6 ms·

Why you shouldn’t write off Google+ just yet

33 points by iProject 14y ago

drhowarddrfine 14y ago
I signed up for Facebook a few years ago so I could see a (worthless) video someone posted. Haven't used it since. Google+ I signed up for to see what it was like. The only reason I don't use it extensively is because most of the people I know use Facebook. I absolutely love the 'circles' and integration with everything else I do with GMail, Calendar, etc. But after explaining all this to those who use FB, for some reason, they don't seem to get the advantage which just seems strange. All that said, one group I told one group I do web dev for that the best way to work with me would be through Google+. After one or two weeks, management decided they wanted to look into using Google+ themselves and everyone I worked with has their own account and use it daily.
ryanhuff 14y ago
I wish people would stop comparing G+ and Facebook. Even though Google+ has a social network app, G+ is really the identity and behavior-tracking glue of a horizontally integrated system. I wouldn't be surprised if G+ the social network remained a niche product and was viewed as a failure, while G+ the identity and behavior aggregator became a shashing success.
- eblume 14y ago
  I agree completely. The integration between G+ and all of the other Google apps - particularly on my android phone - is really, really slick. Great stuff. Even if I never posted on G+ I'd still like having it around just for the contact management it gives.
jgemedina 14y ago
G+ and Facebook are different things even though people do compare them. I get different stuff in my g+ stream compared to facebook, they're targeting g+ for something more than just a social network, it is an integrator, yet another cool feature of the whole google ux.
nirvana 14y ago
People are used to having a Facebook id. They go there to hang out with their friends or their old buddies. They're not used to needing to log in to search google, and I doubt they are going to want to. Google is increasingly making you need to have a google account to do stuff, but I find that it is making me use the services less and less. For instance, I use youtube less now. Google+ may well be successful, but having learned my lesson with Facebook, I'm going the other way. I'm slowly shutting down all my gmail accounts and migrating it to my own domains and servers. My app engine app is going away, and my google apps accounts have migrated. Google docs etc, have been replaced with another solution. Eventually, and pretty soon, I'll have no more google accounts.
- TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
  I'm stuck with Google Mail, but I too am moving away slowly from Google. I hate how Google makes it difficult to have more than one account. Although this is mostly because my primary account is banned from YouTube (without explanation), and also from Google Play/Checkout/Wallet (failed debit card transaction??), and also from Google Checkout for Merchants (without explanation). I hate being unable to buy Android apps :( Edit: I just bought an email account from Namecheap.
  - raldi 14y ago
    In what way do you find Google makes it difficult to use multiple accounts at once? I've been blown away at how easy and comprehensive the multilogin support is, and am curious about how your experience was different.
    - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
      YouTube makes it very difficult to use a different account to your main. I know other Google services are reasonable in this regard, though, but I don't really care about them.
      - raldi 14y ago
duncan 14y ago
Google+? Is that the thing that spams my Google calendar and is only good for instant upload?
mindcrime 14y ago
This article hit the nail on the head. It doesn't matter if G+ hasn't "beaten" Facebook yet (or ever). Google are clearly playing the long game here, and they have deep pockets... they will continue to integrate G+ into their other products, continue to iterate and improve and continue to grow G+. There are some things G+ desperately needs to make it as useful as it could be, such as a complete API and support for OpenSocial apps. But I expect they'll get it all nailed over time.
- jawr 14y ago
  And it really is creeping up on us! At work we have moved over from WebEx meetings to Google Hangouts, which we picked up because we moved our business email and calendar to Google Apps... It's kind of scary how dominant they are.
  - Johnyma22 14y ago
    Out of interest have you tried Etherpad Lite? It has video conferencing from tokbox (only supports 4 people tho).
brown9-2 14y ago
I wonder how the "employee bonuses tied to usage numbers" thing has worked out.
overgard 14y ago
Here's what I don't really get about google+: what's in it for me as a user? "Horizontal integration" makes a lot of sense for google, but as a user I get nothing from it. At best, it creeps me out a bit. The entire reason I refuse to sign up for google+ is explicitly because google is behind it. I don't dislike the company (they're fine), I just don't want all of my stuff tied together in the way that google VP so gleefully describes.
dgudkov 14y ago
I'm trying to switch from G+ to FB and finding Facebook way too obtrusive. And that's annoying and even offending. Why am I getting tons of absolutely irrelevant "friend" suggestions, which mainly consist of unknown sexy girls? That's really cheap manipulation. And those offerings like "mark checkbox to send FB invitation to _all_ contacts in your mail service". Meh...

33 points by iProject 14y ago

I signed up for Facebook a few years ago so I could see a (worthless) video someone posted. Haven't used it since. Google+ I signed up for to see what it was like. The only reason I don't use it extensively is because most of the people I know use Facebook. I absolutely love the 'circles' and integration with everything else I do with GMail, Calendar, etc. But after explaining all this to those who use FB, for some reason, they don't seem to get the advantage which just seems strange. All that said, one group I told one group I do web dev for that the best way to work with me would be through Google+. After one or two weeks, management decided they wanted to look into using Google+ themselves and everyone I worked with has their own account and use it daily.

ryanhuff 14y ago

I wish people would stop comparing G+ and Facebook. Even though Google+ has a social network app, G+ is really the identity and behavior-tracking glue of a horizontally integrated system. I wouldn't be surprised if G+ the social network remained a niche product and was viewed as a failure, while G+ the identity and behavior aggregator became a shashing success.

eblume 14y ago
I agree completely. The integration between G+ and all of the other Google apps - particularly on my android phone - is really, really slick. Great stuff. Even if I never posted on G+ I'd still like having it around just for the contact management it gives.

jgemedina 14y ago

G+ and Facebook are different things even though people do compare them. I get different stuff in my g+ stream compared to facebook, they're targeting g+ for something more than just a social network, it is an integrator, yet another cool feature of the whole google ux.

nirvana 14y ago

People are used to having a Facebook id. They go there to hang out with their friends or their old buddies. They're not used to needing to log in to search google, and I doubt they are going to want to. Google is increasingly making you need to have a google account to do stuff, but I find that it is making me use the services less and less. For instance, I use youtube less now. Google+ may well be successful, but having learned my lesson with Facebook, I'm going the other way. I'm slowly shutting down all my gmail accounts and migrating it to my own domains and servers. My app engine app is going away, and my google apps accounts have migrated. Google docs etc, have been replaced with another solution. Eventually, and pretty soon, I'll have no more google accounts.

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
I'm stuck with Google Mail, but I too am moving away slowly from Google. I hate how Google makes it difficult to have more than one account. Although this is mostly because my primary account is banned from YouTube (without explanation), and also from Google Play/Checkout/Wallet (failed debit card transaction??), and also from Google Checkout for Merchants (without explanation). I hate being unable to buy Android apps :( Edit: I just bought an email account from Namecheap.
- raldi 14y ago
  In what way do you find Google makes it difficult to use multiple accounts at once? I've been blown away at how easy and comprehensive the multilogin support is, and am curious about how your experience was different.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    YouTube makes it very difficult to use a different account to your main. I know other Google services are reasonable in this regard, though, but I don't really care about them.
    - raldi 14y ago

duncan 14y ago

Google+? Is that the thing that spams my Google calendar and is only good for instant upload?

mindcrime 14y ago

This article hit the nail on the head. It doesn't matter if G+ hasn't "beaten" Facebook yet (or ever). Google are clearly playing the long game here, and they have deep pockets... they will continue to integrate G+ into their other products, continue to iterate and improve and continue to grow G+. There are some things G+ desperately needs to make it as useful as it could be, such as a complete API and support for OpenSocial apps. But I expect they'll get it all nailed over time.

jawr 14y ago
And it really is creeping up on us! At work we have moved over from WebEx meetings to Google Hangouts, which we picked up because we moved our business email and calendar to Google Apps... It's kind of scary how dominant they are.
- Johnyma22 14y ago
  Out of interest have you tried Etherpad Lite? It has video conferencing from tokbox (only supports 4 people tho).

brown9-2 14y ago

I wonder how the "employee bonuses tied to usage numbers" thing has worked out.

overgard 14y ago

Here's what I don't really get about google+: what's in it for me as a user? "Horizontal integration" makes a lot of sense for google, but as a user I get nothing from it. At best, it creeps me out a bit. The entire reason I refuse to sign up for google+ is explicitly because google is behind it. I don't dislike the company (they're fine), I just don't want all of my stuff tied together in the way that google VP so gleefully describes.

dgudkov 14y ago

I'm trying to switch from G+ to FB and finding Facebook way too obtrusive. And that's annoying and even offending. Why am I getting tons of absolutely irrelevant "friend" suggestions, which mainly consist of unknown sexy girls? That's really cheap manipulation. And those offerings like "mark checkbox to send FB invitation to _all_ contacts in your mail service". Meh...