6 ms·

You're Just Too Monetizable for Google+ to Ever Go Away

12 points by xmpir 13y ago

res0nat0r 13y ago
Why would Google+ go away as of right now? It seems to be doing just fine.
- xmpir 13y ago
  I do not know a single person (in Europe) that uses Google+ as social network.
  - hrkristian 13y ago
    You're right, Google+ is not a social network in Europe, but I still visit it more often than I do Facebook. Facebook has made me lose interest in people, or rather, people online. The feed is a sentimental heap of nothingness, and I find myself having uninstalled the main Facebook app (but of course keep the Messenger.) Plus, on the other hand, actually offers me things I am interested in, because I haven't added those hundreds of persons who share nothing I have a feed showing what is (more) relevant to my daily life. Edit: To that end, I don't see what is odd about Google keeping Plus going, they're offering a great service, and I hope it takes off increasingly with time.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - sek 13y ago
    It's not so much a social network. It's about content. I look there once a day for the occasional kitten gif and some interesting articles. I follow The Economist for example. It's okay, but nothing compared to HN or Reddit.
  - cromwellian 13y ago
    I don't know any friends or family who use it, but that's not what I use it for. I visit Facebook once a month to see photos of friends or family. I use G+ to engage with _interesting people_ who may or may not be my friends. G+ is like Twitter or Groups rolled up together, but you know, with an threading/posting interface that is actually useful for having long form conversations. Many of the G+ features also handily trump Twitter and FB, such as handling media/embedding, multi-party chat, video chat, photos, etc. G+ photos alone is useful even if you don't have a single person circled.
    - res0nat0r 13y ago
      According to the link below it is up to 540 million active users, so it sounds like it is doing OK. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/google-540m-monthly-users-lags-behind-facebook-article-1.1500403 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/google-540m-monthly...
xmpir 13y ago
Unfortunately Google has the ability to force their users to help the dirtiest growth hacks to succeed...
lmg643 13y ago
gotta admire the approach. facing off against a formidable competitor (facebook), they just keep trying to add incredible features that will make it a compelling destination for people to use. this is the kind of luxury only a big company can pull off, but most big companies are not able to get out of their own way long enough to figure out what those incredible features are (and build them). we'll see if google can pull it off. thus far - it hasn't persuaded me to use regularly - but hangouts was cool enough that i set up a g+ account and tried it with my dad and brother a few times a year ago.
danmaz74 13y ago
How is this any different from what Facebook et al are doing?
- xmpir 13y ago
  I think many "users" of G+ don't even know what G+ is...
  - magicalist 13y ago
    does it matter?
    - xmpir 13y ago
      e.g. comparing to Facebook there are very few accidental sign ups for Facebook.
      - magicalist 13y ago
        Sorry, does it matter for anyone not trying to keep some kind of score based on companies' self-reported numbers? Who really cares if someone using Hangouts to do a show on youtube realizes that they're using what Google defines as a Google+ feature? Nag screens are annoying; this falls on the bottom of my list of things to care about.
mullingitover 13y ago
G+ has done what none of Google's competitors could do: make me look upon Google with utter disdain. Google has been extremely pushy about getting people to use G+, and doesn't offer any kind of "Never bother me about G+ again" option. The more I get pestered to sign up for G+, the less I like Google overall.
- yuhong 13y ago
  This article that was submitted on HN has a section on Vic Gundotra on this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6420546 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6420546

12 points by xmpir 13y ago

res0nat0r 13y ago

Why would Google+ go away as of right now? It seems to be doing just fine.

xmpir 13y ago
I do not know a single person (in Europe) that uses Google+ as social network.
- hrkristian 13y ago
  You're right, Google+ is not a social network in Europe, but I still visit it more often than I do Facebook. Facebook has made me lose interest in people, or rather, people online. The feed is a sentimental heap of nothingness, and I find myself having uninstalled the main Facebook app (but of course keep the Messenger.) Plus, on the other hand, actually offers me things I am interested in, because I haven't added those hundreds of persons who share nothing I have a feed showing what is (more) relevant to my daily life. Edit: To that end, I don't see what is odd about Google keeping Plus going, they're offering a great service, and I hope it takes off increasingly with time.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- sek 13y ago
  It's not so much a social network. It's about content. I look there once a day for the occasional kitten gif and some interesting articles. I follow The Economist for example. It's okay, but nothing compared to HN or Reddit.
- cromwellian 13y ago
  I don't know any friends or family who use it, but that's not what I use it for. I visit Facebook once a month to see photos of friends or family. I use G+ to engage with _interesting people_ who may or may not be my friends. G+ is like Twitter or Groups rolled up together, but you know, with an threading/posting interface that is actually useful for having long form conversations. Many of the G+ features also handily trump Twitter and FB, such as handling media/embedding, multi-party chat, video chat, photos, etc. G+ photos alone is useful even if you don't have a single person circled.
  - res0nat0r 13y ago
    According to the link below it is up to 540 million active users, so it sounds like it is doing OK. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/google-540m-monthly-users-lags-behind-facebook-article-1.1500403 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/google-540m-monthly...

xmpir 13y ago

Unfortunately Google has the ability to force their users to help the dirtiest growth hacks to succeed...

lmg643 13y ago

gotta admire the approach. facing off against a formidable competitor (facebook), they just keep trying to add incredible features that will make it a compelling destination for people to use. this is the kind of luxury only a big company can pull off, but most big companies are not able to get out of their own way long enough to figure out what those incredible features are (and build them). we'll see if google can pull it off. thus far - it hasn't persuaded me to use regularly - but hangouts was cool enough that i set up a g+ account and tried it with my dad and brother a few times a year ago.

danmaz74 13y ago

How is this any different from what Facebook et al are doing?

xmpir 13y ago
I think many "users" of G+ don't even know what G+ is...
- magicalist 13y ago
  does it matter?
  - xmpir 13y ago
    e.g. comparing to Facebook there are very few accidental sign ups for Facebook.
    - magicalist 13y ago
      Sorry, does it matter for anyone not trying to keep some kind of score based on companies' self-reported numbers? Who really cares if someone using Hangouts to do a show on youtube realizes that they're using what Google defines as a Google+ feature? Nag screens are annoying; this falls on the bottom of my list of things to care about.

mullingitover 13y ago

G+ has done what none of Google's competitors could do: make me look upon Google with utter disdain. Google has been extremely pushy about getting people to use G+, and doesn't offer any kind of "Never bother me about G+ again" option. The more I get pestered to sign up for G+, the less I like Google overall.

yuhong 13y ago
This article that was submitted on HN has a section on Vic Gundotra on this topic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6420546 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6420546