Google’s big experiment in social is over. Google+ launched back in mid-June and now it looks like the experiment is over. Google went super aggressive on forcing users to move to Google+ accounts on basically every service they offer. I can personally attest to the Google+ vs YouTube account nightmare that a number of users found themselves in, especially if you’re trying to deal with managing a personal page and a page for a business.
VP of Streams, Photos and Sharing, Bradley Horowitz wrote in his blog post, that Google+ is transitioning to a “more focused experience”. Translation, it will live for enthusiasts and Google+ die hards to use, but expect that vine to wither rapidly.
Google threw absolutely everything they had at Google+ and despite forcing it down user’s throats, they couldn’t get anywhere close to the traction (engagement) of Facebook and Twitter. There’ll be people who debate number of users, but given Google’s artificial enforcement, their numbers are not in any way, an accurate representation of activity. At best, most people connected their website to auto-publish to Google+ in case it found traction, but sadly, it didn’t.
Don’t get me wrong there’s been plenty of great conversations happen on the Google+ platform, but it never really did enough different from Facebook to win. This is Google’s Windows Phone.
“in the coming months, a Google Account will be all you’ll need to share content, communicate with contacts, create a YouTube channel and more, all across Google. YouTube will be one of the first products to make this change, and you can learn more on their blog. As always, your underlying Google Account won’t be searchable or followable, unlike public Google+ profiles. And for people who already created Google+ profiles but don’t plan to use Google+ itself, we’ll offer better options for managing and removing those public profiles.
You’ll see these changes roll out in stages over several months. While they won’t happen overnight, they’re right for Google’s users—both the people who are on Google+ every single day, and the people who aren’t.”
Goodbye Google+, say hi to Wave for me.
