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Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

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Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#11
post #8
post #6

Thus far, I've only heard industry insiders and participants praise Google+. In technical fields, like medicine, or even computer science research, I'd pay close attention to such commenters. But a product like Google+ was made for the masses. Just like Google.com was. Just like Facebook was. So until my non-tech friends start praising Google+ as if it's a must-see movie, or a song I have to hear, or a restaurant I h…

Well, considering that even if you were invited within a few hours of the product launch, you've still never been able to actually log on to Google+ and use it, I'm afraid it's not really possible for the unwashed masses to chime in at this point. Unless you want them to talk about how great the screenshots look.

Good point.

But I think that only confirms my point. Google should put it in the hands of the masses, and not industry insiders (though perhaps a closed network of the masses, such as a core group of Oprah's followers).

It needs to be careful not to make Google+ an engineering project for employees, and instead a great consumer product.

For what it's worth, I've been using it for the last couple of days, and I don't particularly like it.

I wrote a few reasons why I don't here (see the update part at the end): http://www.chipsandguac.com/thoughts/googlesocial.html

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#12

Notice how people are starting to use Google+ as blog posts? It even looks like a blog post. If only the URL's looked a little bit better, it would be perfect. And I agree with him. So far I love Google's unifying strategy, not only through deeper integration but through having similar, more streamlined design as well. And I feel this is just the beginning. I think we'll see a lot more of it this year.

Notice how people are starting to use Google+ as blog posts? It even looks like a blog post. If only the URL's looked a little bit better, it would be perfect.

I just did that, then found that "public" didn't really mean public; the post was still only visible to people with Google+ accounts. Oh well. I then copied over to my actual blog. But I would like to have a true public option even if it only meant read-only of such posts.

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#13
post #9

Just not interested in Google+. It was enough of a struggle to coax me onto Twitter and Facebook. I don't hear non-techies talking about Google+--it's all dedicated bloggers and people in the "Twittersphere" (ugh). Not to mention that I heard all sorts of revolutionary praise for Wave when it was released.

The thing that is hooking me in Google+ is that it's just my google account. I don't really have to think about going there unlike the other services. And what killed Facebook for me was the UI. When it became too cluttered I just got tired of it. I hate battling with a website. Google+ UI seems more polished already that what Facebook has/had(I haven't used it seriously in the last 2 years. I sporadically log in and feel like I'm going through my email thrash. )

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#14
post #4

I was thinking something similar to this last night. Google+ unifies the product set. Even the new Google mobile web is unified and easier to get around now. I can see it pulling me into products that I don't really use much just because it's more convenient.

I like the new dark bar at the top. It feels like an application now ;p I don't know why it just feels more integrated to me just for that. It's not much different then the previous bar they had but whatever I guess it makes me think of the windows start bar.

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#15
post #6

Thus far, I've only heard industry insiders and participants praise Google+. In technical fields, like medicine, or even computer science research, I'd pay close attention to such commenters. But a product like Google+ was made for the masses. Just like Google.com was. Just like Facebook was. So until my non-tech friends start praising Google+ as if it's a must-see movie, or a song I have to hear, or a restaurant I h…

It's been a few days. Today I showed it to a semi-techie female friend and she loved it. Couldn't wait to send her an invite.

But the thing about "normal" people is that they just don't get that excited about joining any new site in general. They usually join them through peer pressure and after they start hearing about it on TV, or in other such common places.

So yeah give it time to grow naturally, the same way Facebook or Twitter grew. Don't expect all your non-techie friends to be on Google+ a month after it launched. Some will join, others won't (for now).

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#16

Notice how people are starting to use Google+ as blog posts? It even looks like a blog post. If only the URL's looked a little bit better, it would be perfect. And I agree with him. So far I love Google's unifying strategy, not only through deeper integration but through having similar, more streamlined design as well. And I feel this is just the beginning. I think we'll see a lot more of it this year.

Notice how people are starting to use Google+ as blog posts? It even looks like a blog post. If only the URL's looked a little bit better, it would be perfect. I just did that, then found that "public" didn't really mean public; the post was still only visible to people with Google+ accounts. Oh well. I then copied over to my actual blog. But I would like to have a true public option even if it only meant read-only o…

Maybe that's because the service itself is not public yet. It's still in private mode.

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#17
post #9

Just not interested in Google+. It was enough of a struggle to coax me onto Twitter and Facebook. I don't hear non-techies talking about Google+--it's all dedicated bloggers and people in the "Twittersphere" (ugh). Not to mention that I heard all sorts of revolutionary praise for Wave when it was released.

Did non-techies hear about Facebook in the first 2 years of its existence? Techies know about it first because they are up to date to such things. Once people on radio and TV start talking about it, they'll know about it, too. That's how the mainstream works, otherwise it wouldn't be called mainstream anymore.

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#18
post #13
post #9

Just not interested in Google+. It was enough of a struggle to coax me onto Twitter and Facebook. I don't hear non-techies talking about Google+--it's all dedicated bloggers and people in the "Twittersphere" (ugh). Not to mention that I heard all sorts of revolutionary praise for Wave when it was released.

The thing that is hooking me in Google+ is that it's just my google account. I don't really have to think about going there unlike the other services. And what killed Facebook for me was the UI. When it became too cluttered I just got tired of it. I hate battling with a website. Google+ UI seems more polished already that what Facebook has/had(I haven't used it seriously in the last 2 years. I sporadically log in and…

I've always thought Facebook's UI was mediocre at best, and slow. Google+ is beautiful and super fast. It's simply better in every way than Facebook.

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#19
I must say, Google's decision to make Google+ invite only was puzzling at first but its quite obvious now isn't it?

It's much like how Facebook grew by restricting its service only to the top schools. This gained more hype for them as people saw that the 'elite' were using facebook and loving it.

Now we have personal invites to those who have a strong voice in the tech industry generating lots of good publicity for them. I'm not saying your a Silicon Valley elite if you have google+ account. But I think that the decision to keep google+ a private was more marketing, then a technical decision.

Re: Tom Anderson: Google+ makes Google a better, more integrated set of services

#20

I must say, Google's decision to make Google+ invite only was puzzling at first but its quite obvious now isn't it? It's much like how Facebook grew by restricting its service only to the top schools. This gained more hype for them as people saw that the 'elite' were using facebook and loving it. Now we have personal invites to those who have a strong voice in the tech industry generating lots of good publicity for t…

No, it's very clear why Google+ is invite only. Google+ is in field test. It needed to be tested publicly in order to start really getting a good understanding of what users are doing and what the scaling problems are. There are already a bunch of things that are essentially getting hotfixes in The only reason that Google+ was announced was that this process couldn't have been done in secret. I'm sure if there was a way to have got everyone in at the same time, they'd have done it.
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