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Do you know why Google failed in Social Networking?

Google Plus which was launched in 2011 was shut down by Google in April 2019 because of low user engagement and challenges in maintaining a successful product. It failed to empower people’s excitement for using the social media platform. As compared to other popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter etc, Google Plus recorded the lowest registrations as well as downloads.
Google could have become the king of Social Media with over 1.8 billion users on Gmail as of 2020 and dominated the social media network along with competing Facebook and Twitter.

But sadly, they failed.

With their Social Media platforms like Orkut, Google Buzz, Google Waves and Google Plus, they tried to enter the social business, but their results were in vain. The failures of Orkut and Google Plus are considered to be the biggest failures in the social media world.

All this being said, Google has the potential to become a monopoly in the Social Media Business, just like its monopoly on Search Engines. The only problem is that they understood the game very late. This failure could have gone worse if not for YouTube that saved them. The only successful Social Media platform right now is YouTube which they didn’t build but acquired.

Google tried and tried and tried and tried and tried, but it can’t get a social network going so long. After it attempted to buy Friendster for $30 million, Google launched Orkut, shortly after Myspace and just before Facebook.

Orkut failed and after Google Plus personal accounts were shut down, Google announced that it would be replacing the social network for enterprise users with Google Currents.

Google Currents is available for everyone’s use from July, and the Google Plus Android and iOS apps have been rebranded to Google Currents to reflect the change.

Aimed at enterprise users, Google Currents aims to help people to have meaningful discussions and interactions across your organization, helping keep everyone in the know and allowing leaders to connect with their employees.

Google Currents comes with a new interface and a bunch of new features. The home screen can be customised and lets you focus on the important posts. Users also have the flexibility to sort the home stream on the basis on relevancy.

Just like Google+, Google Currents also allows users to post comments, ask questions through posts, and share feedback. It comes with built-in analytics to gauge the reach of each post. Users can also follow tags and other topic-based streams to discover more content based on their preference.

So long, Google Plus. You will not be missed.

Google social media failed so far mainly due to the following reasons:

  1. Lack of proper team and vision
  2. Late into the market
  3. No innovation
  4. Not supported by social media startups

Key takeaways!?

Staying relevant is the only way to thrive on the internet.

  1. Originality is the most important aspect to survive as a social media platform. You cannot sustain if you copy the concept of an existing service. Platforms on social must build upon the services by fulfilling the needs of users, or introduce something entirely new that users did not even know they wanted.
  2. Scalability is the second important thing. Successful networks scale well over the years — they must be able to accommodate the influxes of new users. When platforms start to slow down and falter due to increased use, people will leave due to frustration.
  3. Evolution– As the user bases grow, so does the needs and wants of those users. When platforms fail to address the feedback of their members, they provide an opportunity for another platform to step in and fulfil that need.
    To summarize, social media networks should not only be to be unique and provide an experience that its users will cherish and enjoy, but they also need to stay on top of their game to counter threats from its competitors and maintain their user base; otherwise, they will fail. It takes a lot more for a social network to find success than a programmer (or some programmers) hacking together an app they think will be a hit.

Can Google do it? What do you think? Comment below.

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