When Google announced this year that it was working on a new social network, critics immediately chastised Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
Google didn’t ‘get’ social, these critics said, it
would just become another failed adventure, like Google Buzz and Wave.
Well, when Google Plus, as the new network was called,
was actually launched in June, ‘influencers’
immediately jumped at the opportunity to experiment with this brand new
website… and they loved what they saw. I’m sure you can recognize yourself in
my own experience: I saw that G+ was launched, saw who had joined and
immediately asked those I knew who were on it already, to send me an
invitation.
In little to no time, I did indeed receive my invite. So I signed up and in and gave myself a quick tour: what was this new network all about? What interesting people should I follow? How was this network going to be different from, especially, Facebook and Twitter.
I was struck immediately by the sheer quality of the posts on G+. It was truly amazing; it blew me away. Here were all the great influencers – at least those who were into Tech and Social Media. Here we all mixed with each other, debated about articles and new products, and inspired each other to become better at whatever it is we did for a living… or as a hobby.
Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, Tom Anderson and Mike Elgan were probably the people who truly helped Plus have the great start it had. Their posts were always interesting, always informative (and even inspiring). All of these individuals immediately understood what G+ was going to be all about: your interests. They were quickly joined by the best photographers in the world, who suddenly discovered that they could share their best photos with thousands (even millions) of ‘non-experts,’ who are – of course – in actuality their customers nonetheless. Especially the way in which Trey Ratcliff used G+ was the best kind of PR Google could have hoped for. He not only shared his photos, but also his ideas about photography. Before Trey knew it, he was circled by thousands of ‘amateurs’ who loved his HDR photography.
Shortly after G+ was first launched, it was reported that the new network had gained 10 million users.
10 million in less than a month. I can still remember thinking to myself,”Wow this is going to be very big indeed!”
I wasn’t disappointed. Over the next few months increasingly more people signed up until G+ now has more than 40 million users. Never before had a social network grown so fast, had so many people created accounts, and had they embraced a new service that quickly.
In short, Google was onto something with G+.
Still, there were (and are!) those who criticized Google. According to these critics, G+ would never become ‘big’ because there were no brand pages. When these pages were actually launched, they said they leaved much to be desired and would never truly be used by brands. Well, those of us who are actually on Google Plus know better: brand pages are quickly developing. They’re getting better and better, and companies are using them increasingly more. In this regard, Facebook will encounter a very serious challenge to its hegemony.
But there was more: Facebook and Twitter fans said from the get-go that G+ lacked important features. It was a ‘half finished product,’ they said, ‘what a disappointment.’
Oh my, if only these individuals had shown some patience and restraint, we could have actually taken them seriously. You see, Google never waits with launching a new service until it is ‘perfect.’ No, Page and friends strongly believe in feedback. They throw something online and then wait for feedback from users. You and I tell Google what we want, they will make it so. We saw hangouts being improved (with extras), a ‘what’s hot’ feature was added, and many more improvements were made over time.
As a result of this confidence and trust in the G+ community, Plus is now well on its way to becoming one of the most influential and biggest social networks out there.
All that is great and wonderful, of course, and we can be very happy that 2011 was the year that Google launched Plus. However, have no doubt that 2012 will be even better. If that isn’t something to look forward to, I don’t know what is.
In little to no time, I did indeed receive my invite. So I signed up and in and gave myself a quick tour: what was this new network all about? What interesting people should I follow? How was this network going to be different from, especially, Facebook and Twitter.
I was struck immediately by the sheer quality of the posts on G+. It was truly amazing; it blew me away. Here were all the great influencers – at least those who were into Tech and Social Media. Here we all mixed with each other, debated about articles and new products, and inspired each other to become better at whatever it is we did for a living… or as a hobby.
Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, Tom Anderson and Mike Elgan were probably the people who truly helped Plus have the great start it had. Their posts were always interesting, always informative (and even inspiring). All of these individuals immediately understood what G+ was going to be all about: your interests. They were quickly joined by the best photographers in the world, who suddenly discovered that they could share their best photos with thousands (even millions) of ‘non-experts,’ who are – of course – in actuality their customers nonetheless. Especially the way in which Trey Ratcliff used G+ was the best kind of PR Google could have hoped for. He not only shared his photos, but also his ideas about photography. Before Trey knew it, he was circled by thousands of ‘amateurs’ who loved his HDR photography.
Shortly after G+ was first launched, it was reported that the new network had gained 10 million users.
10 million in less than a month. I can still remember thinking to myself,”Wow this is going to be very big indeed!”
I wasn’t disappointed. Over the next few months increasingly more people signed up until G+ now has more than 40 million users. Never before had a social network grown so fast, had so many people created accounts, and had they embraced a new service that quickly.
In short, Google was onto something with G+.
Still, there were (and are!) those who criticized Google. According to these critics, G+ would never become ‘big’ because there were no brand pages. When these pages were actually launched, they said they leaved much to be desired and would never truly be used by brands. Well, those of us who are actually on Google Plus know better: brand pages are quickly developing. They’re getting better and better, and companies are using them increasingly more. In this regard, Facebook will encounter a very serious challenge to its hegemony.
But there was more: Facebook and Twitter fans said from the get-go that G+ lacked important features. It was a ‘half finished product,’ they said, ‘what a disappointment.’
Oh my, if only these individuals had shown some patience and restraint, we could have actually taken them seriously. You see, Google never waits with launching a new service until it is ‘perfect.’ No, Page and friends strongly believe in feedback. They throw something online and then wait for feedback from users. You and I tell Google what we want, they will make it so. We saw hangouts being improved (with extras), a ‘what’s hot’ feature was added, and many more improvements were made over time.
As a result of this confidence and trust in the G+ community, Plus is now well on its way to becoming one of the most influential and biggest social networks out there.
All that is great and wonderful, of course, and we can be very happy that 2011 was the year that Google launched Plus. However, have no doubt that 2012 will be even better. If that isn’t something to look forward to, I don’t know what is.
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