Google +1 is failing, miserably • Hacker News Board

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#51

Post by dhimes » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:03 PM UTC

click170 wrote: post #5

I honestly thought +1 not appearing in the stream was a feature. A feature I liked. After all if they want to share it they can share it. It's the same thing about games not appearing in the stream -- I honestly don't give two shakes if you need two more friends to visit your farm in order to get the golden shovel, I'm not interested. I like how it's segregated to it's own tab, IMO the only improvement they could mak…

I agree. I also get it from a position angle- if everybody else is doing A, we'll do !A. Of course, the risk is that people may prefer A.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#52

Post by brudgers » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:03 PM UTC

Hisoka wrote: post #14

Google doesn't get social... that's all. They demand everyone that applies for a job knows algorithms, but they fail to understand that to nail social, they need to hire people with a different type of intelligence: emotional and psychological. People who know what makes other people tick. We human beings crave attention, impressing others, and thinking we're special. We don't give a damn about placing people in Circ…

>"Google doesn't get social..."

The name '+1' bears this out. On the one hand, it's meaning is geeky enough that my mom won't understand it. On the other hand, it's use is so pathetically inarticulate, that I wouldn't want my online profile to be associated with it.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#53

Post by mdwrigh2 » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:08 PM UTC

pasbesoin wrote: post #38

I was all ready to jump in -- under my real name, even -- until they started shitcanning (entire) user accounts. I am already too dependent upon my pre-existing Google account/services; I can't afford the risk. A bit of irony in that.

This isn't true though. Unless you have some egregious terms of service violation, your account will only lose access to Google+. For example, not using your real name could get you banned from G+, but the rest of your Google account will still be usable and accessible.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#54

Post by sorbus » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:17 PM UTC

yalimgerger wrote: post #17

wccrawford wrote: post #13

What benefit do I get from +1'ing something? It doesn't go in my stream, it doesn't affect anything that I know of... Why would I do it? It's like they implemented it without have any idea why the customer would use it... They were just copying other people... Badly. And while we're on the topic of sharing, why doesn't Google Reader send shared items to G+ yet? It has sent it to Buzz for quite a long time, and Buzz i…

Ohhh...don't event get me started with Reader. Sharing articles in Reader deserves its own blog post. It looks like the entire UX for sharing is designed to make the user feel helpless. I cannot imagine a non tech user being able to share anything with anyone in that UI. We literally had to involve several software engineers the first time we tried to set the sharing settings among each other.

It's really not that hard. You go to the Sharing Settings, you choose which lists of people you want to see the items you share (admittedly, making a list does require going to Google Contacts, which that page links to), and then when you see an item you want to share you press the share button.

I would much rather that it integrate with G+, or at least allow selection of which groups I want to be able to see a single item rather than just being able to decide who gets the entire stream, but I find it very difficult to believe that you required "several software engineers" to set it up.

Of course, it's very fashionable to hate Reader, as it has been for a while.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#55

Post by cbs » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:27 PM UTC

This article seems to boil down to the idea that because plus isn't a 1:1 copy of the mental model and concepts of facebook and twitter, it has to be a failure.

It builds on a bad assumption right out the gate, that automatically reposting trash you happen to perform a lightweight operation on is what it means to be "social" online. That only happens because facebook is pandering to marketers. I wish I still had the email where facebook described to marketers the change from "Become a fan" to "like". The change was to make it so that the action that got people to spam their friends became more lightweight.

The author compares it to tweeting. Really? Last I knew on the twitter you slammed a link into the text field, just like people do on plus when they actually want to share the link.

Ultimately, a lower number of bullshit reposted from MSNBC.com showing up in my stream than my feed is a WIN for me.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#56

Post by cbs » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:41 PM UTC

Hisoka wrote: post #14

Google doesn't get social... that's all. They demand everyone that applies for a job knows algorithms, but they fail to understand that to nail social, they need to hire people with a different type of intelligence: emotional and psychological. People who know what makes other people tick. We human beings crave attention, impressing others, and thinking we're special. We don't give a damn about placing people in Circ…

>We don't give a damn about placing people in Circles

"We"? Who the hell is this "we"? I love the functionality of circles.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#57

Post by ditojim » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:48 PM UTC

ry0ohki wrote: post #41

ditojim wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If google doesn't get social, who developed Google+? Too clean? I find the page very easy on the eyes and easy to use. Too private? I have put way more info in public (intentionally) on Google+ than Facebook. They make it easy. You are just making general statements and assumptions we have heard all over the internet, meanwhile, Google+ continues to delight its users. I will say: Google finally gets social. It is cal…

Google copied a bunch of technical features from other networks (Facebook mainly) that do get social. But as the parent points out, they don't truly get social because there is a complexity that confuses me let alone my mom in using Google Plus.

What complexity do you refer to? Facebook has groups, it just has a crappy UX for it. Google's Circles are way better, easy, and kinda fun to setup with a slick UI. Once they are setup, it is easy to filter your content based on circles. Circles make a ton of sense to me (and a lot of other people, too). I can finally share all my information in one place, with different groups and view those groups in context in my stream. No one is forcing anyone to use Google+ though. Users have a choice and we shall see where the cards fall over the next year.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#58

Post by cbs » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 5:49 PM UTC

ristretto wrote: post #15

On a related topic, why is google going after the "like" game anyway? They have better data than the stupid likes they can use to direct advertising. And +1 is a "meh" name. It would be more intuitive if they used a star, like gmail does, instead. Star it, save it in your bookmarks and tell your friends.

On a related topic, why is google going after the "like" game anyway?

To feed it into personalization of search results.

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#59

Post by 01Michael10 » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 6:35 PM UTC

Really??? The author of this post is comparing the number of Facebook likes (750 million active users) to the number of Google +1s (some 25 million users) from a small sample of Internet articles...

People really need to stop mentioning how Google+ does not have this or that feature. It's not open to the public at large because it's not a finished product yet!

Re: Google +1 is failing, miserably

#60

Post by yalimgerger » Fri, Aug 12, 2011, 6:43 PM UTC

01Michael10 wrote: post #59

Really??? The author of this post is comparing the number of Facebook likes (750 million active users) to the number of Google +1s (some 25 million users) from a small sample of Internet articles... People really need to stop mentioning how Google+ does not have this or that feature. It's not open to the public at large because it's not a finished product yet!

You don't need to be on Google+ to +1 anything. All you need is a Google account. Most people think +1 and Google+ are related which is not true. But this is what happens if a company build two products with the same name.