The Google Equation

For the past few years new ventures into the social media arena were destined only to set up camp on, and obey the laws of, the Facebook landscape. It is all but dictated that the majority of new online media ventures have, at very least some, social media integration as a prerequisite for survival. Facebook like and Twitter tweet buttons have become indispensable landmarks below every video of a talking dog and beside every article on the newest iPhone rumours, reminding us all of the behemoths that much of our online social activity is pinned to. History shows that even social platforms that seem deep-rooted in society, such as MySpace, can disappear off the map. The size of MySpace’s fall has become evident recently when News Corp sold it for $35 million after buying it for $580 million in 2005; at its peak in 2007 MySpace was valued at $12 billion. Further from this, over the months of May and June 2011 Facebook itself has seen a decline in user growth and even a decline in current users in some parts of the world, notably the U.S. and U.K. Is this the start of Facebook’s fall from grace? It seems unlikely given the level of Facebook integration across the web and our lives, it is more likely that the Facebook market is reaching saturation point. The drop in numbers may also be related to the newest chapter of the Facebook privacy saga i.e. facial recognition tagging and the continued privacy problems. It is this blip in Facebook’s domination that has made Google’s foray into the social media world with Google+ all the more timely.

Google have been working on an entry into the social media race that can rival Facebook for some time. The journey to their goal has already been derailed on a couple of occasions with earlier efforts, Wave and Buzz, both being non-starters; one flew under the radar of seemingly everyone whilst the other had serious privacy issues. Google+, originally thought to be called ‘Google Me’, has been delayed several times but finally debuted a year or so late when it rolled out to a limited field test on June 28th this year. Google’s answer to Facebook is nothing less than ambitious given the weight Facebook has in the social media arena. Many have aimed to replicate, or even surpass, Facebook to no avail, however, none have had the power, resources or audience that Google possesses. This means Google aren’t starting from square one, or two, or even 10, meaning Google+ has a serious running start. Facebook had to work for years before its social network was the first page millions of its users saw each day, Google+ can boast this from day one and therefore has a genuine chance to rival Facebook.

On the design side of things Google+ slips in seamlessly with the rest of Google; it tows the line of the tried and trusted Google design. In terms of structure Google hasn’t had to make significant overhauls to any areas as, cleverly, Google+ essentially turns the search engine and all of its features into one giant social network. Predictably there are some features which are similar to those found on Facebook; Google+ Stream is essentially the same concept as the Facebook News Feed and of course there is a Photos service and user Profiles as well. However, there are unique features too, such as Google+ Sparks which is basically a recommendation engine that over the next few months could add serious weight to the Google +1 buttons that are flooding the web.

During the initial release Google+ was in a ‘limited field test’ meaning only selected people could access and use it, the first access to Google+ for the public came via invite only in order to keep numbers down and not overwhelm the systems. Although the more cynical amongst us probably see this invite limitation as a ploy to ramp up interest via word of mouth; ‘you want what you cannot have’. This clearly worked as, after just a few hours, Google closed off invites after demand which Google called “insanely high”. Since then, despite still being restricted, Google+ has amassed over 10 million members in just two weeks; not only have people been clamouring for invites and signing up but they’ve been engaging too with Google claiming about a billion items are being shared each day through their service.

Given their enormous size and huge success online one might ask why Google need to step on Facebook’s toes. One thought as to why Google have moved into the social media arena is that they are fishing for more specific details on people, their lives, and their relationships. The reason for doing so is to collect social data to aid more specific ad targeting and consequently entice much of the advertising revenue currently spent on Facebook. The pressure to do this may well have come in the form of Microsoft’s deal with Facebook to offer tailored results on their search engine Bing based upon user’s Facebook interests.

Despite the peculiarly awkward to search for name (is it Plus or +?) the introduction phase of Google+ has been almost flawless. Google+’s best chance to succeed in the long run is to offer something different to Facebook, perhaps based around people’s use of Google Applications and chances are that is precisely what Google’s strategy is. Facebook is often described as an online ‘hangout’ where users go to browse photos or their news feed and generally don’t have any specific objectives for their visit. On the other hand users visiting Google nearly always have a specific objective be it searching for a local restaurant or sending an email. This is significant; it is the fundamental difference that will define who uses each service as well as how and why they use it. The launch of Google+ may not be the first step but it is certainly a large stride towards the ‘socialisation’ of the web.