Thanks to an invite from long-standing client (and friend) Leif Ulstrup at Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) my profile on Google+ is now live. I’ll poke around the community later this week to assess its viability and potential applications for Strategic Communications Group’s (Strategic) clients.
My time this morning in Google+ land got me thinking about the company’s multiple forays into social networking. A lot has been bantered about by journalists, analysts and bloggers about how Google has struggled to define its social play.
The company’s chairman acknowledged earlier this year that the responsibility for Google’s social failure resides with him. Plus, CEO Larry Page clearly articulated social’s importance to the company’s health by tying employee bonuses to defining and executing a successful strategy.
Yet, even though social-oriented services like Google Wave failed to attract much in the way of interest or adoption, I believe the time and resources the company has put behind these ill-fated efforts was well invested.
Why?
Because these initiatives serve as a distraction for swiftly moving competitors like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
As my colleague and partner Chris Parente recently pointed out to me, Google is entrenched against well heeled competitors in a multi-front war in social, mobile, browser, enterprise, local and, of course, search.
Regardless of the technical smarts and dollars Google can put forth to fund its growth, it is simply unrealistic to believe the company can achieve a leadership position in all of these areas. In many instances, Google should be thrilled with any offering that delays and distracts its competitors from effectively executing their plan.
Google+ is bound to be a winner regardless of how many users sign up.
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UPDATE: Just came across this article in Computerworld that validates my view:
Google+ May be Making Facebook Nervous
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UPDATE: Just came across this article in Computerworld that validates my view:
Google+ May be Making Facebook Nervous
1 comment:
Marc -- glad you liked that six front war article. Good post, but I'm not so sure about just being a distraction.
Here's ZDNet story, depending on how measured Google+ already somewhere between 5 to 10 million users:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/networking/can-google-be-a-facebook-killer/1250?tag=nl.e539
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