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comment by ecib
ecib  ·  4656 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Google+ users spend increasingly less time on site
" In the end, Google just couldn't make a compelling platform, nor could they market it well. "

I think it's too early to tell. They're really shoving it down our throats with deep integration and social search returns.

They're trying so hard to brute force it, and I'm not sure that they won't eventually succeed. Chances are they won't, but I'm just not convinced that we can call it over yet. I think this is going to play out over at least two more years before we'll know if it's gonna stick around in any sort of meaningful way.





GoatFood  ·  4656 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I'm not convinced. Do you really think brute force could be an effective strategy for building a social network? People don't like being coerced into social platforms.
ecib  ·  4656 days ago  ·  link  ·  
I think the chances are that it's not, but I don't know that for sure. I don't think people will care about tactics as long as they have a critical mass of people on the social network to make it worth their while. Facebook was/is incredibly invasive with its crawling/spamming of contacts in order to gain traction.

The problem for google is that people's parents and grandparents are on Facebook. I mean, when they've penetrated that deep demographically, how are you going to yank them out into a new platform? Early adopters can only do so much.

I think the most likely scenario for G+ (if it survives) is that it becomes a different social network alongside Facebook, LinkedIn, etc that serves a niche community.

mk  ·  4656 days ago  ·  link  ·  
Yes, I really don't picture my aunts on Google+, or even concerned to ask themselves whether or not another network is better than Facebook. Facebook has the legacy. But, Pinterest, which offers a different experience, could definitely compete for their time.
ecib  ·  4656 days ago  ·  link  ·  
If there's one thing that can lure Aunts away from Facebook it propably would be digital scrapbooking...