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The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

nytimes.com

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Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#61

Post by nemtaro »

baldfat wrote: post #59

the best of any social network in one word PHOTOS. Google+ photos is the killer feature. Try it. It backs up all your photos you have great editor for your pictures and then there is auto awesome.

BRAVO! I was just going to say the same thing...

My interest in Google+ is the same interest I had in facebook years ago: some site I upload and share my personal photos with people I choose.

Now, I see that: 1. my photos upload automatically from my android to Google+, so I never have to worry about accidentally losing them. (and yes, you can set FB up to do that too)

2. my photos look better on Google+ because it doesn't squeeze the quality out of them like FB does. (and yes, you can somehow get FB to improve that too, but I never even bothered to looked)

3. I can edit my photos right in the browser.

4. It shows me many different auto-awesome features, and allows me to stitch photos and clips into movies in seconds...

5. I don't have to worry about friends I add tomorrow, or next year, seeing photos I shared yesterday!!! If you've had multiple x-girlfriends, as I imagine most folks on HN have... that could be a constant problem.

Those features didn't all come up over night, but somewhere along the line I stopped using FB and started putting photos on Google+

Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#62

Post by alecdbrooks »

habosa wrote: post #44

This article goes out of its way to make Google+ look bad when it comes to numbers. "Plus has 29 million unique monthly users on its website and 41 million on smartphones, with some users overlapping, compared with Facebook’s 128 million users on its website and 108 million on phones, according to Nielsen." Is that supposed to be a bad thing? If you have ~1/4 to ~1/2 as many users as Facebook, are you not a very succ…

>If Plus was an independent startup people would be crowning it the next Facebook and saying that Facebook better watch its back.

People have higher expectations for Google than for an unknown startup. Google has an audience of 425 million Gmail users [0] to market new services to, after all. It's unreasonable to expect every Google product to be Gmail, but that's where the bar's been set.

[0]: http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/28/gmail-now-has-425-million-u...

Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#63

Post by gress »

spacemanmatt wrote: post #51
r0h1n wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(a) Google isn't like "nearly every consumer startup". It is arguably the most powerful Internet company in the world. Thus its actions must be viewed differently. (b) In this case Google is using its dominance in the search space (70-90% in many markets) to push G+ on customers who may not normally have signed up for it.

While it's true Google enjoys a near monopoly (maybe an actual monopoly, I'm not intending to split that hair) but it's very important to make the distinction between a natural monopoly and an illegal monopoly.

The monopoly isn't illegal, but having one affects the legality of certain competitive behaviors such as dumping.

Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#65

Post by coldtea »

jkn wrote: post #46
diydsp wrote: post #25

I just fired up plus.google.com again. 50% of the space is "ADD PEOPLE." The other 50% of the space is "DO YOU KNOW THESE PEOPLE." Where is the V-A-L-U-E ? Under the fold at the bottom is "Continue to Google+" Oh, I wasn't there already? That was just the interrogation before Google+ begins? I continue. Long load time. First thing that appears in 50% of the page is a column of the same people from the previous page.…

I fire up my G+ stream and get: A post by Timothy Gowers about Mobius strips and Valentine's Day: https://plus.google.com/103703080789076472131/posts/gYmEcGuN... A repost by Michael Chui with an animation of a double star + planet system showing chaos: https://plus.google.com/113476531580617567600/posts/Y3yiBojn... A post by an acquaintance about local politics with interesting infographics. A post from Rajini Rao ti…

So like a ghettoized version of RSS?

Thank you, I'll have the open web anyday.

For the rest, I can use Facebook.

Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#67

Post by subtlearray »

"Google Plus, the company’s social network, is like a ghost town."

Completely false. I've been a member of Google+ for 2 years. I have over 12,000 followers, and I follow over 1,000 people. I see a LOT of activity, particularly the kind I care about. Not everyone wants or needs to see baby pictures. In fact, this is one of the things people hate about Facebook.

Regarding the rest of the article, Google+ benefits Google, but it also benefits the user by creating a more unified experience. Google services were a fragmented mess before Google+ brought them together. And you can use Google, YouTube, etc without a Google account.

Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#68

Post by coldtea »

baldfat wrote: post #59

the best of any social network in one word PHOTOS. Google+ photos is the killer feature. Try it. It backs up all your photos you have great editor for your pictures and then there is auto awesome.

Yes, until they decide it's not working for them and kill it, like Wave, Reader, Code and tons of others...

Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#69

Post by jkn »

coldtea wrote: post #65
jkn wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fire up my G+ stream and get: A post by Timothy Gowers about Mobius strips and Valentine's Day: https://plus.google.com/103703080789076472131/posts/gYmEcGuN... A repost by Michael Chui with an animation of a double star + planet system showing chaos: https://plus.google.com/113476531580617567600/posts/Y3yiBojn... A post by an acquaintance about local politics with interesting infographics. A post from Rajini Rao ti…

So like a ghettoized version of RSS? Thank you, I'll have the open web anyday. For the rest, I can use Facebook.

Indeed it does what RSS used to do for me. It also adds comments and pictures, something RSS could also do depending on the reader. The real added value of G+ compared to RSS is the original content: a lot of people in Open Source and science, for example, use it as a blog platform. I do wish social networks were less ghettoized, but as a publication medium it doesn't seem less open than a blog to me. There are even tools to generate RSS feeds from G+ streams I think.

Re: The Plus in Google Plus? It’s Mostly for Google

#70

Post by adrianlmm »

spacemanmatt wrote: post #57
adrianlmm wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"This is quite insulting to G+" Please clarify, how an insult to G+ becomes an insult to you?

"This is quite insulting to G+ users" was the slightly fuller quote. Read the whole sentence -- it's not a long one.

Still, how is insulting G+ also an insult to his users? or you as a user?
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