3 ms·

In one paragraph, the author lauds the fact that Google+ will send email to people who aren't on it, effectively spam for your friends: G+'s email notification

In one paragraph, the author lauds the fact that Google+ will send email to people who aren't on it, effectively spam for your friends: G+'s email notification handling is particularly elegant. It gives you the choice—on by default—to let your friends who aren't on yet know there's something going on. In another paragraph, the author lauds how Google+ doesn't clutter your mail inbox: Don't mess with the Gmail inbox. When Buzz invaded my Gmail inbox with a flood of social-networky conversations, my first instinct was "Turn it off!" I guess the message is that if you sign up, Google+ won't annoy you, but it will give you the tools to annoy your friends so their product can be "viral."

chc 15y ago
Gmail also allows you to send email to people who aren't Gmail users. I don't see how it's necessarily worse when Google+ does it. It doesn't sound like it's talking about Farmville here — more like what Apple does with iMessage, where it sends an iMessage to other users of Apple's service and a text to others. (I'm not on Google+, so I don't speak from experience. That's just how it sounds to me.)
- raganwald 15y ago
  To be perfectly candid, I am not sure if I have an issue with Google+, with my friends who think I want to throw a custard pie at them, or with the author who both praises and lambastes products that send you unsolicited email. Perhaops I should have simply said, "Hmmm, that's odd..."
  - Symmetry 15y ago
    His criticism of Buzz didn't have anything to do with unsolicited email, but rather with the fact that Google integrated it into its gmail UI.
    - stanleydrew 15y ago
      Correct, although the author is a her.
spinchange 15y ago
I think the message is that you can a have group electronic communication with a select social circle, without each person having to already be a member of the service to receive it. It would be you spamming those people, not google or its service. You added them to the "distribution list" as it were.
weixiyen 15y ago
It's got nothing to do with being viral. Viral is when it asks you to enter your email address + password and invite your friends from a list. If something happens to you in a social network, you get an email about it. It's a must for any successful social network of any kind. If you don't have this feature, your social product is most likely going to fail. As a developer, you cannot be afraid to send these types of emails. As long as you give the option to turn off email notifications from your friends or opt out of the service altogether by deleting the account, then all is well. It's not about being viral, it's about user re-engagement. Facebook knows this, and that's why you get an email notification when any little action happens to you. This is what allows them to have 200m+ users logging in EVERY SINGLE DAY. I find it completely acceptable. If you want to launch a social product without this feature, good luck not tanking.
TheMystic 15y ago
Nothing different from what LinkedIn (annoyingly) does, really, or Facebook, or any service that offers to slurp in your contacts from Gmail. But in this case it's one less step between the spammer and the address book; Google is both.
revorad 15y ago
That's exactly right. That's how I got invited to G+ and how I invited my friends. Google+ is Facebook on steroids.
- zeddez 15y ago
  You mean pimply and with a bad attitude :)

chc 15y ago

Gmail also allows you to send email to people who aren't Gmail users. I don't see how it's necessarily worse when Google+ does it. It doesn't sound like it's talking about Farmville here — more like what Apple does with iMessage, where it sends an iMessage to other users of Apple's service and a text to others. (I'm not on Google+, so I don't speak from experience. That's just how it sounds to me.)

raganwald 15y ago
To be perfectly candid, I am not sure if I have an issue with Google+, with my friends who think I want to throw a custard pie at them, or with the author who both praises and lambastes products that send you unsolicited email. Perhaops I should have simply said, "Hmmm, that's odd..."
- Symmetry 15y ago
  His criticism of Buzz didn't have anything to do with unsolicited email, but rather with the fact that Google integrated it into its gmail UI.
  - stanleydrew 15y ago
    Correct, although the author is a her.

spinchange 15y ago

I think the message is that you can a have group electronic communication with a select social circle, without each person having to already be a member of the service to receive it. It would be you spamming those people, not google or its service. You added them to the "distribution list" as it were.

weixiyen 15y ago

It's got nothing to do with being viral. Viral is when it asks you to enter your email address + password and invite your friends from a list. If something happens to you in a social network, you get an email about it. It's a must for any successful social network of any kind. If you don't have this feature, your social product is most likely going to fail. As a developer, you cannot be afraid to send these types of emails. As long as you give the option to turn off email notifications from your friends or opt out of the service altogether by deleting the account, then all is well. It's not about being viral, it's about user re-engagement. Facebook knows this, and that's why you get an email notification when any little action happens to you. This is what allows them to have 200m+ users logging in EVERY SINGLE DAY. I find it completely acceptable. If you want to launch a social product without this feature, good luck not tanking.

TheMystic 15y ago

Nothing different from what LinkedIn (annoyingly) does, really, or Facebook, or any service that offers to slurp in your contacts from Gmail. But in this case it's one less step between the spammer and the address book; Google is both.

revorad 15y ago

That's exactly right. That's how I got invited to G+ and how I invited my friends. Google+ is Facebook on steroids.

zeddez 15y ago
You mean pimply and with a bad attitude :)