By B.L. Ochman
Breaking up is hard to do. Don’t do it.
Sundar Pichai, SVP pf Products at Google, and “defacto Number 2 man” says in an exclusive interview with Forbes that Google may be considering separating photos and Hangouts from the Google+ stream.
Many have speculated about that, but this is the first official nod from Google.
Pichai also admits that Google has done a lousy job of marketing the platform. Yup, that’s absolutely true!
Seems to me that major steps in the right direction should be:
* uncomplicating Hangouts drastically,
* adding the HOA features those of us who are power users have repeatedly requested,
* and hiring people who actually use the platform to market it in order to eliminate these pervasive myths
Please NOTE: Sundar Pichai Larry Page: I am immediately available to assist with multi-channel marketing of Google+ and can put together a crackerjack team in a matter of days :)
Bonus Link: Dear Google: You are doing a terrible job of explaining Google+
They definitely did a lousy job of marketing it. They could’ve done so much more – it is Google after all. Just remembering how many people wrote posts on how G+ was going to be the next big thing after Facebook a few years ago makes me laugh…
I am one of the people who still believe that Google+ IS the next big thing. It’s got an active community of millions of daily users; it’s got arguably the best video conferencing program ever; and it does awesome things with photos. The G+ platform brings it all together. I believe Google will break Hangouts and photos away, but – as I said in the post – I think that’s a mistake.
Google+ was never meant to compete with Facebook. It is an identity platform with qualities no other platform offers. And, as you noted, it is Google, after all. :)