Is Google Plus Like Glass?
April 26, 2015
I remember reading that Google Plus was the new Google. I remember hearing that Googlers were induced to use Google Plus. I heard on a podcast that Google Plus was a lame duck thing, a modern Orkut.
If you are an avid social media maven, navigate to “Why Google+ Failed, According to Google Insiders.” If accurate, the write up suggests that Google’s powers of innovation are more like the power of imitation. Am I correct in recalling that Google’s ad business was foreshadowed by Overture/GoTo. Nah, that can’t be write. Imitation?
I read:
The main problem with Google+, one former Googler says, is the company tried to make it too much like Facebook. Another former Googler agrees, saying the company was “late to market” and motivated from “a competitive standpoint.” There may have been some paranoia — Facebook was actively poaching Googlers at a certain point, one source said. Google+ employees within Google were sectioned off, this person said, possibly to prevent gossip about the product from spreading. Google+ employees had their own secret cafeteria called “Cloud,” for example, and others on the Mountain View campus weren’t permitted. “There was definitely an aura of fear for a time,” this person said.
I quite like that phrase “aura of fear.” Poetic. I ran into a fear of Google. A PR distribution service would not distribute a news release with a reference to Google. No explanation, just a rejection. Interesting.
For more comments about Google Plus, read the story. I thought their might be trouble when the “+” was used in the service name. Ever try to search for a plus in the new, mobilized Google? I guess more effort went into name X Labs. Ever try to search Google for “X”?
Stephen E Arnold, April 26, 2015
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