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This feels like Wave 2.0. Google created an incredible product, but botched the launch by keeping it shut down for too long, and now the newness has worn off. G

by dkrich 15y ago

This feels like Wave 2.0. Google created an incredible product, but botched the launch by keeping it shut down for too long, and now the newness has worn off. Good luck getting people excited when it finally is open to the public. That's not to say that a social network can't build steam over time (after all that's exactly what Facebook did). But the problem here is that the role of Facebook and social networking is much more well defined than it was when MySpace was the leader. At that time everybody knew these sites were cool, but the value proposition wasn't completely apparent.

cageface 15y ago
I agree that they've squandered the initial momentum. This is a lesson everybody can learn from Apple: make a big splash on day one. Maybe MVP and iteration is a good approach for a new startup but when you're going toe-to-toe with a juggernaut like Facebook you need to land that first punch. It gets worse though. I suspect I'm not the only person for whom their heavy handed real name policy was the final impetus to unplug from their information harvesting network altogether. G+ may actually backfire on them.
- fluidcruft 15y ago
  I agree. Not only the real name policy but the stories about shutting down access to other Google services is pretty frightening to a nobody like me. Especially when Google comes out and claims that these anecdotes are not true and that the people were banned for other nebulous reasons. Well they may or may not be. Google puts a lot of faith in their machines. If there's one thing I've learned about Google: avoid doing anything that might require some sort of intervention by them to fix your account--you won't be able to contact anyone and they just don't care unless you're famous. Someone like me will just languish in the cogs. The only times they care are when someone famous/influential gets inconvenienced or the other case is when a large group of users are affected and they have to dust off the backups. Bottom line: I'm pretty sure that if something strange happened--Google will just say it's my fault. For me as one little user: not worth the risk.

by dkrich 15y ago

cageface 15y ago

I agree that they've squandered the initial momentum. This is a lesson everybody can learn from Apple: make a big splash on day one. Maybe MVP and iteration is a good approach for a new startup but when you're going toe-to-toe with a juggernaut like Facebook you need to land that first punch. It gets worse though. I suspect I'm not the only person for whom their heavy handed real name policy was the final impetus to unplug from their information harvesting network altogether. G+ may actually backfire on them.

fluidcruft 15y ago
I agree. Not only the real name policy but the stories about shutting down access to other Google services is pretty frightening to a nobody like me. Especially when Google comes out and claims that these anecdotes are not true and that the people were banned for other nebulous reasons. Well they may or may not be. Google puts a lot of faith in their machines. If there's one thing I've learned about Google: avoid doing anything that might require some sort of intervention by them to fix your account--you won't be able to contact anyone and they just don't care unless you're famous. Someone like me will just languish in the cogs. The only times they care are when someone famous/influential gets inconvenienced or the other case is when a large group of users are affected and they have to dust off the backups. Bottom line: I'm pretty sure that if something strange happened--Google will just say it's my fault. For me as one little user: not worth the risk.