Google Plus: current features, speculation on future features, missed opportunities, competitors, hacks, other resources.

1. sharespot.
July 19, 2011

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Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information.
They believe information on the web
is increasingly organized around people.
Thus was born Google+

3. +You Intro Features Future Competitors Resources threespot
Google+ launched on June 28 in closed beta.
2 weeks later: 10 million users + 1 billion items shared
Distinguishing characteristics:
• Pervasive notification system
• Required to sort people into circles
• Granular sharing & viewing options
• Real names only
• Non-members receive content via email
• Could be integrated with other google properties in the future

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Circles
• Drag & drop (+ animations)
• One way relationships
• Sorted by “relevance” (v Katango)
• Limited to 5,000 people
• Names of circles are private
• Problems: maintenance, recall, lack of nesting

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Stream
• See entire stream, or narrow by circle
• You can +1, Comment, or Share
• Shares, Hangouts, check-ins show up
• Mute posts to delete from stream
• Integrated G-chat
• Problems:
• new comments push posts up
• no nested comments

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Share what’s new...
• Embed photo, video, link, location
• Choose circle(s) to share with
• Add a “+” or “@” to mention someone
• You can edit posts after publishing
• You can disable comments & shares
• Problems:
• No native “save draft” option
• Limited formatting features
• No support for hashtags

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Hangouts
• Video chat with up to 10 people
• Speaker highlighted at center
• Watch YouTube videos together
• Embedded chat
• Google translate for text chat
• Invitations can come via stream,
notification, IM
• Can’t kick anyone out of a hangout

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Sparks
“It’s focused on getting stuff that’s fresh and social and fun.
We’ve tried to tune parameters to get something that’s
engaging,” says Andrew Tomkins, Google+ search engineer.

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Photos
• Lightbox photo viewing
• Unlimited Picasa storage
• Edit photos (6 filters, crop & rotate)
• Tag people in photos
• Instant upload from mobile, or drag & drop desktop
• Problems: can’t (natively) sync to other services

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Profile
• Google Profile is public
• Posts are separate tab from stream
• +1s & Buzz
• Links to other profiles are easy
• YouTube doesn’t integrate videos

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Search Engine Optimization
• +1s impact search
• +1 buttons integrate with Google Analytics
• Your +1s are a feature of your Profile
• +1s impact Sparks

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Take Out
Your Google+ data is portable to other networks

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Pervasive Notifications
Google+ notifications appear in the “Google Bar” while viewing
Google, Gmail, Reader, Docs, Maps, etc.

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Mobile
• Android only app
• Check-in from Google Places
• “Nearby” circle
• Huddles = group chat

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Google+ (currently) lacks
• Users (even if all Gmail users convert, only 200m)
• Females (~70% male)
• Search (non-people oriented)
• WYSIWYG drafting
• “+” doesn’t play well online
• Google apps integration
• API
• Verified accounts
• Brands
• Weighted circles
• Bookmarking feature
• Events
• Clear user understanding of privacy

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Upcoming Google+ features found in the code
Games (Google has already invested $100m+ in Zynga, acquired Slide)
Questions
Shared Circles

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What’s the future for...?

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Who are likely competitors?
Facebook
Twitter
Yammer
Skype
GroupMe

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Differences in UI
less clutter (for now) more time spent outside the stream

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Facebook Google+ Twitter

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Hacks
Search: http://gplussearch.com/
Vanity URL: http://gplus.to/username
Facebook Circles: http://www.circlehack.com
Stats: http://socialstatistics.com/
Chrome extensions
• GoogleMINUS
• Facebook inside Google+
• Gmail notifications in the Google bar

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7 great articles
http://kevnull.com/2011/07/can-we-ever-digitally-organize-our-friends.html
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/getty_images_says_google_plus_terms_of_service_is_ok.php
http://gizmodo.com/5821335/so-what-the-hell-are-we-supposed-to-put-on-google%252B
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/ad-free-google-plus-50/
http://www.slideshare.net/padday/the-real-life-social-network-v2
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-social/all/1
http://www.bryaneisenberg.com/2011/07/google-plus-facebook-knock-off-or-something-else/

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Provocative Questions
• Can Google+ scale quicker than Facebook can copy features?
• Is the average user willing to use & maintain circles?
• Which Google products will be integrated with Google+?
• Will granular sharing suppress viral content?
• Can Google surface the content I want to see in my stream?
• Can Google+ empower 3rd party developers & become a platform?

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Discussion