Since the departure of Google+ head engineer, Vic Gundotra, from Google there has been this constant online chatter and news postings about Google+ seeing its final days. Call me an optimist but all this talk on the demise of Google+ seems to be an over exaggeration don’t you think? I’m sure Google haters and Facebook fans out there are giving each other high fives but it’s still too early to tell what’s going to happen next. The same thing can be said about the idea of SEO being dead, they have been saying this for years but it’s still alive and kicking and still important to any online strategy.
Personally, I enjoy Google+ and I don’t really see it as a potential “Facebook Killer” but a complementary platform where members gather into communities based on industry, hobbies and interests. Unlike Facebook’s Pages and Groups, I feel Google+ is alot more open; you’re able to communicate freely and share your thoughts on certain topics whether it be on programming, art or video games. The layout and the functionality is more streamlined than from the beginning and you have the capability to build your community through circles. I’ve noticed some of my colleagues shut down their Facebook accounts to move to Google+ or just leave it as a means to communicate with just family and friends.
Also, think of how it can bring value to you. If you have a blog or a website that needs that extra boost of relevancy and authority than Google+ can help you through indexing and authorship. Yes, there are SEO elements thrown in there but so is social interaction, we’re seeing a blend of both as search engines are becoming more semantic and can expertly narrow down users’ queries of finding hotels, best local plumbers or the tastiest Thai restaurant.
Sure we have seen what happened to MySpace, Plurk, Friendster and Wave but there are many factors at play when it comes to the life cycle of a social network. Money, lack of innovation, no adaptation, stronger competition and remarketing for a niche demographic are but many factors at play. Everybody thought MySpace will go away but they just merely redefined themselves as more of a media/music social network. I’m still hopeful that the Google team will go back and work the kinks out of Google+ and whether it’ll be defined as a social network or platform and how it will play with all the other Google products we’ll just have to wait and find out.
Well, that was my rant and if you want to hear more, check out this video by GeekBeat.tv. They definitely hit the mark on this issue. So what are your thoughts on this? Do you wish Google+ can just go away or are willing to stick around and see what will happen next?
