G+_Demian Dellinger Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Not going to lie, this a prevailing view of many 'common folk' (particularly college aged students) I talk to not on Google Plus. Many I talk to who don't use Google plus are very put off by the incessant requests to join. I think Google Plus suffers from a reluctance to frankly discuss many of its extreme and crippling weakness when it comes to new user adoption. I'm curious as to what others' anecdotal conversations reveal about the 'brand perception' of Google Plus beyond the standard "no one/my friends aren't there" that is also very common. I'm not interested interested in "well I love it blah, blah," "Facebook sucks blah, blah," "Well Google plus meets all my needs, blah blah." I'm interested in hearing about the perception of others and barriers to entry and use that you hear. Google #googleplus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Brian Barcus Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Talking to a friend who recently joined G+ for the hangouts, his initial reaction was that G+ is confusing. I suspect the multiple scrollbars (page, post, comments) and the non-obvious menu dropdown left him wondering how to use the page. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jorgie Llanos (Jorgie82 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Lol, love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Steve Swann Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Ive never tried G+ on a computer but it's easy as can be on Android. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Demian Dellinger Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Brian Barcus that's really interesting. I won't what platform (mobile or desktop) has the higher "rejection" rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Keith Wilson Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Many people have certain expectations coming from how they have interacted on Facebook in the past. Dealing with a different interface and organizing people into circles can confuse newbies. There's also the notion of "but my friends aren't here" that serves as a barrier for some. The idea of interacting with people they don't know frightens them, yet another legacy of Facebook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_James Heuer Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Not having the "common folk" around is part of why I love Google plus actually. Not that there aren't obnoxious idiots on it too but fewer by far. If anything I think most people who get put off by it just resist change. Moving social networks for most people is a daunting thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Demian Dellinger Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Keith Wilson I think a fear of interacting with people you don't know is a pretty common human state, which is obviously what facebook didn't suffer from early on. Almost by definition a social network is comprised of people you know (or have gotten to know). It's the getting to know that takes time and investment. I think many people are a little burned out on social media and learning something new as you said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Colin Jones (Ponder - F Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Rob Manuel of b3ta is of this opinion too, which actually surprises me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Brian Barcus Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Jason Edwards Your description raises an interesting point about G+. There is enough fine grained control over who you interact with that it can look like a narrow group of people. I had to make a point of finding people to circle and joining into conversations to broaden the type of things I see in my stream. With that little bit of work I see a wide variety of discussions, Google fans are more common that Google haters (I suspect Facebook haters are uncommon on Facebook) but I rarely see posts that are just about Google vs. X anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Demian Dellinger Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 James Heuer LOL James that's a funny point because it is the weird contradiction that exists sometimes, Facebook envy (over numbers and actual usage) but then not really wanting all 'those' people here. And Jason Edwards why did you get on G+ initially? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jan Scott Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I use fb and g+ in different ways. Fb is for friends but g+ I use for interests and news. Esp tech stuff. But I don't know others who use g+. But it's not fear more they use what others are on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Demian Dellinger Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Brian Barcus and Jason Edwards to me it's odd to see a social network whose main topics of discussion are itself. You don't see this on Facebook and Twitter. It is pretty hard to get away from discussions of tech and android and Google proselytization. Most people don't care about such things in the least nor do their friends. (I mean I'm here because I like those things, obviously). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Keith Wilson Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I've found my interactions on Facebook to be highly annoying, to put it politely. I have about 70 "friends" there and they are a combination of people I knew in high school or college or they're former coworkers. Over the course of several years I've discovered that they never talk about anything meaningful and many of them are racists. For some I can't believe we were actually friends in high school or college or in the workplace because of their racist views. I've had far better interactions with the "total strangers" I've come to know through G+ and over 7000 "strangers" have circled me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_James Heuer Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Jan Scott That's exactly why I use G+ myself and am glad the masses aren't here. I log on and almost always see something that interests me. On FB I would log on and scroll through a bunch of crap that I couldn't care less about.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Demian Dellinger Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Jan Scott Do you ever ask people 'why' they don't use it or are you just content that they stay where they are? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Bob Marshall Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Lol see my first post on G+ back in July 2011, I said it's like FB but without all my racist ex school friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Justin M Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I use FB for family only and if they would switch to G+, I would never login to FB again. G+ and LinkedIn are where I spend most of my online social time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Brian Barcus Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Demian Dellinger Is talk about G+ really all that common still? This is the first time I've seen this topic in several weeks, which is why I commented. Early on most of the G+ discussions seemed to be about G+ but those have become rare in my stream. Communities were the turning point in quality for me. As an Ingress player there was a time when that became 90% of what I saw. I changed the conversations I replied to and uncircled lots of other Ingress players I don't know personally and who only talked about the game. G+ adjusted to my changing behaviour and my stream is now rebalanced. That flexibility is welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Greg M Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I have been using Google+ since it was released on my desktop computer and I know recently I have used it less. I used to have Google+ opened as a separate tab all day long. These days I open the tab scan for new posts and then close the tab. I have become frustrated with Google+ and its operation on the desktop here. Its algorithm for sorting posts seem to be haphazard at best. I have lost count on how many times Google+ shoved new unseen posts way down past older non updated posts. Numerous requests for help from Google and feedback via the built in feedback did not help. A couple of friends on here have stopped posting altogether. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Keith Wilson Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 I have noticed one thing that is fairly consistent with the tech writers who have been on the "G+ is a ghost town" bandwagon. None had more than 100 people in their circles or who had circled them. I remember one tech writer who only had 30 people who had circled him when he made such a proclamation. Of course you're not going to get any interaction with 30 people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_James Heuer Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Mattias Winbladh The never ending game join requests where the worst. Farmville etc. are the most annoying "games" ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Jason Stuart Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 Most people I work with don't even know what google + is. People are just stuck on FB I think and too lazy to migrate. Also Google+ isn't that catchy of a title for a social network. Kinda like Bing. Lame name.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_vita wright Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 The privacy factor is a big plus for me. I hate the non privacy of Facebook and I post very little there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G+_Demian Dellinger Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Brian Barcus I was meaning G+, Android, and Google-realted topics in aggregate. I curious as to how common/overwhelmingly they appear for people who just show up new with no tweaking done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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