Article: Why Google + Won't Succeed

Well this is not good! Just when I was starting to get into it too! How do you feel about it?

Posted by:

Patrick Randolph

Why Google+ Won't Succeed

Posted June 20, 2012

It was a place without a single feature of the space-time matrix that he knew. It was a place where nothing yet had happened - an utter emptiness. There was neither light nor dark: there was nothing here but emptiness. - Clifford Simak

According to this report, last week Google+ had more visits than Pinterest, Tagged, and LinkedIn, making it the 5th most popular social network in the US (behind Facebook, YouTube,Twitter, and Yahoo Answers). There are many reasons why Google created Google+ but a ton of ink has already been spilt on that question. What I want to deal with today is the single reason why Google+ has not and will not be a mainstream social network in the US. Before I delve into that reason I will discuss two things. First, social networks success is very binary in the US unless they are complimentary. Facebook and Twitter can coexist because they offer different benefits and serve different users. Facebook and Google+ are direct competitors and can’t both be very popular. The reason for this is user fatigue. Users can only stay engaged in so many places. Second, I want to discuss how this is relevant to Talkwheel. Talkwheel, like Google+ (Note: Google+’s iPhone app is gorgeous and worth checking out) offers a tool that depends on many people using it for it to succeed. Social networks by nature are useless if only one person uses them (because who are you being social with?). This is the essence of why Google+ won’t succeed, I call it the Empty Dance Floor problem .

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Out Of The Attic 2u on June 22, 2012 at 4:12pm

I have been adding everyone and their mother to my google+. And to be quite honest I didn't see a change in my stores or anything for that matter. A few kind folks sent me email selling their wares and some other nonsense, of course I deleted those offenders.

I personally think there is too much social sites going on and it does give burn-out trying to get yourself added and making small talk etc. I am just going to stick with facebook, twitter & pinterst.

Thanks for the heads up.

Permalink Reply by Le Petit Poulailler on June 22, 2012 at 4:16pm

Well, I have to agree with Patrick.

I neither have the time nor the inclination to "learn" yet another social media time-suck.

I don't like FaceBook ... but I do have a Facebook page. It takes too much time and is far too labor intensive in my estimation.

Twitter doesn't work for me because I'm not one to just hang there are read others' tweets.

Pinterest and Tumblr are fast and fun ~ and you can tailor to your styles and needs: easy peasy.

Sooner or later, people are going to max out on this stuff or, at least, I sure hope they will.

Google+ came too late to the fair.

Permalink Reply by ElsiesAttic ~ CEO on June 22, 2012 at 5:27pm

What turned me off Google + at first was it was a carbon copy of facebook and I felt like there was no way I was going to try and connect with all the same people in a new place that I already had established connections with on facebook. It was redundant IMO.

BUT.... it seems that the big pull towards it now is that it is related to Google search and when looking for results, they are going to go to their own "social networking" site first. At least that is the buzz I hear. {{{and stands to reason}}}

I would not completely count them out yet because of that. But I did join it with dread at having to learn a whole other system. Folks ARE overwhelmed.

And when it come to other networking groups that rely on a pyramid scheme type of promotion (you promote me and I will promote you) that can only last so long and only get so many to participate.

Say you begin a group and have 300 people all promoting each other... how long before you have 500 people to cross promote when you can spend that time promoting yourself and being on sites that work. And for all your effort, you have only cross promoted to the same 500 people... how is that effective?

I belonged to about 40 FaceBook groups (got kicked out of one for answering a question about VV) and now I have to scale back because I concentrate on the ones with bigger membership and more activity.

And the bad part about groups there, is that you are only promoting to the group itself. So if it's all sellers.... who are you promoting to?????? :)

But then you have a site like Pinterest that is super easy to figure out and super addictive and fun and the bonus is you can promote on top of it!

So I agree with another part of what he said about blogging... we read blogs for fun and info and if you have neither then there is no point.

Although I submit items to Twitter, I have to admit that I don't even look at my feed. Especially when folks re-tweet! Again it's the same issue.... how many people can you actually follow and how many people actually read the tweets?

Permalink Reply by WhimsicalVintage on June 22, 2012 at 7:34pm

I just started with Google+ and actually prefer the format to Facebook but I agree that it will be difficult to get people to add yet another site to the list...however, I also believe, as Lora mentioned, that Google will pull from it's own when searching before pulling from others...so for that reason, I'll stick with it for now. It's quick and easy...we'll see what happens:)

Permalink Reply by ElsiesAttic ~ CEO on June 22, 2012 at 9:40pm

Social Networking is almost like fishing.... you throw out your line and you never know what fish will bite. I have had people join here because they found us in some of the most roundabout ways. The one that made me chuckle was the person who found us via the Audubon Bird Club meeting! Evidently someone in his club bought an item from a seller here and she told all her friends!!!

So the key I guess is to really just keep at it and just try to find what is right for you because there is no magic trick, it's all just hard work basically... :)

Permalink Reply by Suzy's Timeless Treasures on June 22, 2012 at 10:51pm

Very interesting article and I like the term 'user fatigue'. Boy, I sure feel that some days!

I have an account on Google+ but I simply keep forgetting to post there. I think it's partly because I feel that I was forced to join because of the Google search results, so my subconscious keeps rebelling for me.

Permalink Reply by Out Of The Attic 2u on June 23, 2012 at 8:01am

Well said and amen!

Green Desert Art said:

Social networking can be a time consumer, for sure, but there is no monetary cost involved for networking, learning, and marketing. Traditional forms of networking/marketing are very expensive, and the time spent at work on product - well, a good percentage of that is used to pay for that form of marketing. So they are both time consumers. The traditional methods of networking/marketing are indirect, and so we may not view them that way. I think of social networking in this context.

I have my doubts about any forecasts regarding the success of the different sites. I have a hunch they will all, including Google+, see success - depending how they play the balancing act over the next many years. Social networking is really still in its infant stages, and I don't think Google came in too late. Umm...Facebook was regarded as a weak substitute for My Space not that long ago... Also, Google does have the advantage of who and what it is. For crying out loud, google is now a verb! They are the go-to Search Engine. It will be interesting to see what will unfold over the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, I am using my time and energy to take advantage of the wonderful networking sites and what they have available.

The strong marketers will be less inclined to give in to overwhelm and frustration.

Just keep thinking: "Free Marketing. Free Exposure. Free Networking." Time IS money, but either way - it is a fact that it needs to be spent to make a business work.

Permalink Reply by LilacsNDreams on June 23, 2012 at 12:37pm

I agree with ALL that has been said so far. Just depends how much activity keeps happening with every place. As we know...the more activity, the more involvement, the more it sends up flags for that particular site to be watched, heard, and seen.

It should prove interesting what will actually happen with all of these sites in the future. Many predictions, and many things will be said and speculated with. FB...the fan pg is great, but that has become a damper too. You only get so much exposure with that unless you want to now Pay to get more exposure....which I won't do. The People made FB what it is, and there should not be a cost for what The People did in it's popularity it has today. Google+ I am not spammed there near as much as I am on FB. It is simpler for me to use, and a bit cleaner over there. I will continue to use it as it is Google Product, and of course that will have some pull in how things get done with being seen, rankings, and so on. Once in a while I do get views from something I posted there.

Pinterest....now that is a blast! Even if I am only "talking to myself" there (LOL)...pin, pinning, and no actual social contact....it still works what they have going on there. People are involved with it, there is activity, and it is ranking well on how some things are seen too. Yes, I have gotten more traffic from there than I have from wanelo too. It is something I can do, organize, reorganize, rearrange, and just something to occupy my time with as well. I like seeing what others like, their interests, get some ideas, have things trigger something with me to try maybe in another way, and.....you know what I mean:)

Twitter....I usually don't sign into the place, or at least it is not a top priority for me to do. But, like facebook I have feeds going into it so the need to sign as much is not there for me. I get my usual notices about any new follows, or maybe a comment was done as well so that I can respond to those things. I maybe sign into this place 1-2 a week, and even then I just put 1,2,3 postings there with links to find me at my blogs or website, say Hi, and just letting others know that physically I am still around:)

Blogging....YES! I have done this, still doing it, and will keep doing it. I am a firm believer with blogging and see results with it too. It is another form of our social medias used, is recognized, and noted to be used too. On many of the venues I do see traffic coming in from my blogs....lately I have seen more traffic than I use to. For one thing...had to start a new blog due to some circumstances. This time around I am applying more of what I have learned, and know about, and it all comes together in how it is working. Like anything else, takes time, but does grow and work.

YES! There are many social sites out there, many available for all sorts of things. We have to find what works for us, what is comfortable for us to participate in, and where we see benefit with it. I have always seen things from VV when I google things, or when I google my name. This is one of the 1st social sites to show up for me. It is like anything else...what you put into it, how involved you become, how much you participate, and then applying all other things known to us for SEO purposes too.

Interesting article, and I thank you for sharing it too. I always enjoy reading something about 1 of the social medias that is getting attention, what is being said, and maybe learning something from it too. I enjoy seeing others opinions with these things too. Ya'll have a super weekend!!:)

Permalink Reply by Vintage Jewelry Chest on June 26, 2012 at 12:57pm

I just simply haven't had the time to deal with google plus! Social media fatigue here definitely! Every day I'm jumping back and forth between Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Kaboodle, other various groups and discussion forums, my new blog, my new website, 2 Etsy shops, Bonanza, eCrater and Feebay. I'm sure everyone here knows just what I mean when I say most of the time I feel like I don't have any time to do my REAL work which is searching for treasures, researching, photographing, listing and shipping out orders.

There's a lot of info here so I'll make sure to read through it all before I decide whether google plus will be my next adventure=)

Thanks for all the info everyone!

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