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Google Me - Google's full social network - coming soon?
- Thread starter 0dev
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If it's real, I don't think it will catch on.
Facebook targeted the market that MySpace and Bebo couldn't reach...the university crowd and adults. Now that it's also brought in the market that MySpace and Bebo did target, it covers all the bases.
For this Google thing to kick off, they'll have to poach current Facebook users, rather than pick up the un-tapped market, like Facebook did when it first came in.
I can't see many people bothering to set up a new account, on a new system, when all their friends, videos, photos etc are already on Facebook.
The only leverage I can see Google having is exploiting all the media crap about FB's privacy settings... but IMO if you don't take the time to hide your profile effectively that's your fault. The settings are there, you just have to select them.
Facebook targeted the market that MySpace and Bebo couldn't reach...the university crowd and adults. Now that it's also brought in the market that MySpace and Bebo did target, it covers all the bases.
For this Google thing to kick off, they'll have to poach current Facebook users, rather than pick up the un-tapped market, like Facebook did when it first came in.
I can't see many people bothering to set up a new account, on a new system, when all their friends, videos, photos etc are already on Facebook.
The only leverage I can see Google having is exploiting all the media crap about FB's privacy settings... but IMO if you don't take the time to hide your profile effectively that's your fault. The settings are there, you just have to select them.
I think it could work. Social networking sites are either in fashion or out as I see it. Facebook's in that the moment, but if this becomes the new fashion, people will move from it the same way they moved from Bebo and MySpace before.
Google already has a head start because... Well, it's Google, they have a well known brand and a massive audience.
Not to mention, of course, that if your friends all move to it, you'll have no choice but to follow suit. As is the nature of social networking.
The key is to make a site good enough to keep people using it, not just try it once then go back to Facebook.
Google already has a head start because... Well, it's Google, they have a well known brand and a massive audience.
Not to mention, of course, that if your friends all move to it, you'll have no choice but to follow suit. As is the nature of social networking.
The key is to make a site good enough to keep people using it, not just try it once then go back to Facebook.
But you see the main point of my first post was that initially people didn't move from Myspace or Bebo to Facebook. Facebook picked up the people who had no social networking site to be a part of. It was only once Facebook started to grow that people began moving from Myspace and Bebo....but initially Facebook got it's growth and buzz from a completely untapped market..university students and young-adults.
Google is in a much trickier situation, there is no untapped market for them to start off with. There is no (substantially large) group of people for them to target and pull in to build the buzz of their new site. They have to rely on enticing users from other sites, which won't be easy.
I can see this appealing to middle aged business men and women, who want something more serious than Facebook...but I think as it's Google it'll appear way too corporate for younger users.
Google is in a much trickier situation, there is no untapped market for them to start off with. There is no (substantially large) group of people for them to target and pull in to build the buzz of their new site. They have to rely on enticing users from other sites, which won't be easy.
I can see this appealing to middle aged business men and women, who want something more serious than Facebook...but I think as it's Google it'll appear way too corporate for younger users.
As with all fashions, the old thing working fine won't stop the new thing from taking over.
Google is actually seen as a rather cool brand. I remember talking to my teenage peers (15-16) about the "Google phone" (Nexus One) and the reaction I got was pretty much "I didn't know Google made a phone, that sounds sick [cool], I might get that" - and as this was before they'd even seen the phone, I believe it shows that Google does have a fashionable reputation with the younger audience.
Which is good, because that's the audience that's most likely to follow new fashions.
Not to mention that Google is a site millions upon millions of people use every day. To make Chrome grow extremely fast, all they needed to do was advertise it on the homepage.
IMO, the problem isn't getting people to join, but making a site good enough to keep people using it instead of Facebook.
Think of it like the iPhone - it wasen't the first phone, people had other choices. But they chose it because it was a good phone, and it was cool.
Same could easily happen here if Google pulls this off properly.
Google is actually seen as a rather cool brand. I remember talking to my teenage peers (15-16) about the "Google phone" (Nexus One) and the reaction I got was pretty much "I didn't know Google made a phone, that sounds sick [cool], I might get that" - and as this was before they'd even seen the phone, I believe it shows that Google does have a fashionable reputation with the younger audience.
Which is good, because that's the audience that's most likely to follow new fashions.
Not to mention that Google is a site millions upon millions of people use every day. To make Chrome grow extremely fast, all they needed to do was advertise it on the homepage.
IMO, the problem isn't getting people to join, but making a site good enough to keep people using it instead of Facebook.
Think of it like the iPhone - it wasen't the first phone, people had other choices. But they chose it because it was a good phone, and it was cool.
Same could easily happen here if Google pulls this off properly.
Hmm, what about Orkut? If this is true Google would have two social networking sites? What's the sense in that?
Great
Great. Another social networking site to worry about.
Why does google feel the need to enter this market? Can they do something facebook can't do? Maybe they will get a crazy new version of farmville?
Great. Another social networking site to worry about.
Why does google feel the need to enter this market? Can they do something facebook can't do? Maybe they will get a crazy new version of farmville?
Buzz, Wave, Me... this too will fail. This will fail for three reasons:
1. Google will likely mandate you have a GMail account to use it. The power of networks like Twitter is that all you have to do is go sign up for the service itself. As was the case with Buzz and Wave, in order to use this service, you have to have two accounts - even if you already have email elsewhere.
2. Google will keep using the name "Google Me" because they think it's more important to have the "Google" name or brand (which is pretty ugly) attached to every little corporate fart they let than to let the product blossom on it's own. If they would brand it differently, give it a proper name (Me is just stupid and cliché) and market it as a service in it's own right, then people would see it as a service in itself, not another Google thing. This is a point of irritation to me anyway... companies foolishly think that a successful brand or logo blesses anything it associate with with success, and that's not the case.
3. Google will also probably set it up with a domain like this: Google.com/me or me.google.com. That is too long. Twitter and Facebook are single dot-com names. If Google would go buy me.com outright, then it may do better. You Google a word, Google a friend, Google a phone number or address. You Tweet your friends, Tweet your breakfast, Tweet your whatevs. You Friend an acquaintance on Facebook, You become a Fan of a rock group Facebook. People will never say "Let's Google Me sometime!" or "I'll Google Me you to let you know." Heck, even if they just used Me itself, that wouldn't work.
Google is becoming like Microsoft, in that they want to join and dominate a market solely for the purpose of dominating a market. There is little to no money to be in Social Networking. Twitter, popular as it is, is still running on funding. They're good at search, and search-based metrics (adwords, analytics). Stick to that. Not to mention, Twitter and Facebook have a more preppy, youthful air. Google, being more business-centric, is seeming more stodgy and corporate the more time goes by. Millions of people joined Twitter and/or Facebook because it's cool to use them, if nothing else. Google, due to their very industry, doesn't have this ability.
m2c.
1. Google will likely mandate you have a GMail account to use it. The power of networks like Twitter is that all you have to do is go sign up for the service itself. As was the case with Buzz and Wave, in order to use this service, you have to have two accounts - even if you already have email elsewhere.
2. Google will keep using the name "Google Me" because they think it's more important to have the "Google" name or brand (which is pretty ugly) attached to every little corporate fart they let than to let the product blossom on it's own. If they would brand it differently, give it a proper name (Me is just stupid and cliché) and market it as a service in it's own right, then people would see it as a service in itself, not another Google thing. This is a point of irritation to me anyway... companies foolishly think that a successful brand or logo blesses anything it associate with with success, and that's not the case.
3. Google will also probably set it up with a domain like this: Google.com/me or me.google.com. That is too long. Twitter and Facebook are single dot-com names. If Google would go buy me.com outright, then it may do better. You Google a word, Google a friend, Google a phone number or address. You Tweet your friends, Tweet your breakfast, Tweet your whatevs. You Friend an acquaintance on Facebook, You become a Fan of a rock group Facebook. People will never say "Let's Google Me sometime!" or "I'll Google Me you to let you know." Heck, even if they just used Me itself, that wouldn't work.
Google is becoming like Microsoft, in that they want to join and dominate a market solely for the purpose of dominating a market. There is little to no money to be in Social Networking. Twitter, popular as it is, is still running on funding. They're good at search, and search-based metrics (adwords, analytics). Stick to that. Not to mention, Twitter and Facebook have a more preppy, youthful air. Google, being more business-centric, is seeming more stodgy and corporate the more time goes by. Millions of people joined Twitter and/or Facebook because it's cool to use them, if nothing else. Google, due to their very industry, doesn't have this ability.
m2c.
well, googleme.com isn't being used for anything yet.
I dunno about the rest, though. People will make up nicknames to use as colloquy like that. For example, no one says "I'm gonna BlackBerry Messenger you", but they do instead say "I'm gonna PIN you", because of course you need a BlackBerry's unique PIN to add it on BBM. If they had a quirky little word like that somewhere in the service, it'd get used.
I do agree that the way Google throws a lot out there and sees what works is unconventional, but I like it myself. It's allowing creativity - that's not common for such a massive company. They operate a lot like a startup in that aspect.
Then again, I've already Googled myself. The fact that Google blank is already in the dictionary, it would make it confusing for many people as to what the service actually does. If I saw GoogleMe.com, I'd assume - based on nothing else - that it was a service that finds out how much of my information is available online, much like you do when you go Google someone else. I just think the name itself is pretty lame.
I think we are in agreement about the name - it's crap. I hope the actual release - assuming this is real - comes with a better one.