So I’ve been playing around with Google + since it came it (a few weeks now?) and I’m starting to notice something interesting. People are posting the same content on Google + that they are posting on Twitter, Facebook, and on other social channels. I click on someone’s Twitter profile and they share a link, the same link that they just posted to Google+ .
In other words Google + appears to have become a channel to put up content just like any other. The interesting thing is that the people who are receiving the content are the same ones that are already getting it via sites such as Twitter and Facebook! The “circles” that people are creating are comprised of the very same Twitter followers an Facebook fans that they already have.
In effect what’s going on is that we are just duplicating (literally) the content we create on another site and the same people are receiving it. If that’s the case then what’s the point?
Don’t get me wrong I think Google + is a pretty cool platform with a lot of great functionality but the challenge for any new player in the space right now that is going to combine the features and functionality of an existing platform is getting users to do something different with it, otherwise it’s just another Twitter and/or Facebook.
Personally, I think one of the greatest values of Google + is that it can be use for asynchronous communication whereas Twitter’s value comes from real-time communication. It’s just like a customer facing version of Salesforce Chatter (ok maybe not just like it but you get the idea).
Not going to do a full in-depth review of Google + because there are already plenty of those. Instead I just wanted to share this observation to see what you think. Are you seeing this as well?
