So it’s been a little more than a week since Google+ launched, and the enthusiasm has been palpable. Google bubbles there will be 10 million Google+ users by tomorrow, which will no doubt see many cases of Moët and Chandon champagne popped at the GooglePlex.
Some of it has to do with the fact the digitrati loves new and shiny things – and there’s been a dearth of cool and compelling social media services arguably since Twitter launched – apologies to all your Foursquare fansboys/girls.
But I think there is another key factor driving Google+ that have little to do with Google+’s features or functionality.
As much as many people (700 million and counting) have joined Facebook, there is a growing concern about Facebook’s dominance and bold ambitions to inflict its social graph across the entire Web. People use Facebook but they’re afraid of it because of its dominance.
So, in many respects, the optimism about Google+ have everything to do with the high hopes that it can become a big enough player to keep Facebook honest.
This is not to suggest Google’s ambitious are any less aggressive than Facebook’s but there needs to be another social networking player to keep Facebook in check, otherwise Facebook will rule the roost and do what it wants because there would be no other options.
So as Google (and its boosters) trumpet the fact millions of people are joining Google+, keep in mind there are other factors at all that have everything to do with Facebook.
Links:
- Tommy Walker talks about why Google+ doesn’t stand a chance against Facebook.
