Google+ doesn’t encourage dialog

Since the launching of Google+ it has remained kind of a mystery if people use it or not. Some reports (usually Google’s reports) have claimed that there are a lot of users on Google+, but where are all those users? How do we interact with people on Google+? Who are the users?

On June 7th we got new statistics in an infographic by GoGulf. Very interesting statistics! As expected Pinterest showed great result with 11.7 millions of users – which is amazingly good for a newcomer. Number one is of course Facebook with 901 millions of users, second comes Twitter with 555 millions, the third is Google+ with 170 millions, the fourth is Linkedin with 150 millions and number five is this Pinterest with ”only” 11.7 millions – so, what is so special about that?

Well, it’s one thing to register an account and another thing to actually use it. It’s no surprise that Facebook got 7012.9 millions visitors per month, but it’s a bit scary to see that Google+ only gets 61 million visitors per month and then comes the real surprise with Pinterest: 104.4 million visitors per month. Hey, Pinterest must be doing somethings right, that Google+ has missed?

Let’s take a look at the average time a visitor spends on these social media. Facebook gets 405 minutes per month. Google+ gets only 3 minutes per month – yes, that’s correct, only 3 minutes! So, what about Pinterest? Hold your breath, here it comes: 405 minutes per month! People spend as much time on Pinterest as they do on Facebook! That is very interesting. Why?

I have been very suspicious about Pinterest. I couldn’t figure out how to use it or why I would want to use it. Then I just started to use it last weekend. And somehow it caught my interest. It didn’t take long until I got response on two of my pictures, which made it more fun. One week later I notice that I somehow spends time arranging my pics on Pinterest and that takes some time. I also spend time browsing pics.

Now I also see a reason to use Pinterest. It adds another, visual dimension of my personal brand. It shows what kind of pictures that interest me and that is a visual way to tell the story about me. And it’s fun and maybe a bit relaxing too?

What do I do on Google+? I feel sorry for Google+. When I was a kid I tried to play with all my toys, one at a time, because I didn’t want any toy to get sad. It’s like that with me and Google+ – I don’t want Google+ to get sad, so I visit Google+ with a sense of responsibility. I go there and scroll down the news line and I don’t really find much of interest there. It’s about the same news as I already get from Twitter or Facebook. I don’t see much of interaction between the Google users either.

I thought it was because I chose to write in English on Google+ – I’m Swedish, so most of my network is Swedish too. But I thought that I needed to do something different on Google+ to make it something more than just a copy of what I publish on Facebook. So, my plan was to write in English and also try to get more international persons in my circles. I thought it was a good thing that I could follow strangers, like I do on Twitter.

Now I realize that I’m not that much different from others. They have also chose to follow strangers on Twitter. My experience is that the only one’s that get some activity in commenting on their posts are well known persons like journalists or other VIP’s. So, a lot of people that doesn’t know each other, go there and comment, this VIP doesn’t comment so much back and it gets rather boring. We don’t get the feeling of interaction, the dialog never starts.

You can’t build networks with total strangers. You need to start with some kind of core group and then expand. The more people you know, the easier it gets to add a new connection. And communication is what a relation is built upon. Communication is a two-way action. I have my core group on Facebook. I can’t migrate that group to Google+. And why should I tell anyone to start an account on Google+ when it’s so boring?

So, how did it all go so wrong? I think that to start with Google’s reason to start up Google+ as a ”Facebook killer”was wrong. That is the thinking of a copycat and a copycat lacks in depth of understanding the needs that leeds to a new idea. Google+ didn’t really have an idea. Secondly, the idea to be able to add strangers to your circles (a bit like you add the people you follow in Twitter) probably seemed like a good idea in order to get people to get a lot of connections fast – but it also means that it encourages people to add strangers, which means: add people that you don’t really interact with. That works on Twitter, but it doesn’t work on Google+ because you expect more interactivity and dialog from Google+.

3 minutes per month – that’s the result you got poor Google+. I’m so sorry, but I can’t really see how you should be able to change that? Though, I might be wrong…