When Google+ was launched a few weeks ago I saw it as another Google Buzz writ large. Google Buzz was of course a lamentable failure after hype of dizzying proportions. Now I think Google+ may be different. In a little over 3 weeks the service has amassed 20 million users and seen the social media stars and blogger experts jump on board and make all sorts of wonderful claims. My favourites are:
- Personal blogs are no longer needed because Google+ allows maximum engagement;
- This will kill twitter and people are already bored by twitter;
- The 140 character limit is limiting twitter;
- This will kill Facebook;
- Google are playing favourites with brand pages and demonstrating how unethical they really are;
- Google+ will change how brands interact with social media;
- Google+ will not change how brands interact with social media;
- Twitter is still a better mobile tool;
- Google+ is a better curation tool;
- Google+ sucks;
- Google+ is like Friend Feed;
- Google+ vs Facebook is like Facebook vs MySpace circa 2005.
Some of the views above are not entirely crazy (apart from redirecting your personal blog to your Google+ profile), but people really need to calm the fuck down.
Sure Google+ is great and shiny and new. It is like the latest spring fashions from Paris, the new BMW M5, a latest Nike’s, or a new diet drink made from a substance found deep in the rainforest which magically makes you thinner, better looking and smarter.
In other words Google+ is simply fashion.
Geeks, techno-bloggers, and social media experts are flocking to Google+ so they can be part of the cool-set.
And Google are of course building a massive new data-set to crunch some data and sell advertising. I have no complaints about that, it is after all just business. My problem is with people magically forgetting that Google are not a charity creating some really innovative cool stuff to make everyone happy. They are building honeypot to make lots and lots of money because they have been watching Facebook pull in more than $1 Billion a year in advertising and have a massive share of Internet users invisible to Google.
The great thing about the world is that there will always be room for something new and innovative. And if Apple or Google are in business there will always be uncritical acceptance of whatever they do from guileless fools.
Oh, you can find me here if you want to follow me on Google+