I was excited when I heard about Google +. Â I was even more excited when I was able to start using it. Â I usually like when Google introduces a new product, so I was looking forward to being able to use this new social network.
After a week, I have to admit that I’m disappointed. Â Google+ is no Facebook killer. Â It doesn’t really even have the features to compete with Facebook. Â No groups, no pages, no wall, no direct message. Â Its more like twitter than anything else. Â And I already have twitter.
I keep seeing messages saying “You’re using Google+ wrong” or “Stop trying to use Google+ like Facebook”. I see an inherent problem with statements like that.  You can’t tell people how to use a social network.  People need to be able to use it the way they want to use it.  You can direct your users through design to use it the way you might want them, but you can’t tell people that they are using it “wrong”.  They have to find how they want to use it.  And I don’t know yet how I want to use it, or if I want to use it.
So what did I want? Â I guess I wanted something along the lines of Facebook, but without the games and a better privacy policy. Â But that’s not what I got. Â But I can’t really tell you what I got, because I don’t know what its supposed to be. I haven’t figured out a way to use it that benefits me, or even really interests me. Â Its certainly no facebook killer.
What do you think of Google +?