So What Do you Think: Is Google+ a Success or a Failure?

i think its not a success right now but could be successful eventually. most people i know including myself signed up for google plus but then never touch it again.

It's interesting because recently I've been seeing ALOT of Google + TV ads running. Seems like G is really trying to push it.

It seems pretty dead to me. I check it a few times a day and the novelty has worn off.

I have spent a lot of time using Google + like I do with Facebook. For Google to get Google + rolling they are going to need something engaging and different that Facebook has not thought of or going to implement into Facebook. Time will tell and we will have to see if Google + will stay alive or drop off officially.

Google can put a lot of muscle behind anything they want to...however, so far, I don't see G+ ever getting the traction Facebook has.

Google is starting to be like Microsoft was in the 1990's: Big, Rich and lacking new ideas.

They just try to copy a winner, but its usually too late by the time G jumps in...Their only other avenue to grow is by acquisition.
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Bruce

Google + is not a success currently but it will become a necessary evil for SEO people I guess as with time and algo updates more +1s would be required to get a site ranked well in google.

Hold on..
G+ is preparing itself to become powerful...
And who knows even if it cant cross FB, then Google will use it as an snipper tool.

I guess SEO is a changin and G + will be a part of it.

I understand they are already making it attractive to participate for SEO's sake, so if they continue on that track, it should only be a matter of time when any marketer worth her salt will include it in her arsenal.

Even without G +, Google is leaning heavy toward social influence being a prime SEO factor. People are reporting blog networks, by themselves, aren't doing what they were doing, even a matter of a few weeks ago. As this trend becomes more known, all the major social sites will probably see more action, and that includes + (I suppose).

They definitely have some features that I bet FB wishes they have, and probably will adopt down the road, like circles, so that you aren't always broadcasting to everyone, every time you post something.

There's a lot of usefulness there. If you enjoy off color jokes, but you have family and friends who would freak the f out, you just make a circle for people you know who like that kind of humor.

(And obviously, there are tremendous marketing applications to circles.)

In my opinion, google+ is leaning towards more professional social network than facebook. facebook also provides advertising, groups and pages but google+ with its circles looks easier to group up the people and better than the facebook

A big fail, G needs to stick to search and they're even messing that up more and more recently. Look at all the money they have thrown at G + and the only people I know on there are mostly IM people. They're trying to buy the love but it's not working yet.

Google have always said that their main priority is search, and nothing ever gets in the way of that priority.

I think G+ will be the substitute, sitting around waiting for a time when a second strong network might be needed. In terms of professionalism, I think Google wins hands down. Everything Facebook does is annoying.

One thing that does actually come to mind is that maybe G+'s problem is that it is too clean and efficient. Its interface is a bit lonely in comparison to the buzz of the Facebook interface, and other previously popular social networks.

Re:stand alone product. I initially agreed with you, but then again, the only reason G+ has so many users is that they linked it to Gmail. If it had been stand alone, it might have got to about fifty users by now.

I still don't know what it is all about, signed up first day and never went back to take a look.

I agree. Sometimes when I am bored and hit the + button on the Gmail control panel by mistake, a lot of the people that I can follow and stuff look a lot like spam or fictitious characters. I don't feel like that with Facebook, although I have come across that kind of account in Facebook as well, of course.

I'm not a heavy G+ user yet (I've been neglecting all my social profiles recently) but here's my thoughts on G+. I mainly agree with BOSCO and Big Mike. It's not currently a massive success but they are leaning more and more towards social signs. I think it will be huge in the future for the following reasons:

1) Personalised Search Results:- G+ is going to start influencing search results so everyone gets their own personalised search results based on their friends and +1s in G+. For example, if I'm a fan of a specific football team and I circle lots of similar fans and +1 lots of articles related to that football team, when I search for football my results will be personalised towards my interest in that one team. If someone else is a fan of another team, their results for football will be different and personalised towards their team. Google's going to be getting all this data from G+ so if you don't have a G+ account, your website gets shoved to the bottom of these personalised search results, no matter how good or relevant it is.

2) Your Photo In Google:- This was personally the feature that drew me in and got me to set up a G+ account. I noticed a few people had their photo appearing next to their results in Google and I wanted the same effect. As these author photos become more and more common, I think more people with websites will sign up and link their G+ acccount to their website so that they can have their author photo appear in G+ results.

3) Non-IM Are Already Using It:- I don't know about other people but I've noticed a few non-IM people I know have started to use G+. Not massive amounts but I didn't know anyone offline who used Buzz or Wave so it's definitely an early sign that it's more successful than it's predecessors.

Big Mike summed it up perfectly above...

Tom

it's a failure and it can never beat facebook. also, google have many rules and policy. someone describe google a "creature".

The result is not yet out. We are still in the Dark about the actual impact of Google Plus. One important point is we just do not know how to optimize for it. The Facebook personal touch is missing. Google must market it in a way to make it more important if it is looking to upstage Facebook

Its only a success for geeky types such as developers, bloggers, im'ers.

The rest of the world are still on facebook.

Google+ will be a succes social network in future and will pass facebook , this is my opnion

Thanks for posting , nice thread

Google + is a failure in my eyes. They try to push it so hard, everywhere you see it..

- Within banners (adsense)
- Within search results (you can plus 1 a website without having visited it, which is weird!)
- Within Google Finance (Yes you can even plus One a stock) Which is ridiculous.

They ask you to publicly Plus one this or whatever they call it.

In my eyes, the technology behind it is good, everything works fast and good. But i don't like to publicly do everything online, they want to push this thing too hard.

And then their biggest mistake in my eyes! The name Google + .. How can you tell your mom you +1'd something, it's plain ridiculous. Facebook has likes, which is really cool. You can like something. But to + something and then even +1'd something.

The whole thing is invented by tech nerds, they don't know anything about marketing. They think it's cool but it's absolutely not.

Why not use thumbs up, or vote, or rate or even Love somehting, or give it some Karma.. or anything but +1. I see they now changed the text within the search results (when you mouse over the +1 button) that it says "recommend this page" which sounds a lot beter then "publicly +1 this page".

They push this thing so far that force webmasters to use it. And a lot of them cooperate. I should say, boycott this whole thing until it dies. Google is not fun anymore. It's a money machine and they don't care about delivering the good stuff anymore.

And also they count gmail users at active google+ users. So if you by accident activated your google+ account and login your gmail account it means you are an active google+ user. Yes, it's sad, very sad!

I deleted my google+ account and even without no google+ i can still +1 something.

Weird! not funny, i want my anonymously!

whoever thinks G+ is a failure must have thought that facebook was dead 3+ years after it was public knowledge to the world and not just a niche site for college kids.

I am 19 now (bout to turn 20 in a couple of months) and when I had a myspace I remember hearing about facebook for the 1st time. I made an account, and didnt use it for about 2-3 years until the majority of my friends were on it. Same with twitter

(and the facebook we know and love was around a couple years b4 I heard of it)

This is how ALL SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE!!!!

They are dead until the general public migrates over and friends start connecting again..

Internet marketers should feel responsible to making G+ a success because it benefits you over everything..DO something to get your already established audience to get to G+ and +1 your stuff. So when their friends get over to G+ you can boost your google ranking. (in general and by the personal results)

By you bringing people to G+ you are making it more likely that friends can link up....understand the viral effect?

Not to call names but if you dont have G+ in your plans you are freaking crazy. My trash site I made went from page 4 to page 1 just from personal results on the google search. With just me liking it with 3 google accounts.

Imagine having 1000 people +1 my site and then having the general public use G+....I would be #1 search result easy for thousands of people for my keywords

I saw it as a potential threat for Facebook, but as time has gone on, most of the people I know on Google+ have gotten bored of it. Look at how popular Facebook is... getting nearly enough users to migrate to Google+ is more than a huge challenge. Most of us want to be on the social network where all our friends are. Facebook is already the answer. It's not like there's a big problem where Google+ is the solution.

One issue for Google is that they're getting a taste of their own medicine. Facebook tuned their website a little based on some of the cool Google+ features that were introduced. It seems that this has somewhat put Google+ out of their misery - I can't see them ever taking over. I could be completely wrong of course. Time will more accurately tell.

Google+ came out. Facebook made their pages better. People stayed on Facebook.

Even the 'imaginary boost' of G-juice could't move people to this new network. I think they're pretty dead and likely to stay that way. No one has any reason to trust Google these days.

Google + = Epic fail , cant wait till they shut it down. Pushing something down peoples throats will never work for the long term, just ask yourself , do you use google plus as much as facebook ?

Not a failure, but no where near where certain people expected it would be by now.