Google knows the volatility of the Internet landscape better than most. In the 14 short years since the company was founded, the Google name has become synonymous with Internet search. However, the disappointing failures of Google Buzz and Google Wave have suggested that Google may not fundamentally understand social media, and so many critics perhaps unfairly anticipated another failure in Google Plus.
This time, though, signs are positive. Google Plus has grown from 10 million registered users (July 2011) to over an estimated 100 million registered users today. Google now projects their Google Plus user base to eclipse 400 million by the end of 2012. Despite these impressive statistics, criticism is now focusing mostly on lack of engagement (3 minutes per month versus Facebook’s 6-7 hours per month between September 2011 and January 2012). It is true that mere account activations do not necessarily support a thriving social media platform. Signs of success need to include regular communication, participation, and involvement by Google Plus users.
The good news for Google is that significant signs of success are already here. Google Plus has differentiated itself compared to other social media platforms, implemented a different investment strategy versus how it handled its previous failed social media projects, and integrated more effectively across its heavily used services. Quite simply, Google Plus is now too big to fail.
Differentiation Through Discovery
One of the biggest arguments against the adoption of Google Plus is that many people feel it’s a Facebook clone. Since people already have an established social network on Facebook, they see no need to reproduce it again on Google Plus. But that impression is mistaken. Google Plus is not Facebook, and it is not trying to be Facebook.
With its 8 years and 800 million users, Facebook has become familiar and somewhat predictable – in a good way. Going on Facebook is like seeing an Adam Sandler movie: you know the characters and, for the most part, you know what to expect. It’s the same feeling of comfort and predictability you get when hanging out with friends and family.
Google Plus is different. It’s like going to an independent movie theater on a whim, wanting to discover something new, surprising, and fresh. You might be looking for a comedy, drama, or horror flick. Once you get to the theater, you might meet up with friends who are in the know about various independent films. You’ll talk about independent movies with your friends, and maybe even with other people hanging outside of the cinema. In other words, Google Plus is the next evolution of Google’s search engine – taking the concept of discovery deeper into a social platform.
This isn’t a new idea. Trade shows, conferences, and networking events have always blended an individual’s need for information and discovery into a social arena. But even the best social platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube – have not filled this specific vacuum well. Google Plus thus becomes a unique discovery engine.
As people more often utilize Google Plus as an extension of Google’s core search products, then the inherent competitive advantage of Google Plus lies in its ability to help users discover new sources of information and both professional and personal connections based on common interests.
Ongoing Investment in Progress
Even with an emerging differentiated identity compared to other social networks, that doesn’t guarantee success. Many other unique social networks have tried to compete against the big players and either failed or stayed niche. But Google has a lot of money. And a clear intent to direct it toward social.
As Google examines the market, it realizes social networking is still very much in its infancy. The future is largely speculative at this point. Despite the fact that Facebook and Twitter have become household names in just a few short years, business executives are just now beginning to recognize the true value of leveraging these networks as revenue-drivers. And trends indicate that businesses will be allocating a significantly increased amount of time and resources to social media in 2012 (source).
Google benefits in this landscape by controlling much of the online distribution of information through its organic search results as well as across the Android mobile platform (47% smartphone market share) and Chrome browser (19% browser market share). Google has a unique advantage in presenting the Google Plus platform in familiar contexts by leveraging existing services with audiences of millions.
President James Garfield once said, “He who controls the money supply of a nation controls the nation.” While he was speaking literally in this context, Google is a superpower not only in terms of Internet market share but also in monetary investment.
In 2011, Google CEO Larry Page announced that “25% of [employees’] annual bonus will be tied to the success or failure of Google's social strategy in 2011” (source). Additionally, Forbes estimates that the social network itself cost approximately $585 million to build when you factor in the approximately 500 employees tasked to the project and the various technological acquisitions used to power the various elements of the medium (source).
Even if previous detractors were justified in dismissing Google Buzz and Google Wave, those Google efforts now appear as mere experiments compared to the investment and clout thrown behind Google Plus. While massive financial investments obviously do not, by any means, guarantee the success of any social platform, it does prove that Google is committed to creating a viable competing product regardless of the cost.
Continued Innovation and Integration
Google Plus will gain more power and momentum as it is integrated with Google’s overall services. A symbolic sign of this integration comes with Google’s new privacy policy. Anyone who has a personal account across any of Google’s numerous product lines, from Gmail to Google Analytics to YouTube, saw these new privacy changes take place on March 1, 2012.
While Google explains they are consolidating 60+ individual Terms of Service agreements to one, Google is also reducing barriers to entry for Google Plus by proactively addressing privacy, one of the most common and pervasive issues with any emerging social network.
More importantly, this consolidation helps Google users move more easily across various Google services (Gmail, YouTube, Analytics, etc.) without interruption. Search experiences will also be better tailored based on information gathered from all Google services. If more heavily used products such as Gmail, YouTube, and Google’s search engine all become part of an integrated experience – then Google Plus will benefit even more from this ecosystem.
In addition, the “Search Plus Your World,” integration provides yet another value-add to Google Plus by incorporating social signals into Google’s natural search results. This latest social integration expects to increase the perceived authority of search results and organic recommendations by leveraging the personal relationships inherent to Google Plus.
While this is not the first attempt at SERP integration (Google had previously implemented real-time search through a now-expired agreement with Twitter), the search giant has pursued a slightly different approach that hopes to maintain the integrity of the organic results.
Among the social features Google is adding, author credits for webpage content (such as news articles or blog posts) may accompany search results with a picture and a link to the author’s Google+ page. Suggestions for social connections may show to the right of the organic results based on a user’s query. Each of these integration techniques are intended to supplement rather than replace current results, which quiets many user concerns that Google is compromising their core product to promote their newest initiative.
Yes, It’s Too Big To Fail
Google’s social media efforts in 2012 are, quite simply, too big to fail. As the pieces begin to fall into place and the ranks of the Plus community grow, Google will continue to promote engagement by concentrating on the key selling propositions of the platform: differentiation through discovery, ongoing investment in progress, and continued innovation and integration across the entire Google platform.
Because Google Plus is already forming its own unique identity that is still grounded in its core competency – search – while backed by significant, massive financial investment, Google’s continued relentless innovation applied to search suggests that Google Plus will not be just another Buzz or Wave.