dharmapunk
Footballguy
This. Someone sent me an invite. I checked it out for like 5 minutes and never went back.
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Google+ > When does it go "Mainstream" (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter [icon]
- Start date
Miscellaneous
Footballguy
To me, it's pretty obvious so far:
- I get the friends sharing that I get in Facebook.
- I get the passive following of content creators that I get in Twitter.
- it's easier to share the right parts of my life with the right friends than on Facebook.
- I get much more robust sharing than Twitter (longer commentary, running conversations).
- I get free, multiperson video chat I don't get anywhere else.
Right now, there's not nearly the friend sharing from FB because so few people are on it. And the Twitter sharing depends on what you like. If you like tech nerd talk, there's lots of those on G+. There aren't a lot of sports reporters, etc. on it.
Soon, G+ games will come out, and that plus multiperson video chat will bring people like my mom running.
- I get the friends sharing that I get in Facebook.
- I get the passive following of content creators that I get in Twitter.
- it's easier to share the right parts of my life with the right friends than on Facebook.
- I get much more robust sharing than Twitter (longer commentary, running conversations).
- I get free, multiperson video chat I don't get anywhere else.
Right now, there's not nearly the friend sharing from FB because so few people are on it. And the Twitter sharing depends on what you like. If you like tech nerd talk, there's lots of those on G+. There aren't a lot of sports reporters, etc. on it.
Soon, G+ games will come out, and that plus multiperson video chat will bring people like my mom running.
Jojo the circus boy
Footballguy
photos are a ton better on G+ w/ Picasa
Chester Copperpot
Footballguy
No. 16
Footballguy
Says only a million unique visitors each day. 1/25th of registered users.Still has a long way to go.
Hawks64
Footballguy
Seems like it's heading in the wrong direction at this point.
Voltaire
Footballguy
In the beginning, you had to have a .edu e-mail to get facebook. In the very beginning, it was only at a handful of schools.
Maelstrom
Footballguy
Google just released the first part of their API for building apps using Google+ data. Unfortunately it is only the public data and read-only, so no way to post back to the stream for instance. A lot of people were disappointed with what Google released. I do wonder if they actually did find a marketing team, and there is still some sort of push to come, or if they still believe that "if you build it, they will come." Cause they don't, even when you are as big as Google.
I also think Google is stepping very lightly with what they release due to the DoJ investigations and other legal issues regarding them being monopolistic. That is probably why search wasn't built in from the beginning and why you still can't search private posts, even among your circles. Seems like a no-brainer, being Google, but they might be running scared.
I also think Google is stepping very lightly with what they release due to the DoJ investigations and other legal issues regarding them being monopolistic. That is probably why search wasn't built in from the beginning and why you still can't search private posts, even among your circles. Seems like a no-brainer, being Google, but they might be running scared.
![[icon]](/data/avatars/m/5/5167.jpg?1660313464){kind=avatar}
[icon]
Insoxicated
Rooster
Footballguy
I think the success of Gmail's invite-only launch turned them into a one trick pony in terms of launching a product. They use that for everything now, even when the realities of the system don't justify it. If gmail was confined to a single user, it would still be a valuable everyday tool for that user because he/she can still interact with people on legacy systems. Not only that, Gmail was lightyears ahead of it's counterparts at the time. When other systems were measuring limits in 10s of MB, Gmail came out with multi-gigabyte limits, that alone was a real value back then, not to mention all the other Gmail innovations at the time. They slowly dribbled people into a system that they were dying to get into because it represented so much more value for free than what other competitors were charging for. The invite limit made the tech savvy early adopters happy (gave them some sort of value go give to friends), limited adoption rates so they could grow in a controlled fashion and sustained the buzz (but only because the product was that much better).
A social network, on the other hand, is exponentially more valuable with new users. It's not something you want to contain the growth of because each new person that joins makes it more valuable for everyone involved, once you get a critical mass people start streaming in because that's where everyone else is. Artificially limiting invites is artificially limiting growth and value of the network to both insiders and outsiders and all the positive buzz they had when they launched is gone. They could go public now and it might be a blip on the tech news for an hour or two, if that. The few innovations G+ brought Facebook has already copied and now there's even less reason to switch. It could be, though, that rivaling Facebook wasn't the goal. Maybe they just wanted to force Facebook's hand on something, either way I think G+ is mostly irrelevant unless they relaunch it and it's miles ahead of Facebook in several ways (which is a lofty goal).
A social network, on the other hand, is exponentially more valuable with new users. It's not something you want to contain the growth of because each new person that joins makes it more valuable for everyone involved, once you get a critical mass people start streaming in because that's where everyone else is. Artificially limiting invites is artificially limiting growth and value of the network to both insiders and outsiders and all the positive buzz they had when they launched is gone. They could go public now and it might be a blip on the tech news for an hour or two, if that. The few innovations G+ brought Facebook has already copied and now there's even less reason to switch. It could be, though, that rivaling Facebook wasn't the goal. Maybe they just wanted to force Facebook's hand on something, either way I think G+ is mostly irrelevant unless they relaunch it and it's miles ahead of Facebook in several ways (which is a lofty goal).
PolishNorbi
Footballguy
Dont forget Facebook started the limited approach as well
Last edited by a moderator:
JbizzleMan
Footballguy
I was very interested when it first came out and tried explaining it to some of my friends. No one could join immediately, so instead of running home and joining my circles they forgot about. So did I. 
Rooster
Footballguy
Facebook had the luxury of doing so because 1) there wasn't a competitor with critical mass back then (ie, my parents weren't on MySpace to keep up with pictures of my kid) and 2) they were drastically better than MySpace, in a significant way.
the hairy scotsman
Footballguy
Wow...that user interface looks (not surprisingly) MUCH better than the FB interface, which is pure crap.
badmojo1006
Footballguy
Agreed. I looked on my feed for the first time in at least a month and 2 people have postedNot exactly a barn burner
Rooster
Footballguy
Google+ went public several days ago, not much more than a blip on the radar of most. It's clearly been overshadowed by the huge changes Facebook has done with things like Timeline. Of course, Facebook is back in the news for more privacy concerns so it may just blunder it's way out of this now that people have a legitimate option. At this point, though, the only company that can derail Facebook's success is itself (and likely by doing away with even more privacy). Google had a shot at really disrupting Facebook, but I think they lost it by letting the buzz die down for so long before releasing it to the public.
The Commish
Footballguy
Also read somewhere that facebook is going to start charging to be on. Is that true?
No. 16
Footballguy
You sound like you are surprised. I never signed up for G+ because I knew it would be a colossal failure. The only way another social network will even come close to matching Facebook's market share is by PAYING USERS to use the site. Otherwise people have no incentive to leave Facebook since everyone they know is on Facebook.
[icon]
Insoxicated
Dexter
Footballguy
I also read it's sisters week... again.
GoFishTN
Footballguy
Wait. I was told it was brothers week. WTF?I also read it's sisters week... again.
[icon]
Insoxicated
I think it's official...
RIP GOOGLE+
Traffic down over 60% from peak...
"In the meantime, we at RWW can informally corroborate Chitika's findings that interest in Google Plus is on the wane. Our monthly referrals from there are down 38% since their peak, while Facebook referrals are up 67% and Twitter referrals up 51% over the same period.
As we reported last week, the +1 button isn't gaining much traction, either. Despite all the new features and responsiveness to user feedback, Google Plus just doesn't seem to be catching on. "
RIP GOOGLE+
Traffic down over 60% from peak...
"In the meantime, we at RWW can informally corroborate Chitika's findings that interest in Google Plus is on the wane. Our monthly referrals from there are down 38% since their peak, while Facebook referrals are up 67% and Twitter referrals up 51% over the same period.
As we reported last week, the +1 button isn't gaining much traction, either. Despite all the new features and responsiveness to user feedback, Google Plus just doesn't seem to be catching on. "
Cavalier
Footballguy
Call me crazy but facebook will follow, it will take a lot longer but it will fail too.
[icon]
Insoxicated
Reports indicate just shy of $600 MillionThat comes in at a higher price tag than Newscorp's purchase of Myspace... which just sold for $35MM. Call me crazy but I think Google+ isn't worth much more than Myspace at this point.
[icon]
Insoxicated
This isn't exactly a bold prediction GB!
Mosiac begat MozillaCompuserve > Prodigy > AOL > Mosaic >IE > mozilla
Yahoo > Google
Myspace > Facebook
etc etc...
There are very few constants in the iUniverse.... everything is temporary. There's always a better mousetrap.
I'll do you one further..... Google will be surpassed as the best "search" option (and it won't be bing) but instead by something more "intelligent" like wolfram alpha or the like.
Joe T
Footballguy
Grace Under Pressure
Footballguy
[icon]
Insoxicated
I'm very very surprised.
I figure I'm pretty heavily on record as thinking this thing didn't stand a chance to overtake FB, but didn't expect it to completely flop as badly as it has.
SacramentoBob
Footballguy
You're part of the problem.
[icon]
Insoxicated
Link? All reports indicate traffic peaked in July then was steadily declining with less than half a post per account per day by september:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/sep/16/google-plus-api-use-dip
At that point Google+ was seeing a meager 1.1MM visits per week vs 1800MM visits for facebook. (link)
Then Google opened it to the public causing a spike of traffic that approached 50MM registered users: (link)
This still represented only 15MM visits per week compared to 1800MM visits for facebook.
After that spike, traffic collapsed.. down 60% as people realized very few people are actually USING their G+ accounts, and of those using them.. it's almost exclusively male (over 70%) and heavily saturated by IT community.
Google Traffic Drop 60% = PC Magazine
Google+ Traffic Falls back after surge = PC World
etc
[icon]
Insoxicated
Right so Google now sits at around 15MM visits per week (assuming a 4.8x increase to pre-public opening)... vs 1800MM weekly visits (or roughly 0.8% of FB's traffic).
I predict G+ experiences a similar tail off among these new folks dropping in that they were seeing with the early adopters (posting activity fell by 50% over the several months leading up to the public opening).
EDIT: actually 15MM visits was the peak... 60% drop for that is already down to 9MM (or 0.5% of FB's traffic). I figure they'll tail down from that over the next couple months... we'll see.
I predict G+ experiences a similar tail off among these new folks dropping in that they were seeing with the early adopters (posting activity fell by 50% over the several months leading up to the public opening).
EDIT: actually 15MM visits was the peak... 60% drop for that is already down to 9MM (or 0.5% of FB's traffic). I figure they'll tail down from that over the next couple months... we'll see.
Last edited by a moderator:
[icon]
Insoxicated
Correct. The article above did indicate they might have reached 50MM registered users. However 50MM registered users is not the same as having 50MM active users. People simply aren't using their G+ accounts. They're poking their heads in the new bar... looking around, and going back to the same place they used to hang out.
Last edited by a moderator:
[icon]
Insoxicated
I hear ya. I just think Google+ is failing miserably compared to what Google needs for it to ever be a blip on the radar compared to Facebook. Right now it's barely a blip on the radar when compared and i'll guess we'll see a downward trend over the next couple months... not exactly what you're looking to see from your 1 week old social media product.
proninja
Footballguy
You're a tech geek, yes? The only people in my circles on G+ that actually use it are tech geeks. Not sure why.
[icon]
Insoxicated
In my circles:
Cousin. IT industry male - 2 post in july
Buddy. IT industry male - 10 posts. 3 in august. one in early september.
Buddy. non IT male - 1 post "this is weird" in july
etc...
Essentially out of a buncha folks (30?), there are 2 active people
Friend - non IT girl - Social media junkie (5-10 posts/day on FB). - 7 posts. Most recent in early sept.
Friend - Non IT make - Social media junkie - appears to be posting 1-2x per week.
It looks like one of them is G+ only and one echoes about 70% of his FB posts to G+. Both are electro DJs using social media to promote themselves. Guy 2 is seeing infinitely more activity on his FB page
Anecdotal... perhaps... but likely indicative of the larger picture.
Cousin. IT industry male - 2 post in july
Buddy. IT industry male - 10 posts. 3 in august. one in early september.
Buddy. non IT male - 1 post "this is weird" in july
etc...
Essentially out of a buncha folks (30?), there are 2 active people
Friend - non IT girl - Social media junkie (5-10 posts/day on FB). - 7 posts. Most recent in early sept.
Friend - Non IT make - Social media junkie - appears to be posting 1-2x per week.
It looks like one of them is G+ only and one echoes about 70% of his FB posts to G+. Both are electro DJs using social media to promote themselves. Guy 2 is seeing infinitely more activity on his FB page
Anecdotal... perhaps... but likely indicative of the larger picture.
No. 16
Footballguy
What problem? I have no issues with Facebook and everyone I know is one Facebook. Google's "problem" is they have nothing that really forces me to use G+ over Facebook. Like I predicted in the other G+ thread all the "features" that G+ added were worked into Facebook eventually.
The tools used to interact with the social network are not as important as the social network itself. Until something comes around that can create a competing network, there will be nothing that will come close to threatening Facebook. Maybe if G+ PAID people to use the service, it will have a chance, using a model similar to youtube, but otherwise "invite only" prestige only lasts for so long.
I think this article pretty much sums it up for me about G+....
G+ a solution looking for a problem?
AhrnCityPahnder
Yinz-o-riffic
I think the outlook isn't great for it, but I don't think "complete flop" is a fair assessment. See 'Wave, Google' for that one.'[icon] said:I'm very very surprised.'Joe T said:
Joe T
Footballguy
Similar threads
