If Google built a new social network, would anyone use it?
That could be a zen koan, something to meditate on, but in the case of Google +, the quick and easy answer, requiring little reflection, is YES.
After 4 days of +, I am hooked, so hooked I didn’t visit Facebook yesterday until 10 PM at night, so hooked I am starting to blog about it because my brain just keeps humming (that’s the zen koan part).
What do I like so much?
The user is the center of the network, not the network. This means it’s not about FB, it’s about me.
Users create levels of access and networks for themselves. If you have a friend who is queer, a dog-owner, a techie and lives i your town, you cold put that person in 4 circles so each relationship you have is kept seperate (as in your other techie friends might not want to hear about you dog).
The interface is uncluttered and clean. The fact Andy Hertzfeld played a lead role on this team shows–there is elegance and efficiency to the interface, good UX.
Still feels intimate. Estimates have ranged from 5K to 1M people in the Beta. Whatever the truth, it feels like the days of Friendfeed, a service built by ex-Googlers that was sold to Facebook–and that was joyous and bold, for a while.
Seems extensible. The huge chatter about features, roadmaps and recommendation shows people are imagining uses, always the best way to iterate your product.
Fun. Doesn’t everyone know this is the entertainment economy? + is mixing up all sorts of people and the Hangouts are Chatroulette for adults.
If Google built a new social network, would anyone use it?
That could be a zen koan, something to meditate on, but in the case of Google +, the quick and easy answer, requiring little reflection, is YES.
After 4 days of +, I am hooked, so hooked I didn’t visit Facebook yesterday until 10 PM at night, so hooked I am starting to blog about it because my brain just keeps humming (that’s the zen koan part).
What do I like so much?
The user is the center of the network, not the network. This means it’s not about FB, it’s about me.
Users create levels of access and networks for themselves. If you have a friend who is queer, a dog-owner, a techie and lives i your town, you cold put that person in 4 circles so each relationship you have is kept seperate (as in your other techie friends might not want to hear about you dog).
The interface is uncluttered and clean. The fact Andy Hertzfeld played a lead role on this team shows–there is elegance and efficiency to the interface, good UX.
Still feels intimate. Estimates have ranged from 5K to 1M people in the Beta. Whatever the truth, it feels like the days of Friendfeed, a service built by ex-Googlers that was sold to Facebook–and that was joyous and bold, for a while.
Seems extensible. The huge chatter about features, roadmaps and recommendation shows people are imagining uses, always the best way to iterate your product.
Fun. Doesn’t everyone know this is the entertainment economy? + is mixing up all sorts of people and the Hangouts are Chatroulette for adults.