According to Scott Galloway, a Clinical Professor of Marketing, Google+ “has a 97% decline in engagement rate, year-over-year.” In his own words “Google+ is already dead.” Social media is big nowadays and exists in several mediums. The most popular is arguably Facebook, with Twitter following close behind and Google has it’s hands in a little bit of everything, advertising, mobile and computer technology, automotives and home appliances to name a few. It only seems natural that the search engine giant would introduce itself into social media. Going up against Facebook it was plain as day that Google was fighting a losing battle. User’s just weren’t spending enough time on Google+ and opted for Facebook instead. But why?
Facebook and Google+ aren’t that much different from one another. With both you can post pictures and videos, share news stories, comment on your friends posts, troll your enemies and post pictures of your cat. So what was it that drew people away from Google+? It’s not at all that there was anything inherently wrong with Google+, but Facebook already had a solid foundation and withstanding reputation when Google+ came along. Not only that, but Google didn’t bring anything new to the table for users to sink their teeth into, just the same old stuff. Moreover, people had already invested so much of their lives into Facebook. All that time spent on Farmville would have been in vain would you have turned your back on Facebook. Not to mention it takes a minimum of three years to grow a friends list to a reputable number. At the end of the day it was foolish for the heads at Google to think they could compete against Facebook.
There’s no doubt that it was an ambitious project, but it seems Google+ was too little too late. If Google is looking for success perhaps they should “boldly go where no man has gone before” and discontinue competition in a market that has already been completely dominated. Just like city hall, you can’t fight Facebook. In the development/enthusiast community, though, I would argue that Google+ may be dead, but it isn’t dead like punk rock. It’s a niche. It’s a place where you can share development and ideas, ask questions and mingle with other like minded individuals.