5 ms·

This could be a little bit invalid because of things like Hangouts. My dev team has started using Google Hangouts as a free alternative to conference Skype. I b

by dangero 14y ago

This could be a little bit invalid because of things like Hangouts. My dev team has started using Google Hangouts as a free alternative to conference Skype. I bet I'm considered an "active" Google+ user because I have participated in a Hangout. It gets posted to my Google+ wall every time I do it. I'm actually kind of annoyed every time I have to log onto Google+ to do something because I know they are about to add me to some press release statistic. There's something "evil" about that in my opinion. Google's strategy is putting them in danger of becoming more hated than Facebook. At least I intentionally signed up for Facebook. Who at Google thinks they are going to beat Facebook by forcing anyone who uses Google services to be a part of Google+? It feels very Windows 95 let's integrate the browser into the kernel in the sense that I know as a user, this Google+ portion is not necessary to the product I'm trying to use, but it's being forced on me anyways. Same thing happens every time I'm on Youtube now. No, I don't want my Google+ page updated when I watch a video on Youtube, nor do I want to use my "true identity" when browsing Youtube, nor do I want to explain why I don't want to do that in a way that fits into Google's 4 prefabbed reasons that don't seem to include, "I'd just like to be anonymous, now get off my back about it." The rate their going, I wouldn't be surprised if by next year something will be posted to Google+ when I read my Gmail and I'll be an "Active User". What ever happened to making your product better so that people want to use it instead of "tricking" them into being a part of it?

hayksaakian 14y ago
Why wouldn't using hangouts count as using Google+? Its a feature of Google plus. You're using it to interact with your peers. Just because the feature set is not narrowly defined to Facebook standards does not make it less of a social network.
magicalist 14y ago
The methodology of "active" users is always more than a bit suspect, but a) the source for this post (by some random person on g+?) isn't even from google and b) this: > I'm actually kind of annoyed every time I have to log onto Google+ to do something because I know they are about to add me to some press release statistic. There's something "evil" about that in my opinion. is a bit of an overreaction. You use hangouts and you dislike (if) that gets counted as an active user? Who on earth cares that much about self-promoting press releases?
- andybak 14y ago
  I agree about the overreaction but if you dial it back a bit there is a valid underlying point. If he does nothing social on Google+ then he isn't really contributing anything to it's growth other than a single digit in some statistics. I'd like to see some better metrics although I can see the practical difficulties in obtaining them.
  - danmaz74 14y ago
    How is talking with other people "nothing social"? Did you mean "nothing public to the World"?
    - andybak 14y ago
      Not exactly but I agree I'm not being terribly precise. I'm floundering in trying to clarify to myself what the difference is but no-one usually describes email as 'social media' even when you use the cc field.
jrockway 14y ago
Remember that the little "You hung out with..." thing is not shared with anyone but the people in the Hangout. So although you're using Google+, nobody else needs to know. (Nor will they know unless you explicitly share something with them.) Also, this was not a Google press release, this was just some random guy doing some data analysis. I doubt he has any idea that you use Google+ except that you publicly posted about it here.
fruchtose 14y ago
> This could be a little bit invalid because of things like Hangouts... I bet I'm considered an "active" Google+ user because I have participated in a Hangout. Sorry to break it to you like this, but you are an active user of G+. You are actively using a major feature of the product, namely Hangouts. You may not be using it in the way that Google intended it (business vs. personal use), but you are indeed using it. > I'm actually kind of annoyed every time I have to log onto Google+ to do something because I know they are about to add me to some press release statistic. There's something "evil" about that in my opinion. Really? So you don't like it when companies release statements about the number of active users on their site? I think you would be hard pressed to find a publicly traded company that doesn't report their number of active users--in press releases, too, no less. I think what you're trying to say is that you feel that Google+ Hangouts are not a true part of Google+? Because this feature does not specifically need to belong to Google+? (Correct me if I have misjudged your opinion.) Well, sure, it doesn't have to, but Google wants it there, and it makes sense from a social perspective. You may be using a subset of Google+ features, but that still makes you a user--just like if you only used Skype or Facebook for the video chat feature, you would still be a user.
- galactus 14y ago
  Would you find normal to be counted as an active user of Microsoft's social network just for using Skype (supposing you could use the same account)?
  - Uchikoma 14y ago
    If Skype was part of a Microsoft social network, yes. Would you say you are inactive on Facebook if you use Facebook chat with colleagues? Facebook video conferencing?
    - galactus 14y ago
      If it was really the only thing I used, then yes, I would not count myself as an active user of a social network. It is OK to say google+ has N number of active users, what irks people is when they say it is the largest or second largest social network using that count
cromwellian 14y ago
There's really a lot of hyperbole in these discussions. Apple gives you a single signon for their App Store, iCloud, and many of their other services. It unifies your interaction with Apple related HW and services to a single identity. Does it anger you that Apple forces you to sign into your AppStore account to use iCloud when they could be separate? Facebook is used by many sites as a signon credential (which is what I mostly use it for). For the most part, all of this talk about Google "forcing" you to use G+ to access their other services is really about promoting a single signon, centralized account profile, instead of having different accounts on different properties. This yields a consistent user interface, and centralized location for you to view what information Google knows about you for all their services, and how to delete or export it. You can choose to not "sign in" on some of the properties, for example, legacy YouTube logins still work, but honestly, is it really better for the user if you had a different account for YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Drive, etc and had to log into all of them separately? For example, having Google Wallet linked to your profile lets you buy something on YouTube, in Google Play, or elsewhere, without fumbling with a credit card. Unlike some of Facebook's services/apps, Google does not automatically share your activity on some news feed every time you do something on their sites, you have to specifically choose to share it. Indeed, it appears G+ doesn't want to pollute the feed with lots of autopublished stuff which interferes with S/N search quality, which is one reason theorized as to why no "write" API exists yet. G+ is plus.google.com, if you are on other properties signed in, then the biggest benefit is having the Share button be able to pull your contacts, combined with a single place to manage your settings for everything. In many cases you have a choice. You can use Chrome without signin. You have incognito windows. YouTube doesn't require signin unless the video is NSFW, etc. I for one, appreciate the "G+ as a common layer across Google Websites" for the purposes of unified profile/single-signon. The plus.google.com newsfeed service is just one addition service you can either choose to use or not. It's best not to think of G+ as a social network + activity stream like Facebook.
- taligent 14y ago
  There is a lot of hyperbole. And also a lot of ignorance as in your post. Today on Youtube. I am signed in and wanted to bookmark a video I just saw. I can't do that without them creating a PUBLIC Google Plus account with my FULL NAME even though I am already logged in. Care to explain that one ?
nextparadigms 14y ago
And how is that different from the way Facebook counts its users? If anything I find using Hangouts a lot more "engaging with Google+" than just clicking the Like button. In other words, every time you press the “Like” button on NFL.com, for example, you’re an “active user” of Facebook. Perhaps you share a Twitter message on your Facebook account? That would make you an active Facebook user, too. Have you ever shared music on Spotify with a friend? You’re an active Facebook user. If you’ve logged into Huffington Post using your Facebook account and left a comment on the site — and your comment was automatically shared on Facebook — you, too, are an “active user” even though you’ve never actually spent any time on facebook.com. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/those-millions-on-facebook-some-may-not-actually-visit/ http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/those-millions-on-fac...
lucian1900 14y ago
Using a Hangout implies actively using Google+. Just because you don't you use all of its features doesn't mean you aren't using it.
taligent 14y ago
> It feels very Windows 95 let's integrate the browser into the kernel It is exactly what Google is doing. Embrace and extend. I am not sure if it new or not but Google+ posts are appearing a lot more in the knowledge graph part of the search results. But of course in typical Google+ fashion it is almost always some completely irrelevant, helpful and childish meme image.
toyg 14y ago
It feels very Windows 95 let's integrate the browser in the kernel Pedantic notice: what you describe actually happened with Win98/2000, not 95.
zenuts 14y ago
"i use and like hangouts but i am mad about google+" --> LOL

by dangero 14y ago

hayksaakian 14y ago

Why wouldn't using hangouts count as using Google+? Its a feature of Google plus. You're using it to interact with your peers. Just because the feature set is not narrowly defined to Facebook standards does not make it less of a social network.

magicalist 14y ago

The methodology of "active" users is always more than a bit suspect, but a) the source for this post (by some random person on g+?) isn't even from google and b) this: > I'm actually kind of annoyed every time I have to log onto Google+ to do something because I know they are about to add me to some press release statistic. There's something "evil" about that in my opinion. is a bit of an overreaction. You use hangouts and you dislike (if) that gets counted as an active user? Who on earth cares that much about self-promoting press releases?

andybak 14y ago
I agree about the overreaction but if you dial it back a bit there is a valid underlying point. If he does nothing social on Google+ then he isn't really contributing anything to it's growth other than a single digit in some statistics. I'd like to see some better metrics although I can see the practical difficulties in obtaining them.
- danmaz74 14y ago
  How is talking with other people "nothing social"? Did you mean "nothing public to the World"?
  - andybak 14y ago
    Not exactly but I agree I'm not being terribly precise. I'm floundering in trying to clarify to myself what the difference is but no-one usually describes email as 'social media' even when you use the cc field.

jrockway 14y ago

Remember that the little "You hung out with..." thing is not shared with anyone but the people in the Hangout. So although you're using Google+, nobody else needs to know. (Nor will they know unless you explicitly share something with them.) Also, this was not a Google press release, this was just some random guy doing some data analysis. I doubt he has any idea that you use Google+ except that you publicly posted about it here.

fruchtose 14y ago

> This could be a little bit invalid because of things like Hangouts... I bet I'm considered an "active" Google+ user because I have participated in a Hangout. Sorry to break it to you like this, but you are an active user of G+. You are actively using a major feature of the product, namely Hangouts. You may not be using it in the way that Google intended it (business vs. personal use), but you are indeed using it. > I'm actually kind of annoyed every time I have to log onto Google+ to do something because I know they are about to add me to some press release statistic. There's something "evil" about that in my opinion. Really? So you don't like it when companies release statements about the number of active users on their site? I think you would be hard pressed to find a publicly traded company that doesn't report their number of active users--in press releases, too, no less. I think what you're trying to say is that you feel that Google+ Hangouts are not a true part of Google+? Because this feature does not specifically need to belong to Google+? (Correct me if I have misjudged your opinion.) Well, sure, it doesn't have to, but Google wants it there, and it makes sense from a social perspective. You may be using a subset of Google+ features, but that still makes you a user--just like if you only used Skype or Facebook for the video chat feature, you would still be a user.

galactus 14y ago
Would you find normal to be counted as an active user of Microsoft's social network just for using Skype (supposing you could use the same account)?
- Uchikoma 14y ago
  If Skype was part of a Microsoft social network, yes. Would you say you are inactive on Facebook if you use Facebook chat with colleagues? Facebook video conferencing?
  - galactus 14y ago
    If it was really the only thing I used, then yes, I would not count myself as an active user of a social network. It is OK to say google+ has N number of active users, what irks people is when they say it is the largest or second largest social network using that count

cromwellian 14y ago

There's really a lot of hyperbole in these discussions. Apple gives you a single signon for their App Store, iCloud, and many of their other services. It unifies your interaction with Apple related HW and services to a single identity. Does it anger you that Apple forces you to sign into your AppStore account to use iCloud when they could be separate? Facebook is used by many sites as a signon credential (which is what I mostly use it for). For the most part, all of this talk about Google "forcing" you to use G+ to access their other services is really about promoting a single signon, centralized account profile, instead of having different accounts on different properties. This yields a consistent user interface, and centralized location for you to view what information Google knows about you for all their services, and how to delete or export it. You can choose to not "sign in" on some of the properties, for example, legacy YouTube logins still work, but honestly, is it really better for the user if you had a different account for YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Drive, etc and had to log into all of them separately? For example, having Google Wallet linked to your profile lets you buy something on YouTube, in Google Play, or elsewhere, without fumbling with a credit card. Unlike some of Facebook's services/apps, Google does not automatically share your activity on some news feed every time you do something on their sites, you have to specifically choose to share it. Indeed, it appears G+ doesn't want to pollute the feed with lots of autopublished stuff which interferes with S/N search quality, which is one reason theorized as to why no "write" API exists yet. G+ is plus.google.com, if you are on other properties signed in, then the biggest benefit is having the Share button be able to pull your contacts, combined with a single place to manage your settings for everything. In many cases you have a choice. You can use Chrome without signin. You have incognito windows. YouTube doesn't require signin unless the video is NSFW, etc. I for one, appreciate the "G+ as a common layer across Google Websites" for the purposes of unified profile/single-signon. The plus.google.com newsfeed service is just one addition service you can either choose to use or not. It's best not to think of G+ as a social network + activity stream like Facebook.

taligent 14y ago
There is a lot of hyperbole. And also a lot of ignorance as in your post. Today on Youtube. I am signed in and wanted to bookmark a video I just saw. I can't do that without them creating a PUBLIC Google Plus account with my FULL NAME even though I am already logged in. Care to explain that one ?

nextparadigms 14y ago

And how is that different from the way Facebook counts its users? If anything I find using Hangouts a lot more "engaging with Google+" than just clicking the Like button. In other words, every time you press the “Like” button on NFL.com, for example, you’re an “active user” of Facebook. Perhaps you share a Twitter message on your Facebook account? That would make you an active Facebook user, too. Have you ever shared music on Spotify with a friend? You’re an active Facebook user. If you’ve logged into Huffington Post using your Facebook account and left a comment on the site — and your comment was automatically shared on Facebook — you, too, are an “active user” even though you’ve never actually spent any time on facebook.com. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/those-millions-on-facebook-some-may-not-actually-visit/ http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/those-millions-on-fac...

lucian1900 14y ago

Using a Hangout implies actively using Google+. Just because you don't you use all of its features doesn't mean you aren't using it.

taligent 14y ago

> It feels very Windows 95 let's integrate the browser into the kernel It is exactly what Google is doing. Embrace and extend. I am not sure if it new or not but Google+ posts are appearing a lot more in the knowledge graph part of the search results. But of course in typical Google+ fashion it is almost always some completely irrelevant, helpful and childish meme image.

toyg 14y ago

It feels very Windows 95 let's integrate the browser in the kernel Pedantic notice: what you describe actually happened with Win98/2000, not 95.

zenuts 14y ago

"i use and like hangouts but i am mad about google+" --> LOL