First impressions of Google+

The ‘plus’ sign that I have chosen for this article may be appropriate. Google have tried their hand at social media before in various ways, be it Orkut (remember that?) or Wave (RIP). They have dearly needed some ‘First Aid’ to try and compete with Facebook. Especially since Facebook have been spreading their tentacles out into the search space…

How is Google+ looking so far?

1. The UI is crisp, clean and very usable. The UI was a huge barrier to entry for Wave. It was confusing and the system crashed most of the time. It is ‘at a glance’ easy in order to post, add people to circles and so on.
2. It’s very easy to add people.. Click…click…click. People can be added by sharing, dragging into circles or via the recommendations system. It feels very organic to grow your network within the system.
3. You can’t escape it. The new Google navigation bar makes sure Google+ will be integrated into your search experience. Provided you use Google, of course. Research has shown that Google have 63.6% of the search market share right now which makes it quite likely.
4. Day 1 Mobile Support. Android app straight out of the game, and forthcoming for the other platforms. Facebook themselves report: ‘People that use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook than non-mobile users’.

It is a very solid and credible start. There is still work to be done, of course: The voice/video chat was very unstable when we tested it in the office and there is no gaming platform yet to snag the Farmville demographic!

The last point is more serious than it sounds. People need a reason to switch to use a different network, and stick with it beyond the ‘Ooh, a new toy!’ honeymoon period. What will Google have planned?

I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes… what are your thoughts on it?