I remember when I first read the features of Google Wave, I was pretty shocked. No wonder everyone else was, too. Because from what Google had said, the whole thing looked like a revolution in online collaboration. When Google Wave was finally launched among limited users, I was one of the first ones to get an invitation to try out straight from Google. I tried Wave and my reaction was like, this is big.
Unfortunately, Google Wave was too big for people to get used to it. I still think that Google Wave had potential. But what Google Wave missed was user-friendliness. I think it was a little difficult for non-geeky persons to understand how Wave actually worked. That’s just my opinion. Some said Google Wave was a trash. I don’t think so. Despite anything anyone said, Google Wave is a fail. And I’m not here to analyze the reason behind it.
We have been listening to reports that Google has been trying hard to come up with something that will kill Facebook. As a geeky person and technology journalist, I can say that nothing can beat Facebook; at least not for the next decade. If people gets tired of Facebooking, the trend will automatically fall. And new concepts will conquer the internet.
However, Google didn’t stop dreaming. They are finally here with their own social circling network called Google+. I’m sure all of you have at least heard of it. It’s really great although not great enough to replace with Facebook. Sure enough, Google+ features a set of new features that can blow your mind. I specially liked the idea of Google+ Circle and hangout.
A lot of people are talking about Sparks but I don’t think it’s that great. Mostly for the people like me who use Google Reader to keep up with the favorite blogs and news sites, Sparks doesn’t really promise that much. But many people still like it. So I won’t say it’s a fail.
But one thing that amazes me is that Google didn’t really have to do much to create Google+. They had Google profiles prepared, they had Picasa prepared, they had Google Talk prepared, they had the address book of all individuals, all they did was merge all into one and come up with yet another social networking platform. The best part? I don’t need an extra tab for it. I can get notifications and update my status right from the top of Gmail or any Google page.
I’d like to quote a comment I left in a post written by Nicole Locklear:
I don’t seriously think that Google + will be a flop like Buzz or Wave. It won’t beat Facebook either, but it will be a hit among hardcore Google services users. Because your plus profile is kind of already prepared for you. Google + pulled information from your Google Profile, activates Chat system from your Google Talk /Gmail, includes people from your Gmail address book, fetches photos from Picasa and so on. It’s like a ready-made product. Plus it’s a lot, i mean LOT more user-friendly than Wave or Buzz (well, buzz is a duplicate of twitter with some added functionality).
So I think Google+ will be a hit. Can be the second largest social media after Facebook. It has potential.
Google+ has a craze; mainly among hardcore Google fans. But what leaps fast can drop fast as well. Just like Google Wave or Google Buzz. Therefore I’m afraid Google+ may not make it to the top. You see already it’s suffering from low female users 😉 (seriously). Up until now, Google+ is being used mostly by geeky persons. It hasn’t hit the general people yet.
If it does sometime later, then Google+ will last. As long as it’s a craze, it is bound to end just like a trend does.
What’s your opinion about Google+? Do you use it? Do you like it? Will it be a hit?
In case you want to find me on Google+, here’s my profile: http://gplus.to/aisajib 😎
Great post, it’s given me insight into the Google madness because to be honest I’d avoided deliberately. Google is good, but it just feels like their hyper-convergence and dominance/ownership over so much is a little intimidating, they’re possibly even more Big Brotherish than Facebook, George Orwell would have a field day analysing!
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Thanks. I’ve always found Google products to be extremely innovative and out-of-the-box such as Gmail. But Google has a weak spot about social networking site. The company is just too jealous about Facebook. It looks like they think no matter what we just have to have a social networking website. Thus Google Buzz and now Google+.
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Of course it will be a hit, just another place for stalkers to hang out and people to be “more expressive” 😛
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😛 But the hit will fall soon unless some changes are made. I myself aren’t certain of the changes that should be made, though. 😉
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One day Facebook will be today’s MySpace. G+ is still not publicly open but it near about 20 millions users. And it is easy to understand why the female users are low, it is not open for all so that the users of G+ are maximum geeks. There are few female geeks are here but you know the number of female geeks are lower than male geeks. When G+ will be open for all that time we can compare it with Facebook. On the other hand FB authority are in fear, G+ may destroy their dream. Please visit this link: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104550678234629742078/posts/1tRa2uPb1b9 here FB trying to collect user feedback inside G+ !!! How funny, they didn’t care what their user want, we had to do the things what FB wanted.
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I do admit that Facebook hardly cared users need and want. Users had to cope up with Zuckerberg’s repeated change in privacy settings, repeated redesigns of homepage/news feed and so on. It’s like Zuckerberg runs Facebook based on his own preference. In this side Google is better. But it will not be possible anytime soon for anyone else to take over Facebook. It’s just an unusually long-lasting trend around the world.
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Time will say……Lets see whose prediction will win 😛
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You can’t seriously predict anything with high accuracy in technology world. It all changes with a big concept or people’s choice. But yes, time says. 😉
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I think that with the rather extensive tutorials and help on other aspects
of this new idea the process is a good one, yes there has to be a certain
level of understanding involved but it’s not exactly Rocket Science is it?
A good posting Sajib and one that has
some thought provoking comments attached…
Androgoth
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Thanks Androgoth. I just did a quick post on Google+ as I think about it.
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It will be interesting to follow this one and see where it leads,
and thank you for your reply, I too was just thinking out loud
so to speak and didn’t mean to seem flippant. I will call here
again and retrack some of your previous postings…
Be well my friend…
Androgoth
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You’re welcome to my blog. 🙂
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If not for your writing this topic could be very conouvlted and oblique.
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Excellent post – the lack of focus on the female population may bite Google+ in the long term
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I haven’t tried any of the new Google stuff.
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You should try Google+ if you manage to get invitation or after it’s open for public. It’s worth a try.
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You never know about these trends really but I honestly hope Google+ becomes successful. I love Google and would love it if it’d knock FB out… although it doesn’t seem likely it will :P.
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Not anytime soon, but we can’t say the future. Maybe it will beat FB. I don’t like FB’s monopoly either. And I’m a hardcore Google fan as well. 😀
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I’m really curious about this Google+ thing, and I’m quite tempted to creat an account. But as I’m already trying to make my life less public on facebook I’m not going to go and create an account in another social network more 😛 And anyway, I don’t think any of my friends have a Google+ account xD
BTW, good post!
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You can’t create an account now even if you wanted. Google+ is no longer available for new users. 😛
Like I said, there are mostly geeky type of people in Google+ network. It hasn’t amazed the general level of audience yet. It will take time.
Thanks 🙂
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No longer available for new users? But I just created an account :?!
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Maybe it released. When I wrote this post I checked myself.
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Oh ok. Or maybe it’s available for those who already have a Google account :?.
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I’m not sure about it. Maybe you’re right. My brother has a Google account still he wasn’t able to get inside plus at first. Later he was allowed to log in, though.
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@ Rinth, May be someone invite you already & you never notice the invitation mail. Without invitation it is not possible to create a G+ account.
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@ Mazedul Yeah then it’s probably cuz of the invitations I received.
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I don’t what the future holds for Google but I don’t see the need of using it if I can use other conventional services (e.g. Facebook). But I do like to use it once, just for a change. ha ha XD but nothing long term.
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A lot of people like the same way you do.
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