Yes, Google+ has 100 million users, including myself – but how often do you really check your Google+ account? I personally only check it if I get a notification about someone following me, besides that, I never log into it. Why is that? What is Google doing wrong that makes Google+ not even as close to as popular as other social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and even Pinterest? I’m honestly not sure, but I know that it doesn’t grab my attention like Facebook and Twitter. Maybe its because not that many of friends seem to be on it? And if they are on it, they dont update their pages as much? I really dont know. But I do believe that there are many things that Google and Google+ can improve upon to make the social media platform better all around. Here are 3 features that I think Google+ needs to improve on to be better all around.
1. They need to target younger people more aggressively if they want it to be as popular as the other social networks we all know and love. I feel like Google+, right now, is too focused on businesses, and famous personalities, and not enough on the actual person. And maybe I’m wrong, maybe that is who they want their target audiences to be – but I have a feeling that aren’t as successful as they hoped, and retargeting certain groups may help that.
2. Google+ needs to open up a bit more, be a little more social. Foursquare, Instagram, Pinterest – all of those sites are integrated with Facebook. When someone pin’s something on Pinterest, they have the option to have all of their followers see what they pinned. Facebook seems to be much more “social” than Google+ is – which is weird, since they’re both “Social Networks.” I understand that Google+ probably doesn’t want to be the exact same as Facebook, but clearly what Facebook is doing is working much better than what Google+ is doing, so why not follow their lead?
3. Change up the “Stream”. Im not exactly sure how they should change it, but I just dont love it. I feel like im just bombarded when I log into my Google+ plus account, I think its the layout of it that just rubs me the wrong way. One thing I do think they should do, is make the stream wider – its too small and condensed right now, and there is really no reason for that. As you scroll down your stream, there is nothing along the side, so why not make it bigger?
