Two things that make Google + a heavy hitter

by Hugo on July 1, 2011

No. 1 – It allows users to easily filter their conversations in one place so that “worlds don’t collide.”

My Twitter and Facebook connections have very little overlap. Why? Because Twitter is where I mostly talk shop (tech, digital marketing, science, etc.) whereas Facebook is where I catch up with childhood friends and family. My Tweeps don’t really care about that six-kegger back in 1996 (well maybe some do, but I digress) and my Facebook peeps (Feeps?) don’t care about the latest article on tracking +1 referrals via Google Analytics.

With Google +, I can easily manage both worlds without allowing them to collide. And that’s really great, because I can then further sub divide to make sure that my mom doesn’t read about that crazy sexual exploit back in 2004 (awkward).

No. 2 -It can serve as a true “home base” for even the non-techie mainstream internet user.

My buddy Dan Cristo mentioned that he’s planning on making Google + his new home base for social networking and interaction. That got me to thinking, and I realized that perhaps the greatest thing about Google + is that for a person like me – someone that is already a heavy Gmail user, has iGoogle as their homepage and constantly checks his Google Reader feed – using Google + isn’t so much about having a new home base as it is staying at home (e.g. not having to head over to Twitter.com or Facebook.com). I’ve already noticed that I’m spending less time navigating over to those two sites and a lot more time navigating to the + Hugo option in my that new black navigation strip at the top of my iGoogle interface.

And if that’s the case for a lot of people, and not just me, Google is really onto something.

Nicely done, Google. Nicely done.

  • http://twitter.com/alicia_celeste Alicia Celeste

    I completely agree. I was expecting yet another worthless product that Google gives all the bells and whistles to, but that will never be adopted. What I see instead is a really interesting tool that I will LIKE to use personally, and that will help me professionally.

    I work for a company with multiple locations, and having countless Facebook pages crop up between the “locations” pages, the “Community” pages, and then my actual “official” pages have been a nightmare. I’ve tried to maintain one “hub” but with all the different audiences, I end up annoying people. And then there’s the small fact that because people simply “like” our official page it’s only a one-way street and I can’t listen to my audience via a real “News Feed.”

    I’m REALLY hopeful that an official company page for my Google + account will provide the “home base” that you speak of, the “hub” I desperately need, and because it will be a two way communication between being added to circles and adding others to circles, I hope I will FINALLY be able to sit back, listen, and see what our audience is up to.

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for the comment, Alicia! I really appreciate the perspective you’re offering as far as how this could affect companies with multiple locations. Really interesting stuff.

  • http://shareholdersportal.co.uk/ Jon Wade

    Yep, Circles is going to be the real winner. I have not used Hangout yet, and I suspect that is going to be popular especially with the younger crowd when Google+ opens its doors to all, but Circles is good.

    But, what will parents think? When their kids block them from the circle? Hmmmm.

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for chiming in, Jon! Great point about the kid/parent angle and how that might affect mainstream adoption.

  • http://www.seopros.org Terry Van Horne

    Hugo you make some valid points, but… everyone has used Twitter the exact same way and it’s size is neither growing as fast nor will it begin to even reach a tenth the population that Facebook does. ie it’s a Nerds paradise.

    Circles and from what I see Hangout has the potential to draw the masses beyond technophibes… that is if they get it… asked a friend to join… naw no Googly accounts and no need for anything beyond their Hotmail and Yahoo which are more for chat than anything else.

    Technophibes seldom see past their own computers. Mt friend basically told me if we want to share some video I should come over and watch some of their home movies… ahhh geez thanks.

    Just like +1 share button none of the genius’s out there have considered that outside the tech communitities +1 is a vitual unknown… think the like button is unknown…nope it is becoming synonymous with FB. People can’t use what they don’t know the purpose of… ie: that button is basically tied to nothing… few have considered what factor that will play going forward… I smell just another Buzz button… a button to an exclusive club that most in it wish they could do without.

    • http://twitter.com/dancristo Dan Cristo

      Hey Terry,
      I’m not sure I agree with your forecast of Twitter. Last time I checked, Twitter had over 200 Million active accounts and maintains strong growth. Facebook on the other hand has almost 700 Million and it’s growth has slowed down substantially. In fact, growth in the U.S. has almost stopped completely, save a few outlier demographics like +60 year olds.

      Facebook is dried up in the most important segments: teenagers and college kids. They’ve been on the site for a few years and are tired of it. There’s nothing new, and it’s becoming crowded with feeble status updates and annoying games.

      For the college kids specifically, Facebook is more of a risk than a benefit when it comes to finding a job. Most will start getting involved in more grown up networks like LinkedIn.

      It’s still early for Google+, but what I like about it so far, and what I think Hugo is alluding to in his post, is that Google+ has the ability to be both casual and business at the same time. You can connect with industry peers, follow news and build your personal brand while video chatting with family and friends. It’s a very delicate balance, but it seems to be everything to everyone at the moment.

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for the comment, Terry! I know that there are some folks who will not switch anytime soon, but it’s all about critical mass (e.g. if enough people switch over, they’ll trigger a mass exodus from Twitter and/or Facebook to Google +) and as I mentioned, Google is in a unique position to be a true homebase (search + social network + etc) in a way that Facebook and Twitter can’t at this point.

      But only time will tell how things shake out…

  • http://twitter.com/dancristo Dan Cristo

    Hey Hugo,
    Thanks for the mention, and I completely agree with you. For those of us who are big Google users, G+ just ties everything together nicely.

    I don’t expect my family and close friends to use G+ much, but I fully expect industry peers to use it quite a bit. That’s where I’m hoping it’ll come in handy for me.

    I’ve always hated Twitter lists. I’m not sure why, but they just seem some cumbersome to setup. Circles is really a breakthrough way of segmenting my contents. I find myself using the term “segmentation” quite a bit when I talk about circles. Probably because it reminds me so much of my early marketing days in email.

    Once G+ opens up their API, there is going to be a mad rush on tools that will auto segment Circles for you. I’m thinking about getting things in place so I can cash in on that. Speaking of which, how long do you think we’ll go before people start automating their messages across Twitter, Facebook and G+?

    • Anonymous

      Thanks for chiming in, Dan, and you’re very welcome! I’ve got several developer colleagues that are already signed up for the G+ API waiting list. That will definitely make things even more interesting.

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  • Anonymous

    Indeed a total Breakthrough.
    Way to go Google+.

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