Does anyone still use Google+

Posted on March 8, 2013 by William Ruzvidzo

I’m a Google fanboy and I’m not ashamed to admit it. What I particularly love about Google, is their willingness to take risks with new products and services and their ability to innovate and adapt quickly to change.

So when Google+ was launched last year, I was all over it. I quickly signed up and tried to get everyone I know on it and I religiously posted updates and shared news and stories daily.

Now it’s been more than a year since I signed up and I barely even use Google+ anymore. Sometimes I even forget that I have an account. A lot of this has to do with the fact that most of my friends don’t have an account, so I never end up spending a lot of time on it.

My own experience with Google+ made me wonder about how other people use it. So I created a discussion board on Quora and LinkedIn to find out if people still use it and whether they find it relevant. Here are my favourite responses:

Satyajit Sahu , Founder & CEO at Got Clues, San Francisco.

Google+ has the same problem as Microsoft on Windows 8 mobile platform. Two words: Too late. Both are going to have difficulty getting mass scale adoption, no matter how glorious their past has been.

I have both Google+ and Facebook but hardly use Google+. But it’s a huge transition to move over completely, because I already have an existing network on Facebook. Besides, I think Google+ is way too open. Anyone can refer anyone. Anyone can add you to their circle. It can be a little overwhelming to manage.

Derrik Jacobson , Chief Scientist of Systems & Development , Project Bionic, Seattle.

For me, it’s that friend that I try to stay in touch with as best that I can… but life just gets busy.
I find myself most active on Twitter because it is easier to access.  There are so many APIs that allow me to publish to my personal stream.  In comparison, Google+ feels so much more walled off and I have to make a deliberate effort to bring up the platform to format things appropriately and interact there.

Beyond that, the Google+ feed feels slow to me.  Too much long-form text and too much real estate is taken up with images when I am looking for headlines.  I’m a big advocate of HootSuite and having multiple streams feeding me the information I want without having to click between them.  Twitter has nailed this aspect of content sharing.

However, once Google+ allows individuals to publish from HootSuite and the likes, I’m sure my story will change.

Brad Cohen , Director of Strategy at JESS3, Portland.

People definitely still use it. The Hangouts are beneficial to many. Some niche communities like tech and photography are strong there, but it has declined a great deal in terms of the average user. That said, there is still benefit to be had there for many people, and you should never count Google out for continuing to support the project and look for ways to draw more people in

Michel Neray , Professional Speaker and Facilitator , The Essential Message, Toronto

I got saturated with too much social media and lost track of Google hangouts. (And I still can’t figure out Pinterest.) Social media requires critical mass in order to be useful, and that will make it difficult for any challenger. But it’s been proven again and again that there’s always the opportunity for ‘new and improved’. I am sensing a growing undercurrent of backlash against Facebook, but I don’t think Google+ will benefit because, even though it has some clever features, it’s not simple for people to use.

It’s quite interesting to see the different experiences that people have had with Google+ so far.  You can check out all theanswers that I received to this question on  the discussion boards  on Quora and LinkedIn. Feel free to chime in too! Do you use Google+ and do you think that there is a future for it?

William Ruzvidzo is a Social Media Strategist and Content Manager at 88 Creative. Find him on Twitter @william_ruz and at williamruz.com .