In my opinion? No.
On the heels of an “awesome” Facebook announcement yesterday (which turned out to be Skype integration – something MySpace announced back in 2007) and with a week of Google-plussing under my belt, I decided to take a look at Google’s latest attempt at social networking.
First blush: meh.
While it’s a vast improvement over Buzz, which managed to tromp on privacy, be annoying and then flat line – and it’s less confusing than Wave, which was trumpeted as an e-mail killer but just ended up being discombobulating and overwhelming -- it’s still… just one more thing.
And I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Here’s a tweet from just a few minutes ago from John Markoff, an SF-based science writer with the NY Times:
Yep – that pretty much sums it up for me, too. While I like the idea of “circles” which would theoretically allow me to combine my personal (Facebook) and professional (Twitter and LinkedIn) social networking into one interface, I just don’t know if it’s realistic.
There is some correlation here between what Apple does (easy-to-use products that don’t need a lot of explanation) in the mobile sphere and what Facebook does. It’s easy, it’s simple and you can pick it up and use it right away.
Google, of course has its very popular Android operating system for mobile. But a quick glance at that interface will tell you that it simply doesn’t deliver the ease-of-use you will get from an iPhone. Similarly, every entrance into the social sphere by Google has been more detailed and confusing than necessary. In fact, there are already multiple Google+ tutorials. I haven’t heard of any Facebook tutorials, have you?
I’m not disputing that Google needs to get into social in a real way. People love Facebook (750 million users can’t be wrong) but maybe they’re just over-thinking it a bit.
Even in personal conversations that have been taking place on Google+, most everyone seems to agree that it simply has too much going on.
What got Google where it is today? An uber simple homepage with a search box, a logo and two buttons. Perhaps they need to take that approach with their social networking offerings, too.
What do you think? Is Google+ a Facebook Killer or will it follow Buzz and Wave to an early demise?
Devin Davis can be reached at ddavis@sterlingpr.com. Follow him on Twitter @DevinDavis.
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