A lot of talk is going on about the future of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook in relation to Google+? Will it go the direction of Myspace and eventually just appeal to a certain niche demographic the way Myspace is mostly used as music websites for independent artists. Most new unsigned bands dont even make a website anymore…….they simply register a domain name thats forwarded to their myspace pages.
The answer is NO…..in fact it seems the new social networking Google+ site will go straight towards the niche market and skip any time in the forefront. The reason being is that Google+ doesn’t fill any specific need/ The highlight of Googe+ is that you get to specialize what you are sharing by utilizing what it calls Circles but this specialty isnt enough to cross people over to it.
YouTube specializes in video but the kicker is that (im assuming) it gets its most usage through outside social networking sites or through its own searches and NOT through subscribed channels. Most people create channels to hold their own favorite videos and uploads, but they dont really subscribe to other peoples channels. How many friends or subscribers do you have on your YouTube account….i can bet its a small number. The truth is, if i want to know what videos someone is watching or into…..i friend them on Facebook. And THAT is the reason why Facebook will last in the long run and competition from Google+ will faulter in time.
Twitter specializes in short status updates and despite the use of links, it has not tried to go beyond that. Twitter is great for knowing what celebrities are thinking….everybody wants a statement from everybody else and thats why twitter succeeds……its just that….a statement. Twitter isnt trying to get Facebook users to come over to its side. It doesnt do photos, it doesnt do profiles that much…..just statuses. I know many, myself includes who integrate their Twitter status into their Facebook statuses. That integration is key to its success. So in the end, if you care what someone thinks, you follow their tweets, and if you want to know more about them and their life, you friend them on Facebook. Where does Google+ factor into this? Maybe EVENTUALLY if i want to do a video chat with a group of people i could do a hangout, but this makes google+ premature as right now you can only do a hangout from within google+ and only on a desktop…..so right now hangouts linger in the Apple’s Facetime world……only beneficial to use with someone who also happens to be on a wifi network….which limits it to the point of being non useful….but looks great in theory and maybe someday we will get there…….maybe when our signals are at 6G lol.
So in the end, if i want to know your thoughts on twitter, ill friend you on facebook
if i want to know what videos you watch on youtube, ill friend you on facebook
if i want to know what you are reading in blogs like reddit and wordpress, ill friend you on facebook
if i want to know what photos you posted on flickr, ill friend you on facebook
you get the idea
Although Facebook tries to get you to take part in their individual services, and succeeds in a general way…..what makes it successful is that its a portal….a meeting place of all the other successful sites out there.
And Google+ will fail because it is trying to get people to switch when they have no reason to switch unless Facebook starts charging or becomes over the top with advertising ads. In the end, people don’t really care all THAT much about the privacy issue or they would’ve never joined a site like Facebook posting pictures of their children in the first place.
What Facebook is not….its not a place to post videos, although it tries….that’s YouTube. Its not a place to blog, although it tries….that’s WordPress. Its not a place to put thoughts, although it tries and succeeds at this more than any of the other attempts at things but ultimately…that’s Twitter. Its not a place to watch tv….that’s Netflix. Its not a place to hear music….that’s myspace.
Its a living room and we have no reason to switch to another living room and start all over