Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2011 > June > 30 > Entry
Google+: the next wave or the next Wave?
Last night, I spent a little over an hour with Google+ (or Google Plus if you like spelling things out). Then I spent some more time with it and read about 500 Tweets about it as people again clamored for invites to a service that many didn’t seem to know much about. Then I read people complain about what + is and what it isn’t.
Is it a Facebook killer? (No.) Is it better than FriendFeed used to be (it can be if you have more contacts in Gmail and other Google services than you used to on FriendFeed). Is it destined to be a failed, overhyped experiment like Google Wave?
So far, for me at least, Google+ looks like a mix of ideas borrowed from other sites (Facebook, FriendFeed, as mentioned) with fairly tight integration with Google Chat (including video), Gmail, Buzz and Picassa. Missing so far? That kind of integration with Google Docs, Calendar or, surprisingly, Google’s recent efforts to make search more social.
You can create circles for your contacts, basically small (or large if you like) groups that you can then communicate with en masse (through e-mail or chat), filter status updates through and share your interests with (interests are, weirdly, called “Sparks.”). I love the visual of dragging contacts onto a social wheel (literally a circle with what appears to be a rotary dial of your friends’ faces).
But of all the things I’ve seen of + so far, that was the one bit I found charming or witty. The rest feels like a mishmash of ideas and concepts. It’s less baffling and more familiar than Wave was when it was introduced, but what I don’t see so far is a cohesive throughline for how I (or other people who aren’t social media people by trade) are going to use this.
Maybe it will make more sense on mobile platforms where the service won’t seem so sprawled out and overwhelming.
Thoughts? Maybe I’m missing something here. Would love to hear other takes on it.
Speaking of which… other takes:
Alexandra Petri calls it the “Anti-Facebook.”
A Read Write Web writer already sees signs of + being overwhelming for people with lots of contacts.
TechCrunch likes what it sees so far.
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By Martha
July 5, 2011 6:22 PM | Link to this
I am really liking Google Plus and I think it could easily overtake Facebook due to it's characteristics similar to Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I wrote a review that can be read here: http://www.yellowflysocialmedia.com/2011/07/03/why-google-plus-could-overtake-facebook/
By Elizabeth
July 4, 2011 4:42 PM | Link to this
Question: how many of you commenting actually have a Google+ account? I have one and so do many of my family member and friends (due to us knowing the "right" people) and we're enjoying it so far. It nice that +1 has Circles and you're able to just post comments, pictures and events to a particular group or groups.
I also had a Google Wave invite and i never used it. It was not very user friendly and we all know it didn't catch on. However, Google+ is pretty simple. It will take some time for all of us to see the benefits but i believe you will in time.
I use review sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp and even Facebook to choose my vacation, dinner and social plans. What my friends have experienced and given good reviews means a lot to me and a lot to everyone. I think we all can admit that Social Media and recommendations from people you know are huge. I look forward to lots of people using Google+ and their recommendations showing up in my Google search results. I certainly will be more likely to visit a site and check out their product or articles if I can see that 5 or more of my friends have recommended it.
Give it some time and I think you'll enjoy the information and social media aspect of Google+
By Dan Daugherty
July 4, 2011 12:36 PM | Link to this
I agree with Anonymous. Well said. I'm not an IO Psychologist, but I'm sure Google would make a good case study. In the construction industry, there is a concept called "interference" where the work done by one group is impeded by another. Google is sort of an explosion of creativity and one creative element seems to be stifling another. Also, from what I've read, there is a lot of pressure and competition internally, and I think that tends to lend itself to lots of "obvious" next step quick results rather than the calmer slower dream creation kind of thinking. One doesn't get the impression Google would tolerate inventors who didn't show fast visible progress.
By JoeP
July 3, 2011 5:15 PM | Link to this
As of late, I have felt like all of the products Google has been releasing are under developed and lack cohesiveness. I feel like a group of high school kids have gotten together with their computer science teacher and figured out what projects they could create.
By Anonymous
July 3, 2011 7:06 AM | Link to this
Unfortunately YET ANOTHER product built by ENGINEERS that will go by the wayside...Google Wave, Google Buzz, Google Voice (Google took a PERFECTLY WELL EXECUTED product like Grand Central and turned it into an unusable/unfriendly piece of trash.
When will Google hire some UI/UX Experts WHO ARE NOT Programmers/Engineers???
I really like Google. I root for them. But they simply can't execute past search, and even companies they purchase, they try to jam into the "Google Way" and end up destroying them.
By Earthboundfornow
July 2, 2011 5:38 PM | Link to this
Much Ado About NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Kim Holleshead
July 1, 2011 9:16 AM | Link to this
Yep - I'm with you Omar. I joined earlier this week, but still as of yet see the impact it will make on my already online social life. Hoping to play around with it a bit more in the coming days.