Is Google + Dying?

Everyone was excited about it. Tech geeks touted it as “The Facebook Killer.” The blogosphere was abuzz about a better chat system, a better interface, and Google Hangouts.

Now, it’s all but forgotten in the minds of many. Though one hundred million may have Google + accounts…how many of them are actually active? When’s the last time any of you +1′d something? Can you even remember the last Hangout you attended?

I can’t.

More and more, it’s starting to become clear. Google + is fast becoming the Virb to Facebook’s Myspace. Also, making reference to obscure, forgotten social networks to enhance the narrative is entertaining. Still- there’s something in that analogy. For a few weeks – perhaps even months – after its launch, everybody was joining. It was like Myspace, but it wasn’t Myspace. Everyone touted it as the Myspace killer, everyone went on and on about how much better it was…

Then something happened. They just kind of forgot it, and went back to Myspace, until Facebook showed up and completely cleaned its clock. It looks like the same thing’s happening with Google +. Everyone’s registering, everyone wants to check it out, then after a short time, it’s just… forgotten. There are a few reasons for this, and they have nothing to do with the features of the sites:

1. Facebook’s Position of Power, and the Difficulty of moving

The problem with Facebook is that it’s been top dog for so long that everyone’s firmly entrenched on it. They have so much information – so many photos, videos, and posts – that none of them really want to bother trying to move it all over to another website. What’s more, Facebook isn’t exactly doing a whole lot to facilitate an easy transition.

Sure, you can download your information…but you can’t really transfer all of it into Google + without a hassle that most people aren’t willing to subject themselves to. Furthermore, most tools designed for the easy transfer of information between the sites…are against Facebook’s terms of use. They’re pretty much secure in the fact that moving to a different social network is so difficult that most people won’t bother.

They’ll complain, of course. They’ll lament the “evils of Facebook,” and how they hate the latest interface change…but they’ll never leave for greener pastures.

Speaking of being firmly entrenched…

2. “All my Friends are on Facebook”

This is one of the primary reasons Google + hasn’t done as well as everyone hoped. Facebook has hundreds of millions of users, all happily camped out with all their friends- many of whom haven’t tried Google +, and, for reasons which are different for each person, have no desire to.

Google + is a strange new locale, and many aren’t sure they’re willing to go there. After all, leaving Facebook runs the risk of alienating them from all their Facebook friends.

As we all know, Facebook friends are serious business.

3. Social Gaming: Plus vs. Facebook

Believe it or not, social gaming plays a pretty considerable role in whether or not many switch from Facebook to Google +. Though Google + has a pretty good selection, Facebook’s already got a several-year head-start on Google’s platform. Couple that with the number of people addicted to games like Farmville and Cityville, and, well….

Do you expect them to leave their town/crops behind?

4. Too Many Social Networks

Let’s face it: the market is inundated. There are too many social networks around, and it’s very easy to get burned out. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn…Google + is just one more added to the pile, and it’s likely that there are many people who simply can’t be bothered with it. After all, they already get enough online interaction elsewhere, right?

5. Completely Public Versus Publicly Private

Facebook at least gives the illusion of privacy (even though they sell data to marketing firms and political analysts. Google + more or less says “You’re on the internet. If you don’t want people to know something, don’t share it with the world.” That’s all well and good, and keeps with Google’s “openness” policy, but…some people like their privacy. Facebook allows people to block folks from their profile, and set it to friends only. Google + allows troublesome users to be blocked, but…

There’s no way to set your profile to be completely private, and impossible to find in search. At the very least, people will only be able to see your “About” page. It’s a minor detail, to be sure, but a few of the more private users might end up turned away from Google + because of it.

Google + was a promising competitor, but…at this point, I don’t think it’ll ever unseat Facebook. The network’s just too entrenched, too much a part of everybody’s day to day lives. Maybe someday, something new will come across that everyone will want to be a part of, and Facebook will go the way of Myspace. But today…I don’t think it’s that day. As it is, Google + just fills one more niche in the social networking hierarchy.

Image Credits: Wendy Cockroft Web Design, Business Beyond, Jon Loomer, On the Web with Kim Vallee, Image Shack, Face Blogger

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http://www.equotemd.com/ Michael J. Kovis
I agree, Google+ will probably never take over the reigns of the social network from Facebook, but it isn’t going away anytime soon. G+ will probably never gain the average online social network or PC user from Facebook just because they aren’t willing to learn a new platform, but G+ is gaining momentum in plenty of other markets.
You also may want to get your facts straight on your #5 point comparing the privacy between the two. Google+ allows people to control what they want the public to see and what they want their circles to see. Same as Facebook, which they implemented a similar functionality last year. The only difference would be that your “About” page on G+ usually remains public, but there is nothing shown there that could harm you.
David M
It’s the social networking site for adults. It needs more time to develop. I actually hope it never gets as big as Facebook.
mmseng1
I agree with both previous posters. To elaborate, G+ and Facebook don’t perfectly overlap. G+ appeals to different people for various reasons. For me it’s the better, more thoroughly thought out privacy (not to bash on Facebook, it just wasn’t an issue when FB first came around), the ease of not having to deal with an entire “second” network (or to put it another way, the convenience of dealing with only one, well integrated network of products), the lack of annoying “flash and glitter” that seems to surround FB, and several other reasons.
FB has it’s fans, I’m just not one of them. Different strokes for different folks. But then again, I was a huge fan of Google Wave too, so I just hope I’m not in for another rude awakening one day. No offense Nick, but please don’t help that happen to my G+
Gina PhilsPhan
I’m wondering if FaceBook’s new Timeline feature might be the beginning of FaceBook’s decline. They haven’t changed my account over to TL yet (but I haven’t checked into FB yet today), but I’ve seen enough friend’s Timeline pages to know that this is the WORST change FaceBook has EVER made. There are also many users making their feelings known. I know faceBook continued to survive after past unpopular changes, but this change is just too drastic and confusing. I think I just might be ready to sign up with G+. And if a few other people do and we get our friends (who aren’t addicted to FB’s games) to sign up and they like it, the word about G+ just may spread.
Maria
Excellent analysis, I also agree Google+ really could be dying. To add to the list, although Google+ have been bringing in features, they are sometimes more confusing instead of being simple.
For instance, you have a +1 button for your Google+ page, a +1 button for the website associated with the page and an “add to circles” feature. Why on earth would any body add somebody or some brand to their circles if they don’t like it? Compared to that, Facebook has just a like button… You like it or don’t like it. Simple.
It took a really long while for Google+ to release brand pages and badges (Facebook’s like box alternatives). Now most people added their very best in their profiles to accumulate followers and most of them were successful. But after the brand pages came out, only the big boys could persuade their followers to follow their brand pages. For most of the mid/small guys, brand page are just lying their with way too little followers. And although Google+ has an “Add to circles” button for both brand pages and profiles, it doesn’t give a badge for individual profiles.
Meaning, most individual publishers and bloggers are stuck and are bound to be unsuccessful on Google+. That also means a lot of attention that should have come to Google+ via these people will not come. No body has ever heard of third party alternate for a Facebook Like box. But there are lots of alternative Google+ badges like
gplusbadge – http://www.gplusbadge.skipser.com
plusdev – http://plusdevs.com/google-wordpress-plugin/
That itself is proof of a poor release strategy.
Over all, it as a big hype and lots of people jumped in. But it really feels Google+ could have done a better job wrt features, implementation and timing.

http://www.equotemd.com/ Michael J. Kovis
Heaven forbid a new social network, web application, or online tool gets launched in perfection. Sounds to me like you are over complicating the entire functionality of Google+ by comparing it to Facebook which has had 7+ years to grow and develop. As far as I know, Rome wasn’t build in a day either.
The fact is, Google+ is simple. A +1 is nothing more than a way to show your endorsement. Whether that endorsement is for a comment or a website it is no different than the “Like” feature on Facebook. If you are interested in following a specific person or page you can add
them to your circles. Doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to
figure it out.
What you fail to see is that the ability to +1 a website in the SERP’s or on the specific domain can help influence the SERP’s as it is now a new addition to Google’s search algorithm. While Google can use “Share” data from Facebook or used Twitter to help with fresher results, Google may now use their own data as well to coincide with the rest.
A large percentage of Facebook users have had troubles figuring out Facebook. Once they do figure it out, they get in a comfort zone. Which is fine. People have always been scared to try new things once they get comfortable with it. So, it is fairly obvious that hundreds of millions of Facebook users were not going to jump ship at Google+’s release.
Comparing both Facebook and Google+ apples to apples is a terrible comparison as they function at different levels as well as appeal to different users.

http://www.webstatsart.com/ Webstats Art
what is important is twitter. get your twitter page rank above your google plus page rank. You can check it here http://www.webstatsart.com/twitter

Is Google Plus Dying?