Social media philosopher-types, with their over-sized cargo shorts, collared whites, and thumb-thick lensed horn rims are peering deep into their $7 lattes and nonplussing over whether Google can really be serious about its Google + Project? Can they truly break free from such a horrific losing streak? Industry speculation aside, because it’s not just the froth lapping intellectuals mulling over Google’s sour social–everyone knows. It’s like the story of the “Boy who cried wolf,” only Google is crying, Social. People want to believe, but after rotten calls on Google Wave, Orkut, and Google Buzz, who can?
While Google’s “new” social media service is expected to interact similar to Facebook, this NYTimes article, Another Try by Google to Take On Facebook states the main difference is: “It is meant for sharing with groups — like colleagues, roommates or hiking friends — not with all of one’s friends or the entire Web. It also offers group text messaging and video chat.” The article also questions whether Google can really catch up to Facebook at this point. Even with considerable resources, large companies like Google have found it difficult to overtake a better engineered quarry. Remember Amazon V. Barnes & Noble? B & N never caught up.
If Google doesn’t want to be a vague memory of what social by Google could have been, they’ll put their algorithm savants back to hosing Panda stalls, and start plucking tunes around the campfire. The average social media user doesn’t care about the fancy tech tropes–they want to swish potions in the gab lab to see what their friends have been stirring up.
What do you think, will Google + Project be another stale chips outta the bag?
