Can the Math Club Make the Student Council
September 23, 2010
For years the words Internet and Google seemed to be synonymous. Google was the “go to” place on the Internet and it was hard to talk about one without mentioning the other. However, the king better hold on to its throne because social networks are on the rise. Minyanville showcases an interesting piece “Five Reasons Google Can’t Get Social” that attempts to answer whether Google can really be successful in the social media world.
“Revenues for privately held social-media companies, including Facebook, Zynga, and Groupon, are going through the roof.” Google has never been viewed as a social butterfly and past attempts such as the dismal Google Buzz have done little to help their case. Even with plans to unveil a new social network, Google Me, the author sees “five distinct challenges to Google succeeding in the social-media world.”
- Google is simply reacting to the threat of losing its dominance on the Internet.
- Google does not come to mind when thinking about a great social environment.
- Google’s products, though productive, are not what people would consider enjoyable or something they would want to share with others.
- Google places emphasis on conducting searches within social networks instead of promoting a pleasant user experience.
- Facebook has millions of happy users and a heavy presence on both computers and mobile devices.
Google finds itself in a surprising predicament as it tries, so far unsuccessfully, to keep up with social networking. Google is a business first and foremost and the bottom line is they see the revenue they are losing to social networks. Google has always crushed the competition and they are not giving up their throne without a fight. There are dozens of possible reasons Google may struggle but the main one is simply they are doing it for the wrong reasons.
Facebook the biggest social network started off small with people just trying to have fun. They were not looking for riches, simply their next girlfriend. In the beginning I don’t think they thought it would become so massive, it just kind of happened. Kids, simply looking to meet new friends stumbled onto a goldmine. Google’s attitude toward the social world is if you can’t beat them join them. They lack the innocent personal relationship factor that’s behind social networks and that’s something money just can’t buy.
The Beyond Search opinion is that agility in social networking is more challenging that displaying search results as we type a Google query. No landslide for Google to make the Student Council yet.
April Holmes, September 25, 2010
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