Google is no stranger to the social media scene. After two failed attempts with Google Wave and Buzz, it’s hoping that their third service, Google Plus, will finally be a smashing success. After playing around with it for awhile, I’d have to say this is their best, socially-integrated service yet.
The one thing that will likely determine their success isn’t even on Google Plus. Instead, it’s their notifications feature and how it’s cleverly linked to all the Google Products (a.k.a. gmail, Google Reader, Google Voice, Google Docs, etc.). It doesn’t seem like much, but that red box with the number of new notifications instantly draws your attention. It’s a simple feature, but it will likely make or break if people continue to post and hang out there.
That being said, the seamless integration of Google Plus into the rest of the Google suite of products isn’t going to be enough to get the critical mass of people on board and using the service frequently. It’s going to take a lot of work to get people, who are already so entrenched on Facebook, Twitter, and whatever sites they are on daily, to come over to Google Plus and start posting and engaging with content.
Here’s some things that Google will likely need to do to make Google Plus a success and not their third failure.
1. Continue to capitalize and build out their seemless integration with Google Products
One of the reasons why Facebook is so successful is that it’s so integrated with the rest of the Web. Through Facebook Connect and a host of apps, features and millions of facebook users, they have the able to keep people’s attention and stay relevant.
Google being first and foremost a “search company” has the ability to take seamless integration on the web to the next level with Google Plus. For example, wouldn’t it be great if you could search a topic on Google and instantly be able to talk with everyone else in your Google Plus network, who has ever mentioned this topic too?
2. Maintain a mobile first mindset
Facebook’s Achilles heel is mobile. For all the amazing things that Facebook rolls out, the one glaring weakness is mobile. If Google Plus can be mobile first and continually create new innovations and add to the mobile UI experience, then they may have a chance to establish themselves.
3. Build out Google Hangout
As it is right now, Google Hangout, which is the video chat platform in Google Plus, is cool. But, it has the potential to be spectacular if Google builds out its features. While it’s still in testing, there are a lot of kinks, such as the inability to consistently share Youtube videos. Make the platform easy to use and smoother, it has the potential to be a Skype killer.
Conclusion:
That being said, Google Plus is still way too new to make any solid predictions. It can have the best features in the world, but it’s just a tool. Tools don’t make social media, people do.
