5 Reasons Google+ Shouldn’t Overtake Facebook

The introduction of Google+ was a form of social media experiment by Google, but it is looking unlikely to become more than that and to be the death of Facebook. Here are five reasons why this is:

1. Usability

A massive problem that Google will face is that we all know how to use our current social media tools. People tend to be against having to adapt to changes, a point that was demonstrated clearly when Facebook made a big change to their layout, in turn prompting over 1.5 million protests and even more complaints from its users.

Many people will be unhappy to have to learn a completely new layout and how to communicate on a new social media site, where they can already do all these things on Facebook. While Google+ has a similar overall layout to Facebook, the subtle differences that exist are likely to cause challenges for users. When taking into consideration a user’s general attention span of five seconds, you can see where the problems lie.

2. “+1” Versus “Like”

People recognise the term “like” when it comes to showing support for something, as it is a word we have used all our lives. The concept of “+1” as a show of support is always going to be less relevant to users than the word “like”. This is a valid point against Google when it comes to users’ emotional attachment to it.

3. Purpose

It is not difficult to understand why Google have introduced Google+1, due to the fact that if the site became even half as successful as Facebook, the information they would collect and how that could affect them in terms of drawing advertising in their direction more precisely, would be amazing.

However, while we might try and have a play around with Google+, if our friends and families do not adopt it, it is very unlikely we will continue actively using it ourselves. The biggest issue is that Facebook is not a bad site at all, and it has virtually everyone we know signed up to it. With this in mind, why would people leave it and try another site if there wasn’t a problem to start with? In terms of using both sites, it is rather unappealing to have to spend double the time updating statuses, tagging photos etc.

4. Usefulness

Google+ has some very good features.  An example of one is Circles. Google created Circles to allow the simple filtering of messages by grouping up friends, and the easy sharing of images, status updates, etc. to and from these same groups.

The problem is, however, while this may appeal to some, and we may be happy to create a new account and work out how to play with it etc., many people are happy with just one level of sharing, and would rather not have to bother with adopting another medium for communicating.

5. Convenience

Using Google + can seem inconvenient, as the biggest problem the organisation is facing is that they are fighting a battle from behind.  Many people will already be using Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc., so why would they want to have to introduce another social media site into their already busy lives?

While some people may try out the site at first, once they realise that most of their friends haven’t also moved over, they are likely to move back to their original one where all their friends and contacts already are. This is likely to be Facebook.

Google+ will probably be ok due to the fact that the team will probably adapt the site and focus on it more against LinkedIn than Facebook. This is more likely to be a successful battle. It is not however set to kill Facebook, as it does not yet solve any big problems for the majority of people.

If you would like some information on how to maximise the effectiveness of your social presence, then why not give us a call and have a discussion with one of our digital strategists.