In the following I will aim to perform an in depth analysis of Google’s new service from a marketing point of view. I will not base my observations and predictions on its features nor their respective quality but rather on its approach to the social networking environment in general. Further down the line i will also post a comprehensive review of Google Plus, as a social tool.
A social service from Google, other than Orkut of course, has been the main rumor amongst Google fans at least since the launch of Buzz. Buzz aimed at conquering Twitter. While its success was minimal, it gave the company the required experience and data to put together a competitor for something much bigger than Twitter, for something like Facebook *thunder*. Google owns a lot of information about everyone and it was only a matter of time till they put 1 plus 1 together to make Plus (yes, i know, horrible pun). While players such as Facebook had to start from scratch, Google should know by now what their target audience wants, before they want it.
Synergy
The new Google bar that is ubiquitous to all Google products is the foundation of Google’s new graphical design overhaul that has changed the look of several of their services. It’s essentially a bridge that allows access across all Google Apps. And Google Plus is receiving center stage by being the first on the list, just to the left of your current active Google App. Being well integrated with Picasa, Google Contacts and Google Buzz, once you start up your account on Plus it’s already populated, unlike any other social service, where you start fresh, with a blank plate. Synergy is the key element to their new approach to the web and the search giant knows it, exploits it, and will probably cash on it. The ability to intertwine several web apps with easy access between them is Google’s proverbial ace up the sleeve.
SWOT
SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective.
Strengths | Weaknesses |
- High initial adoption rate - High first impact, big popularity - Synergy with previous Google Services - Superior technical base - Basic experience with social needs | - Relatively small user base - Newcomer |
Opportunities | Threats |
- Facebook’s user base - Every other social network’s user base - Twitter user base | - Facebook - Large regional social networks - Twitter? - China’s censorship |
Strength with numbers
Most would agree that the higher the number of users the better. I beg to differ. The total amount of users that an online service has is by no means the only indicator of its success. In the initial development a big user base is critical and keeping those users is great for intimidation and establishing your dominance in the market, however, in this specific case, of virtual communities, daily page views and daily visitors gauge popularity far better: the higher the ratio between daily page views and daily visitors the more popular the site is and the more active its users are.
By this point people who know Google other than just a search engine are familiar with the company’s private beta strategy. When it was adopted for Plus, a social networking service, skeptics criticized that their plan is bound for failure due to the critical mass required to make their product viable. How would they amass enough adepts to make the service useful? Well, geeks everywhere were too excited to keep for themselves and after the first week of exclusive beta testing the Invitation system came online so everyone could join as long as they got an invitation.
At the moment of writing this article, Google Plus had amassed over 20 million users. The initial adoption rate has been unsuspectingly high and then naturally decreased in the last few days as it reaches saturation point. However, it significantly surpassed Google’s expectations and everybody else’s. As more and more users adopt Google Plus a question arises: how will Google manage to keep the interest of its consumers? The main threat Google is facing is the sudden loss of hype of their newly acquired user-base.
Will it blend?
The short answer is: Only time will tell! Yes, cheesy ending to such a great article. The truth is that if you’re fed up with Facebook for whatever reason you now have a truly viable choice. Competition is the mother of progress and even if Google won’t be able to surpass Facebook any time soon it will still push the Social Network mogul to pull it’s game together. It’s time to kick it up a notch!