Yes, Google+ is just two months old, and yes, they’ve had a great uptake in numbers using the service (currently 25 million and counting). But there’s a growing amount of talk about how it’s not majorly different from what’s currently out there.
Additionally, the majority of users fall within limited categories – early adopters, tech geeks, social media “power users” and marketers/agencies trying to decide on its potential business value.
For Joe Public, though, Google+ remains an anomaly, and one that has a big question to answer – mainly, “Why should I leave Facebook when everyone I know is on there?”.
Personally, I’m enjoying Google+, but I’ll admit the early novelty has worn off and I use it less than Facebook. I’m hoping that the various tools and apps Google has at its disposal will make an appearance soon and integrate smoothly, as I feel that could be where the real Wow factor comes into play.
We’ll see. For now, from a lot of the people I’m connected with, it’s okay but could be better.
How about you?
For years I admired Google’s innovation and functionality. I had put a lot of time into building content in Google Groups. But they closed this down leaving no easy way to migrate it to Google sites. I now feel reluctant to put energy into relying on Google’s new apps unless I see a roadmap and commitment on their part.
Google Docs has enormous potential but a shortage of key functionality means I’m drifting back to Excel and Word – despite Microsoft’s bafflingly confusing upgrade.
I am using Google sites but find the lack of integration with Groups frustrating. G+ doesn’t yet appear like an option. Hopefully Google will identify a strategic direction.