Google Plus – Early Momentum, Now What?

Chris Selland is a Boston-based technology industry analyst & startup executive.  Currently, he is an Expert Advisor for Focus Research and blogs at terametric.com.

While Google+ got off to a very fast start, it’s pretty clear that their momentum is fading fast. I would argue it’s far too early to declare G+ dead, but warning bells are ringing loudly.

I fully admit to being attracted to bright, shiny objects – and as I’ve said many times before, to also being a Google fan. The initial idea of G+ and features such as Circles and Hangouts were greatly appealing to me – at least on first glance.

And the instant picture sharing from my Android phone is quite cool – as Thomas Hawk blogged the other days, Google is doing a great job in the photo-sharing arena.

So why has my time spent on Google+ tailed off so quickly? For me, at least, as nice as the feature set is, it makes little sense to spend so much time on a Social network that is so disconnected from the others – and thus from my Social Graph.

I don’t want to – or need to – be forced to pick a single Social Network to spend all my time on. As much as I like Google+, it does not replace what LinkedIn does for me in terms of managing my professional network. My high school and childhood friends are not on it the way they’re on Facebook. It doesn’t have the open, discovery capabilities (and pretty soon won’t have the growth) of Twitter.

And it’s simply too hard to post to – I use a variety of Social tools, but other than Google websites and my phone, none of those tools (yet) support Google+.

All of these Social Networks are part of my Social Graph – but Google+ seems to not want to work within that graph, but instead to replace it in its’ entirety.

BHAG‘s are laudable and Google is known for them, but if that’s Google’s strategy, they will fail.

So as enthusiastic as I was early on, my time-spent on Google+ is rapidly tailing off. And it’s pretty clear that it’s not just me.

Google’s got a lot on their plate, but if they want to keep G+ out of the Graveyard, they’ve got momentum to reverse – and quickly.

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Tags: $GOOG