I’m the type of person who will always arrive early to a class, event, or social function. I can’t stand being late, it stresses me out. Hell, I’ll arrive early to a party even though I know it’s much cooler to be fashionably late (I’m also not cool, so there’s that). It’s just how I’m wired. My esteemed colleague and friend, Nick Iannarino, is the Skittle to my M&M on this matter. To the best of my knowledge he has never been early to anything in his life. He’s not being fashionably late either, just late. Despite this polar opposite view and lifestyle on appropriate promptness, it doesn’t appear being early or late has really affected our lives significantly where I can prove being early is actually better than being late (this pains me to say), other than the fact it pisses people like me off.
When Google Plus entered the social media scene years after Facebook and Twitter gained an Empire pre-Luke Skywalker hold on the space, I was skeptical, but my cyber crush on Google caused me to give it a legitimate chance. And guess what, I loved it. It was everything Twitter and Facebook provided me in a delicious all-in-one platform with some additional goodies like the “Hangout” and “Circles” features. I thought for sure it would catch on. I thought it would join the ranks of Facebook and Twitter and possibly even convert some users to go exclusively to Google Plus. Didn’t happen. Turned out I overlooked a few key factors that spelled doom for Google Plus even before it launched:
1. There’s such thing as too much pie. Google has been reminded of the fact you can have too much of a great thing. One of the primary reasons social media is so widespread is that it allows us to connect with people around the globe quickly and easily. Time poverty is a serious issue in today’s globalized world and social media is seen as an easy solution. What Google didn’t realize is that between Facebook and Twitter, Google Plus’s primary competitors in terms of function, people were full on social media. Adding a third device only adds to the time poverty problem, doesn’t solve it. People had to make a choice, and they clearly went with the familiar face over the late arrival.
2. Everybody's Doing It. Following the crowd was a mistake in high school if it involved smoking weed or verbally abusing a ginger (wait that’s still okay), but in the digital world this is what we call the network effect and it’s critical to success. Network effect essentially means more and more people will do something because other people are doing something. This was clearly the case with Facebook and Twitter. Google Plus appeared to be on its way with high initial signup numbers, however, the activity on the platform never transpired. It was a free ice cream sample that no one came back to buy. I held on longer than some, not as long as others. There are still a moderate number of people that continue to use Google Plus today but that group does not include my friends or people I associate with. I would be interacting with myself and that loner from 6th grade who wants to talk about The World of Warcraft. Google Plus is like the girl that’s a 9 you have a serious crush on but won’t give you the time day while you have two 7’s waiting to give you some action. Eventually you will realize the 7’s will more than suffice and you will soon forget about the 9. I like Google Plus, but I will not waste my time with it when I can connect much easier with friends on Facebook and Twitter, and this reflects the opinion of many.
3. Not a Flying Car. Facebook gave us the relationship status, like button and news feed. Twitter gave us news updates, celebrity access, 140 characters and the #. Aside from a cool hang out feature, Google Plus is really just an altered version of Facebook. The differences are there but not profound enough to convince people to substitute one for the other. Google Plus offers more of the same with the +1, profiles, wall posts and status updates that it isn’t being different enough to warrant a change in habit. Facebook is so firmly entrenched in people’s lives, why make the switch from 2% milk to 1% milk, even if it might be a tad bit better for you.
1. There’s such thing as too much pie. Google has been reminded of the fact you can have too much of a great thing. One of the primary reasons social media is so widespread is that it allows us to connect with people around the globe quickly and easily. Time poverty is a serious issue in today’s globalized world and social media is seen as an easy solution. What Google didn’t realize is that between Facebook and Twitter, Google Plus’s primary competitors in terms of function, people were full on social media. Adding a third device only adds to the time poverty problem, doesn’t solve it. People had to make a choice, and they clearly went with the familiar face over the late arrival.
2. Everybody's Doing It. Following the crowd was a mistake in high school if it involved smoking weed or verbally abusing a ginger (wait that’s still okay), but in the digital world this is what we call the network effect and it’s critical to success. Network effect essentially means more and more people will do something because other people are doing something. This was clearly the case with Facebook and Twitter. Google Plus appeared to be on its way with high initial signup numbers, however, the activity on the platform never transpired. It was a free ice cream sample that no one came back to buy. I held on longer than some, not as long as others. There are still a moderate number of people that continue to use Google Plus today but that group does not include my friends or people I associate with. I would be interacting with myself and that loner from 6th grade who wants to talk about The World of Warcraft. Google Plus is like the girl that’s a 9 you have a serious crush on but won’t give you the time day while you have two 7’s waiting to give you some action. Eventually you will realize the 7’s will more than suffice and you will soon forget about the 9. I like Google Plus, but I will not waste my time with it when I can connect much easier with friends on Facebook and Twitter, and this reflects the opinion of many.
3. Not a Flying Car. Facebook gave us the relationship status, like button and news feed. Twitter gave us news updates, celebrity access, 140 characters and the #. Aside from a cool hang out feature, Google Plus is really just an altered version of Facebook. The differences are there but not profound enough to convince people to substitute one for the other. Google Plus offers more of the same with the +1, profiles, wall posts and status updates that it isn’t being different enough to warrant a change in habit. Facebook is so firmly entrenched in people’s lives, why make the switch from 2% milk to 1% milk, even if it might be a tad bit better for you.
Maybe there is still hope for Google Plus. Maybe Google Plus is just ahead of its time. Maybe the world will be ready for more social media soon. Maybe it still has a chance to do to Facebook what Facebook did to MySpace. I’d like to believe this, but something tells me that unlike Nick, Google Plus will pay for being not-so-fashionably late and may be destined to “hang out” with MySpace in the social media after party.
