Google+ is a failure?

Google+ is a very complex social networking platform, consisting of many features. The fascinating fact about Google+ is that nobody seems to like it. It's reported to have over 2 billion profiles, but fewer than 6 million accounts show activity. How could a social network that offers so many services be so unsuccessful? An interesting fact of this mishap is that Google refuses to outwardly speak of its defeat. It is however, pretty obvious that Google has given up on Google+. Google is stripping Google+ of many of it's popular features, and offering them as separate services.

When Google first launched Google+, it was obvious that their aspirations for the software were high. They tried to mimic so many of today's popular software services, and smash them all together. They acquired Yelp, created hangouts, and even allowed users to post status updates, like Facebook and Twitter. In my opinion, this is the main reason why Google+ has been a failure thus far. When looking at the more popular social networks today, they all have a unique aspect that "keeps them in demand". When you want to look at photos, you go on Instagram. When you want to let all your friends about something dumb you just did, you send a tweet on Twitter. What aspect of Google+ "keeps them in demand"? The answer is nothing.

Today I spent some time on Google+ just to give it a shot. First of all, The interface is rather confusing. I found the home page to be extremely bloated. The drop down on the left is overfilled with features. The update stream looks like a cheaper version of Facebook. One thing that other successful social networks offer is their ability to keep the users entertained. I got bored using Google+ in about 15 minutes. Don't get me wrong, some of the offered features are very good. Hangouts, for example, is one of the best digital communication systems available. Google should figure out how to integrate these programs into Google services that people readily use, like Gmail. Yes, you can click two icons and you're brought to hangouts, but having everything offered on one page is much less cumbersome.

I am a huge fan of Google, but Google+ just doesn't cut it for me. Google should continue to develop services, just like they always have. Their user friendly tools are amazing and they integrate extremely well with everyday life. Unfortunately, social networking is not included in that.



http://qz.com/354015/google-proving-it-still-hasnt-figured-out-social-it-will-strip-google-for-parts/