Google+: The (new) social network
The battle for web supremacy took a new turn this week with the official announcement of the long-talked about Google+, the search engine giant’s latest foray into the social networking space. But unlike Google’s previous and ill-conceived attempt, Buzz, Google+ has generated some early excitement, with tech-savvy early adopters wrangling for invitations (including buying them off ebay for upwards of $75/pop) like they were Willy Wonka’s golden tickets.
So what exactly is Google+? The short answer is that it’s a social network, with a lot of similarities to Facebook. But it also has some interesting features which are all grounded in the concept of connecting with and sharing different information with different circles of friends. Yes, creating groups and lists is nothing new. But Google+ does it in a way that is more intuitive and fun. It also represents somewhat of a new approach for the company. Rather than organizing the Internet by information as Google has famously professed to do in the past, Google+ organizes it around people. Specifically, targeted groups of people that you already know through tools like group video chatting, texting, photo sharing and (of course) searching for content. And perhaps its coolest feature is the toolbar that will appear across all Google properties and allow you to easily share content with your circles of friends across the web.
As social networkers have grown (47% of adults now use a social networking site) and people have discovered that most of their Facebook “friends” don’t really qualify as friends in the traditional sense, Facebook is suffering some growing pains. The social web, in many ways, is just like high school. Once practically everyone was a member of the Facebook club, the cool kids moved on — to other sites like Twitter, by creating private Facebook profiles under different names that only a select group of “real” friends know about, or else by just not posting anything of consequence or as frequently — leaving news feeds all over the world with primarily Farmville updates, offensive political rants from distant cousins and chain letter-type status updates.
Which is where Google+ has been smart. They are launching Google+ slowly, and by invitation-only. And just like high school, nothing makes people want something more than knowing that not just anyone can have it. Now whether or not they will experience long-term success and truly become a Facebook Killer once the initial “new car smell” wears off remains to be seen. But as this week’s $35 million sale of former social networking giant MySpace shows, anything is possible.
I’ve noticed Google has been gently (sneakily?) bringing me into this in the last two weeks by suggesting others I may want to include in any given email. Getting me used to the idea that it knows my groups within my groups, wearing down resistance, building trust? Will it work? I don’t know. I have theories about what I experience as a coldness and lack of containment in the Google interface. The very same vastness that is a great part of the brand in search is actually harmful here.
Agreed. I think Google may find it more difficult than they think to switch from a data-driven approach to a people-driven one. Brand perceptions run deep. I do think though that they’ve done a good job in using their new icons to attempt to bridge the simplicity of the search engine with the fun required for a social network. Some of their new tools have me very excited– particularly the group search functionality. It will be interesting to see where this goes, especially since Facebook has already essentially “trained” people to accept privacy infringment as the cost of entry.