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Not going to lie, this a prevailing view of many 'common folk ' (particularly college aged stu...


G+_Demian Dellinger
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Brian Barcus I've done this recently and without a gmail contacts for it to scan and guess who you know and may want to interact with or any other social or web surfing cues it's a lot of what's hot and memes and gifs. So it's hard to really know what a person's first experience would be with some actual personal data/context.

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Frankly the whole "Anyone can email your gmail from Google plus without knowing your address " thing is not going to help bring more in. People are all about personal privacy in this day and age. the idea that any spammer can now fill your inbox with messages because they found your Google + profile is not going to help get more users to sign up

 

Add in the fact that communities come off as "fanboy" battlegrounds a good portion of the time and Google trying to tie every feature to G+ (see youtube comments) things are not likely to improve

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I'm well aware of those settlngs and have already used them, but we are talking the general public, you know the unknowing masses who see mainstream news media report

 

"and in Tech news, Google has just made it so that anyone with a Google plus account can send email without needing your address, story at 11"

 

and go Holy *^#^ , well if I was thinking about signing up, I'm not going to now!

 

leading to just what I said, no growth of new users due to privacy concerns

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The absence of purpose is what hurts Google+ most. LinkedIn is for careers, Facebook for friends and family, Twitter for following celebrities/news. Google+? To fulfill Google's corporate objectives...? A gathering place for Google fans?

 

Very few of the people I know in real life are on here. Most are too busy to care about discovering new people to discuss interests with. Even as far as those interests go, I'd say G+ skews heavily towards Google/Android fandom, tech, and a smattering of politics, photography and warmed-over memes. Plus, it's over 70% male. The exact opposite demographic of Pinterest. 

 

Google refuses to embrace the fact that G+ became a a niche network for niche interests. Don't believe those "active" user numbers. Compare the share stats on any article across networks. 

 

Point is, unless G+ can answer the "why?" question, most people won't care. Unfortunately, Google's best answer thus far has been, "because you have to". That's like making someone kiss you at gunpoint. There are things they can do, but this is the wrong way to go about a "social" network.

 

PS - Yes, UI/UX complexity is a serious issue, but more people would make the effort if they had a clear reason to bother.  

 

PPS - Google+ designers don't even understand their own social nework. See here: https://plus.google.com/+SteveFaktor/posts/bJgAXKV3yqN

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I just posted a note on FB about the Gmail settings change and the need to get into G+ for personalized profile URLs. No one touched it, despite my earlier generic family post getting tons of like and comments.

I'm pretty sure, at this point kids aren't really using FB except to pacify their parents and other technologically slow humans. I look at the networks as tools and G+ is my photographer networking tool. Facebook is for family and Instagram reposting.

G+, FB, Twitter, etc are all bloated and confusing for people like my dad, and he's demographically representative of more than 50% of the USA.

Four years from now all these networks will be junked up like myspace. The only reason FB lasted as long as it has was a cool factor from being exclusive, though that has all but vanished now.

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James Heuer I think some of the way early adopters refer to new users of an application have a lot to do with those new users staying away. I have a few friends who abandoned G+ because they don't want to deal with the self appointed technical elite who don't know how to talk without being rude.

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James Heuer new users and growing the user base are kind of the point to this conversation.

 

My reply was to the following comment you made.

 

" 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. ?"

 

When the "common folk" show up they are going to be the new users. If I am reading what you said incorrectly please explain it to me. Thanks.

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I hear what you are saying and I think we are in agreement.  I am just concerned about folks worrying about ratings or numbers.  They are missing the fact that G+ is a useful forum for mostly adults and professionals who have things to say and discuss.  My kids made Facebook and other social medium, cool.  I do not want G+ to be anything like those other products.  New comers will show up, some will join and others will leave....

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