting in the G+ stream" -- the numbers above are for the latter.

Mahn 10y ago

I mean, engineers are generally pretty smart people, I don't think anybody within the company thinks Google+ is killing it. But the thing is, I would imagine that if you work at Google you are going to work on "unsexy" products too. Working on Google+ today is probably not worse than say working on the Ads Platform or some random internal reporting tool. It's not super mega exciting, but it's a job and you get paid.

awesomerobot 10y ago
Yes, of course I'm sure the actual work is valuable as an employee... and to say you're working on the Google+ team is to say you're working at Google, which is hugely valuable on its own. I'm more wondering if there's some goal they're all working towards... what's their mission as a team? What's the morale like? Is there a lot of pressure on them to perform better?
- dmead 10y ago
  perform better how? the failures are in marketing and brand stuff. after all, google+ is really a me-too product reminiscent of late 90s/early 2000s microsoft. Facebook, for all it's faults pretty much spread word of mouth. everything about google+ seems forced.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    Some people around here (not saying you) have been shouting their hate against g+ so loud that many seems to be unaware that for some users, and quite a few it seems, google+ offers a much better experience than anything else. You say: "everything about google+ seems forced." I say: less forced than twitter, on g+ I can write my post just the way I want anf share with just the people I want. Less forced than facebook: on g+ I can (and I do have) multiple personas, keeping my friends away from being bothered by my taste in music, future employers from being bothered by what I do on my spare time etc. Hint: nothing illegal, I would not trust it to protect me against a police investigation, but for the majority of us (I hope) we don't need that.

dack 10y ago

Not on the team, but know someone who is, and I think it's mostly the latter. I'm sure there are lots of challenges on the project still to keep someone busy, but they're not completely unaware of how it's perceived these days.

w1ntermute 10y ago

It's probably a low-stress way to burnish your resume with a couple year Google stint. If you didn't go to a top CS program, working as an engineer at Google (or similar companies) can get you a lot more professional respect. For example, you can get better positions down the line at other companies. Or if you start your own company, investors will be much more willing to invest in you than in someone without any brand names on their resume. If you apply to YC, they'll probably give you the benefit of the doubt.

1_2__3 10y ago

Little bit of both.

yoodenvranx 10y ago

I am wondering the same thing about the Google HO team. Their product is a horrible piece of garbage (ask any avid Ingress player) and they do _nothing_ to fix it. Who is responsible for this? Is it bad management? Is it bad engineers?