Google+ is only five days old at the writing of this post and hasn’t even through its trial by fire as it is still in limited field trials, and yet we already have the social media pundits writing ad naseum about how Twitter, and Facebook (but that’ll be another post), need to be watching their backs.
Really?
After only five days of being tested by the geekiest of tech geeks, bloggers, and reporters, we’re already claiming that Google+ is a threat to Twitter.
You people need to get a grip and instead of writing vaporous odes to Google+ and the imminent demise of <take your pick of social media network> do your readers a favor and get a cup of coffee and look at what you are talking; or pontificating, about.
Regardless of what Google+ does down the road it isn’t a threat to Twitter. Period.
As I wrote on Google+ a couple of days ago the only threat to Twitter is Twitter itself because of their own incompetence and the constant slapping around of their dwindling developer community.
The fact is we are talking about to totally different case uses here when it comes to Twitter and Google+. Twitter is a drop dead simple service to use to both easily broadcast content and to easily follow breaking news and events of the day. It is not about having conversations, it is not about sharing rich media like pic and videos of your most memorable moments.
Therein lies the biggest difference – Google+ is all about the conversation and sharing of rich media because this is exactly the kind of information that Google needs going forward.
I have been a member of Twitter since February 22, 2007 and other than some minor fine tuning and pissing off of both developers and users the service hasn’t changed one bit; but during that time it has become an integral part of the Web. It has become an integral part of our culture to the point that Apple is baking it into the core of their iOS operating system.
Twitter isn’t going anywhere, unless it ends up being bought to ave it from itself but even then I believe you would see Twitter carry on as is because it has become such a part of not just our web world but also our offline world.
Google+ on the other hand is Google’s last real chance to prove that not only do they get social but that they can use it to help move the company forward to a changing world that isn’t based so much on the old style search that made Google the powerhouse it is.
Sure they have a lot of work to do but for crying out loud we are only five or six days in and even though Internet time might be faster than normal time this is still early days. Early enough days that Google can take the time and do this right.
When I first started using Google+ back on day one I said, even then, that I like what Google was doing far more than I liked what Facebook is doing, even after the number of years that Facebook has been co-opting the Web. I still feel the same way and barring any real bad screw up by Google; which I don’t see happening because they have too much at risk here, I don’t see that opinion changing.
However to suggest that Google+ is a threat to Twitter is just downright stupid. Really, it is.
Good call Steven.
Google+ is not a this or that killer – it’s an alternative, a good one but just an alternative.
My online behaviour has altered, both in part to G+ having a nice feel but also – no doubt – due to it being the shiney new toy syndrome.
I said at the beginning that it offers something different and people will gravitate to the network that suits them. many prefer Twitter and will stay, many have too much invested in their facebook friends/pages or just prefer that network so G+ will not sound the death knell for either; it’s just that some may move and use G+ as their main – or possibly sole – network.
[...] read an article today by Steve Hobson about Twitter vs. Google+, and I disagree quite a lot about the points he’s making. There’s a lot to be said about [...]
If Google+ gets a half billion more users, they’ll truly be a threat to Facebook. Of course, that actually could happen – it was interesting that Google+ came out at about the same time as MySpace’s bargain-basement sale was being publicized.
The silliest one that I saw was the claim that Google+ was a threat to LinkedIn. Not yet…