4 ms·

I think the real reason why G+ didn't take off is because younger people were oversaturated with social media networks and most older people had already learned

by skarz 8y ago

I think the real reason why G+ didn't take off is because younger people were oversaturated with social media networks and most older people had already learned how to use Facebook. I think if I approached any of my older relatives with G+ they would have surely said "But I just learned how to use Facebook, now you want me to learn ANOTHER website!" The fact that any of my aging relatives is on Facebook is a miracle in and of itself. I think G+ had done everything correctly, it was just too late. Same reason why there are still no real competitors to Facebook. The real question is... How does Google unfuck all of the mandatory G+ integration that they forced on everyone?

rbritton 8y ago
It also had some very opaque errors that never were resolved, suffering from the same lack of customer support Google is well-known for. At one point I tried setting up a business page on it, but something in the verification got “stuck” causing most actions to edit anything to error out with no recourse.
taneq 8y ago
The big issue for me and a lot of the community was their policy on mandatory use of real names. Facebook wanted to own your online identity but Google wanted to own your real-life identity. The moment they started pushing that policy G+ turned into a ghost town. The mandatory G+ integration, btw, was one of the core goals of G+ IMO. They wanted to tie everyone's accounts together into a single entity (again, owning your identity) and G+ was the chosen vehicle.
- Pamar 8y ago
  Mandatory real names were retracted after a bit, I believe?
  - taneq 8y ago
    I think they were, but by then everyone I knew had stopped using G+.
- Moru 8y ago
  Isn't Facebook requiring real names too?
  - taneq 8y ago
    Ironically yeah, Facebook tried the real-names thing on a while after G+ did it but I think at that point G+ had lost momentum and everyone had shifted back to Facebook, so network effects stopped it from going anywhere. I thought they'd also backtracked from that due to the obvious privacy-related corner cases (closeted drag queens being outed, peoples' locations being revealed to estranged abusive exes, that sort of thing) but I haven't looked into it in a long while.
  - skarz 8y ago
    Their policies are contradicting. On one page it states that you should use the name that you guy by in real life. On another page it says you may be required to show proof of that being your name. https://www.facebook.com/help/229715077154790 https://www.facebook.com/help/229715077154790 https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185 https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185
- cesarb 8y ago
  Wasn't there a scare back then that, if you added G+ to your account and then Google decided for some reason that your real name wasn't your real name, you'd lose your gmail account? That's the reason I've never logged into Youtube - I didn't want to risk losing the email account (even though it's always been under my real name).
  - Gustomaximus 8y ago
    They have thankfully stopped trying to force that link between your account and YT. Was so annoying when happening.
- mcv 8y ago
  What they enforced, for a short period, was not so much that you had to use your real name, but that you had to use a name that didn't sound unusual. Having an unusual real name could get you blocked, whereas a common sounding fake name was okay. Eventually they realised this was stupid and stopped enforcing this. It was probably their earliest misstep, but hardly their greatest. The forced integration was far worse.
PurpleRamen 8y ago
G+ was the typical google launch. It failed on too many levels from the beginning, took a long time to get their shit together and had too many scandals/annoying traits which pushed people away. And at the end it's main sellingpoint still was just that it was not-facebook. Googles biggest fail was probably that Plus was too nerdy, and that they tried to sweep everything into it. Youtube, Reader, Photos, even the search was harmed by it. And at the end the people just got another unsexy service where nobody they cared for was available. Google should have done it the google-way, lettingnit work alongside other services and on it's own, instead of trying to copy facebook and then forcefeed everything to everyone.
- lazulicurio 8y ago
  > Googles biggest fail was probably that Plus [...] tried to sweep everything into it. Youtube, Reader, Photos, even the search was harmed by it Everything but events integration with calendar, which would have been a potentially killer feature. 90% of what I use Facebook for is messenger and coordinating group get-togethers. Google Calendar already had options for public/shared events; I find it baffling that Plus didn't try to take advantage of that.
  - mcv 8y ago
    Events and hangouts were a magical combination on Google+. Perfect for organising online RPG games (G+ was very popular among roleplayers). People were really angry when they killed that.
  - Kye 8y ago
    There's at least an option for events now: https://gettogether.community/ https://gettogether.community/ It uses ActivityPub, but I don't know of any primetime-ready messengers that use AP yet. This is all I could find: https://github.com/fedimos https://github.com/fedimos
mihaifm 8y ago
On the contrary my mom (age 60+) finds G+ more intuitive and easier to use than Facebook, and the fact that there is less noise there is a positive for her. I think G+ could've had its place in the world if Google allowed it to be its own thing rather than just a competitor for Facebook.
toper-centage 8y ago
Actually, the one that will kill Facebook will be... itself. It's been alienating more and more people. The older generation will eventually die out leaving maybe just businesses, pages and some groups. But facebook already knows this and has two solutions: Whatsapp and Instagram. You ain't going anywhere.

by skarz 8y ago

rbritton 8y ago

It also had some very opaque errors that never were resolved, suffering from the same lack of customer support Google is well-known for. At one point I tried setting up a business page on it, but something in the verification got “stuck” causing most actions to edit anything to error out with no recourse.

taneq 8y ago

The big issue for me and a lot of the community was their policy on mandatory use of real names. Facebook wanted to own your online identity but Google wanted to own your real-life identity. The moment they started pushing that policy G+ turned into a ghost town. The mandatory G+ integration, btw, was one of the core goals of G+ IMO. They wanted to tie everyone's accounts together into a single entity (again, owning your identity) and G+ was the chosen vehicle.

Pamar 8y ago
Mandatory real names were retracted after a bit, I believe?
- taneq 8y ago
  I think they were, but by then everyone I knew had stopped using G+.
Moru 8y ago
Isn't Facebook requiring real names too?
- taneq 8y ago
  Ironically yeah, Facebook tried the real-names thing on a while after G+ did it but I think at that point G+ had lost momentum and everyone had shifted back to Facebook, so network effects stopped it from going anywhere. I thought they'd also backtracked from that due to the obvious privacy-related corner cases (closeted drag queens being outed, peoples' locations being revealed to estranged abusive exes, that sort of thing) but I haven't looked into it in a long while.
- skarz 8y ago
  Their policies are contradicting. On one page it states that you should use the name that you guy by in real life. On another page it says you may be required to show proof of that being your name. https://www.facebook.com/help/229715077154790 https://www.facebook.com/help/229715077154790 https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185 https://www.facebook.com/help/159096464162185
cesarb 8y ago
Wasn't there a scare back then that, if you added G+ to your account and then Google decided for some reason that your real name wasn't your real name, you'd lose your gmail account? That's the reason I've never logged into Youtube - I didn't want to risk losing the email account (even though it's always been under my real name).
- Gustomaximus 8y ago
  They have thankfully stopped trying to force that link between your account and YT. Was so annoying when happening.
mcv 8y ago
What they enforced, for a short period, was not so much that you had to use your real name, but that you had to use a name that didn't sound unusual. Having an unusual real name could get you blocked, whereas a common sounding fake name was okay. Eventually they realised this was stupid and stopped enforcing this. It was probably their earliest misstep, but hardly their greatest. The forced integration was far worse.

PurpleRamen 8y ago

G+ was the typical google launch. It failed on too many levels from the beginning, took a long time to get their shit together and had too many scandals/annoying traits which pushed people away. And at the end it's main sellingpoint still was just that it was not-facebook. Googles biggest fail was probably that Plus was too nerdy, and that they tried to sweep everything into it. Youtube, Reader, Photos, even the search was harmed by it. And at the end the people just got another unsexy service where nobody they cared for was available. Google should have done it the google-way, lettingnit work alongside other services and on it's own, instead of trying to copy facebook and then forcefeed everything to everyone.

lazulicurio 8y ago
> Googles biggest fail was probably that Plus [...] tried to sweep everything into it. Youtube, Reader, Photos, even the search was harmed by it Everything but events integration with calendar, which would have been a potentially killer feature. 90% of what I use Facebook for is messenger and coordinating group get-togethers. Google Calendar already had options for public/shared events; I find it baffling that Plus didn't try to take advantage of that.
- mcv 8y ago
  Events and hangouts were a magical combination on Google+. Perfect for organising online RPG games (G+ was very popular among roleplayers). People were really angry when they killed that.
- Kye 8y ago
  There's at least an option for events now: https://gettogether.community/ https://gettogether.community/ It uses ActivityPub, but I don't know of any primetime-ready messengers that use AP yet. This is all I could find: https://github.com/fedimos https://github.com/fedimos

mihaifm 8y ago

On the contrary my mom (age 60+) finds G+ more intuitive and easier to use than Facebook, and the fact that there is less noise there is a positive for her. I think G+ could've had its place in the world if Google allowed it to be its own thing rather than just a competitor for Facebook.

toper-centage 8y ago

Actually, the one that will kill Facebook will be... itself. It's been alienating more and more people. The older generation will eventually die out leaving maybe just businesses, pages and some groups. But facebook already knows this and has two solutions: Whatsapp and Instagram. You ain't going anywhere.