Some early thoughts on G+…

I’ve been using Google Plus since very early July after receiving one of the earlier invitations to try it out (Thanks Ray !). After using it for the past few weeks, I have a few observations about what may be the future adoption of this site. I’m not talking about the UI, or the technical aspects, or even about Circles and privacy considerations. Rather what I’m noticing is the (albeit very early) way it’s being used by those I’ve observed online and what I foresee happening in the longer term.

Most of my online acquaintances are heavily invested in Facebook and to a lesser extent, Xing. I even have two friends who still use MySpace. Although I have a few dozen connections and some photos on FB, I was never that much invested in it and I often went days without even taking a glance in its direction.

Even though the pundits are talking about the rapid growth of Google Plus (which is certainly true), what I’m not seeing is the any indication that people are abandoning Facebook in favor of G+. Let’s face it, that’s what Google wants and that’s what they’re going after. They want this to be a zero-sum game.

I happen to like the clean UI and better (to me) privacy settings at G+. I like the fact that it’s not all junked up with games and ads although I’m sure they’re coming. (I do miss being able to poke someone, though – seriously). I also miss the ability to do a true PM, but I can certainly get by with the ‘workaround’ presented (post to one contact only, and disable ‘reshare’).

Not surprisingly, many of users I’ve seen on G+ tend to be professional marketers, SEO types, ‘social media’ groupies, or those who like to be early adopters. What I have yet to see is the adoption of G+ by the high school, college students and twenty somethings who make up so much of the current traffic on FB. It’s going to take a huge catalyst – something, whatever – to get them to do more than take a peek at G+ and actually begin using it.

Remember, I’m not a marketer or SEO guy and my comments here are worth exactly what you’ve paid for them, but what I foresee is a dual social-media world in which both FB and G+ are able to coexist (in spite of Google’s best efforts). I doubt that Gens X and Y will give up Facebook in favor of G+, but what I see is their gradual adoption of G+ as a kind of steppingstone to a more professional (but still fun) social media outlet. Kind of a halfway house between Facebook and LinkedIn. Use of G+ gives everyone a chance to rethink their ‘friends’ list and start off again perhaps a bit more carefully and with more reflection than they may have used with Facebook, given the often willy-nilly, motley collection of ‘friends’ that one really doesn’t know in the least.

Both of my daughters have signed on to G+. One is 18 and the other is 21. They’re both prime candidates for adoption and the perfect target audience that Google Inc. is seeking for this new platform. Neither however, has posted anything even once as of this writing. That’s what I’m waiting to see.

Brother, can you spare (another) €100,000,000,000 ?

Today’s report that France and Germany have reached a tentative agreement – a “common position” as the BBC terms it – is the first good news regarding the Greek debt crisis which also threatens Portugal, Spain, and even Italy if Europe’s central bankers can’t figure out a way to resolve the Eurozone debt crisis. There is still a lot of work to do, but at least the leaders of these countries, two of Europe’s leading economic powerhouses, seem to have reached a mutual agreement to propose to the bankers currently meeting in Brussels. Greece has already implemented a severe austerity program and the citizens certainly are unhappy with the cuts they must face, but if those austerity measures along with the extension and the restructuring of Greece’s debt obligations into longer term payments, ease the crisis and prevent Greece from a full default, then it’s a necessity not only for the European economy, but ours as well.

The proposal calls not only for another 100 bn Euros, but would allow Greece to extend its payment schedules and request/require (?) non-governmental financial institutions to carry some of the additional bailout burden. At present, this is only a proposal, but it’s an indication that all parties recognize how serious this is for everyone.

The second half of this worldwide economic crisis is with the potential for the US to default on its own debt obligations in less than two weeks. Our own US Congress and the President’s economic team must come together and hammer out a compromise solution to enable us to raise our own debt ceiling so we can avoid an embarrassing and economically devastating default of our own. To say these are troubling, worrisome economic times is an extreme understatement. Imagine the scenario if Europe can’t reach an agreement on how to resolve the Eurozone debt crisis at the same time that the US defaults on its own debt obligations because of the refusal of members of Congress to work together. Could the result be another economic maelstrom such as the worldwide depression in the 1930s ? I don’t know – I’m not a macroeconomist or a banker and my comments here are just my own ramblings. But I am a student of history and knowing that the worldwide equity markets loathe uncertainty, I fear the worst unless those politicians and financial decision-makers that we place our trust in do the right thing – for the sake of us all.