Why Google Plus Sucks and What to do about it

(Old & New)

Google+ is getting users fast

However, usage rate is still low (~6 min/mo)

0

1.75

3.5

5.25

7

01/ 2008 01/2013 05/2013

Minutes spent on Google+ per user per MONTH

(Data according to ComScore & Nielsen)

Facebook has over 400 minutes per user per monthThat’s more than 50x higher

Of course, Google claims these numbers are very off,

reiterating their massive user growth

But...

Just look at +1s for any article, and you’ll see it in the numbers

Biased? How about HuffPost for an unrelated topic?

Still not convinced? How about this one?

In fact, that’s not just my feel

Some have similar views on Quora

as well as on Google Search

Of course, these don’t matter, because the fact is that Google+

has massive user growth

But in reality, it has massive signups because Google uses all its

resources to push users to sign-up. (Not the merit of the product itself)

I call this Brute Force Distribution

Who else does Brute Force Distribution?

Down $10B+ and still pushing

Which is a better distribution product?

1) 1 Million Sign-ups with 0.9M of them active?

or....

1I) 100 Million Sign-ups with 2M of them active?

Many people also “use” Google+ for SEO help

This is also NOT the merit of the product itself. People are

willing to eat insects if it improves their search rankings.

Wouldn’t it be better if the product itself was actually awesome?

In fact, a great amount of “social products” from Google aren’t well-designed (many were cut). Some other projects are excellent, like Search, GMail (I have converted so many

people from Hotmail/YMail to Gmail), Analytics, Maps, Earth, Gchat and much much more.

So why is Social so hard?

And don’t get me wrong. I have A LOT of respect for the Google+ Team.

All of them are intimidatingly smart.

But that might be the cause of the problem...

By tradition, Product Managers mostly are engineering backgrounds, and they have all been through a rigorous

interviewing process of brain teasers, logic, and probability

This is great, as it is very important to make sure Googlers are fiercely intelligent to grind out world-

changing stuff, but it could create a disconnect to the average user in the outside world.

Hmm, this wouldn’t be too complex for the user would it?

It’s pretty easy...

Hey guys, do you think this would be too complex for the user?

Yea, this is just as easy as that brainteaser I solved

last week!Hmm, I don’t think so. It’s

fairly straightforwardNote: this is an exaggerated parody to

communicate a point

But for the rest of the world (like my mom)

???????????

She has no idea what’s going on

And there are A LOT of people like my mom

???????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

But my GRANDmother is on Facebook every single day, happily

stalking her grandchildren

What’s the difference?

A great product makes mainstream users (like my mom)

feel smart.

That means less clutter, less complexity, and perhaps less

features

Lets look at why someone might feel stupid using Google+

Users usually have to type “plus.google.com” which is a tangible hassle. That in itself bars many people from going onto it all the time

Facebook spent a lot to get rid of TheFaceBook.com

You can’t even type in shortcuts

It gives you a list of options

Even the first suggested link is the wrong one.

Now users already feel dumb.

Here are two other ways to access Google+ content. It’s alright, but not obvious for most

people (+name still isn’t intuitive at this point)

A close family member of mine said that the number in gmail is “confusing and annoying”

This is the (old) Google+ Page

No “grounding” colors to help visual segmentation

This whole screen places equal value on every activity

Sharing - the top default action is not obvious

It’s easy for a user to click on the search bar in hopes to share. The share box is a bit too slick and transparent

???

???

Users might feel dumb again.

Lets start reading some of the content!

But as I’m happily looking at the cute dog picture...

Where did the dog go???

Oh...new updates pushed the post down...

I need to scroll down to find the dog picture again

Users don’t feel respected nor smart when they are reading and

things get pushed down.

Lets see how others’ do it

Respecting the User

Respecting the User

Lets see how others’ do it

What about Clutterness?

This reminds me of....

Where should I look to find what I want?

Huh? And on top of that there’s 3 more dropdown lists!

If a user spends over 4 seconds trying to find something to click

on, they feel annoyed/dumb.

And content looks like Ads

Semi-spammy suggestions look like content

Of course, on May 15th 2013, Google+ updated their front page to solve

many of these issues

The New Google+ solved the “post bumping” issues, multiple navigations, and

domain name issues...kinda

Now you can access Google+ by typing google.com/+

Probably still not something my mom would do, but better than plus.google.com maybe?

Lets look at the improvements for the new Google+ Homepage.

The New Google+ Looks Much Better...oh wait. Mistake.

The New Google+ Looks Much Better

I accidentally showed Pinterest instead...

Now lets go to the Profile Page

Learn from others. Problem solved.

Yay! I can change my name by clicking on my name, as well as the background image!

But how do I change my work info??? I can’t click on it.

Hmm, there’s a little “profile” icon here. Perhaps I can change my other info there.

Let me try to click it

Ahh! The left menu appears when I hover on the left

It can’t be the “Profile” button because I just clicked on that

Hmm, I’ll try to move my mouse quickly and click the icon.

I tried to click on the icon, but...

The hover effect was too fast and I accidentally clicked on the home button instead...

Hey, how come I keep seeing this Chris Pirillo guy? Doesn’t anyone else use Google+?

Anyway, I’m still figuring out how to change my work background.

Oh okay, I think this just tells me which page I’m on, but it’s not a button

Maybe it’s this one here:

Yay! This is the right place!

OK...I actually feel dumb. Should I really share this?

Wait a second...I can change my NAME anytime I want by just

clicking on it, but I have to investigate and dig deep just to

update my profile?

Okay. Much Better :-)

Note: most might just give up instead of keeping their profiles updated

OK, now lets look at the “People” Navigation Page

Hmm, defaults to asking me to invite more people

No. I think I want to check out my friends instead

Hmm okay. I can look at 12 people at once within a circle

Lets see if I can find my friends who went to UCLA

Hmm, the action button doesn’t seem to be able to do it

Let me try the relevance sorting

Hmm, sorting doesn’t really help me with that either.

What else can I do? What about the right search box?

Lets try to find my friends who work at Google on the right search box.

Nope...in fact, it shows me a lot of accounts that aren’t my friends...

OK. Lets try the search box on the top.

Hmm, that’s not it either...hey is that Chris Pirillo again at the bottom again??

Maybe the People and pages tab is where I’ll find it this time

Oops, guess not....

I guess it’s just impossible to find friends based on their profiles. Just

their names.

Hey, but what if I want to see my friend’s photos?

Perhaps I should try the “photo” navigation?

OK. I can see my own, but not other peoples’

I guess I feel a little dumb...Lets go back to the people tab

Argh! No I don’t want to add new people right now!

I want to look at my friend’s photos!

OK. Back to this page again.

Lets check out Jun Loayza’s photos.

Wait, Single Click is just select?

Oh OK. I need to double click to see a friend’s profile

Ah, this is his homepage.

OK. Straight forward enough - Photos.

Yay Finally! I feel smart

I get to interact with my friend’s photos.

Wow, that was harder than I thought...I don’t think I feel like

checking out other peoples’ photos anymore after that

Lets check out other stuff in Google+

Lets just check out some content.

I like this post about 3D Printing. I’ll comment on it.

Oh no, all the other strangers who commented on it are creeping into my GMail!

I don’t really want to get emails from strangers commenting on stuff.

Alright. How do I turn that off?

OK. I have experience with gmail, so I know I should start with my head on the right top

Lets try “Account”

Hmm, where do I go now?

Which one would you pick?

OK. I tried “Profile and Privacy”

After scrolling down, I didn’t find it. I’m lost. Google+? Products? What’s the difference?

I gave up on the hunt. I decided to Google it.

Ah, the answer is “Google+”

Yay, here it is. I finally found it.

I almost never wanted to comment on Google+ Posts Again

Ahh, I got more emails during this time! (even though I archived the conversation)

I’m glad I turned it off. I don’t need more eMail stress...

But wait...what’s this?

Oh, someone I don’t know is promoting his event....

How do I turn it off?

Oh, I could scroll down and mute the post

Simple enough. I feel slightly smart.

OK. Lets check out the remaining features on

Google+

Lets check out the “What’s Hot” Navigation

Alright. Lets try “Preakness Stakes” in Trending

Wait, why are you showing me posts from 2012?

I thought this stuff was trending...

Checking out the Google Hangout Tab!

Wait...why would I crash hangouts of strangers?? Awkward...

What about the “Local” Navigation?

There’s only one recommendation, and it’s a church? Just because I’m Christian?

Alright. Up to this point I haven’t gotten much value out of Google+,

just felt confused/dumb.

Google says this is a social layer on its other products.

I guess I will focus on socializing with friends.

Lets “be social” with Jun Loayza

I remember now I should click on the “People” Tab! :D

$%^&! No I don’t want to add new people right now!

I want to interact with my friends!!

Clicking on “Your Circles” on the right

Double Clicking on Jun Loayza

Take a quick guess - how do I send him a message? 4 Seconds?

Hmm, I can’t post a new message on his wall it seems.

There’s no where to click, and his name appears to be a dead link...

Right here! But how do I find out more about him?

So much for helping me socialize and getting to know my friends more.

At this point, I gave up on being very “social” on Google+

Just too much work to interact with friends and their photos.

I’m already a relatively savvy person in tech! I cannot imagine someone like my mom using a product like this. I

dread guiding her through the experience too

And.....

This person is actually me???????????

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Google says that Google+ is a social layer that integrates personal data throughout all their products

It’s great that Google can get more social data. But why should consumers love it?

This is similar to when Google launched Google Wallet

When asked, Google said they launched it to collect more data

on purchase behaviors.

But they didn’t say their purpose was to solve a problem for the merchant nor the consumer. They wanted to

collect more data.

Consumers didn’t complain that paying with a credit card was too painful

Merchants don’t complain that they didn’t collect money fast enough

Not surprisingly...soon after, they declared that they needed to go back to the drawing

board due to low adoption

Same thing here. Google should not just focus on becoming smarter by

collecting more data.

Google needs to make products that users love and cannot live

without - every single day

So the important lesson here is:

When it comes to social, don’t focus on being smart...

(Note: This holds true for offline social interactions too)

Focus on making users feel smart

Google+...

I want to love youI want you to improve

Please improve...

Thank You