Google and Social Media

Over the last few years Social Media has taken off and Twitter and Facebook have cornered the market whilst the best Google can do is YouTube! The numbers around YouTube are staggering, hours worth of video being uploaded every hour, billions of views and (nearly) every subject covered, but it isn’t Social Media on the scale of Facebook and Twitter!.

Now don’t get me wong – I am a major Google fan – but what is it with Google and Social Networks?

Google Wave

Google have already given ‘Google Wave’ the old “wave goodbye!” What was it? What went wrong? Was ‘Google Wave’ ahead of its time – or behind the curve? Although the service stays live; no further development is to be performed, which probably is ‘Google Speak’ for “we’re pulling the plug soon!”
Planned to be a tool for communication and collaboration on the web ‘Google Wave’ launched in the second half of 2009. Anyone on a ‘Wave’ could use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web.
So was that the problem? Regurgitating ‘Tweets’ and ‘Likes’ from the other two seemed like all ‘Google Wave’ could do. Where was the innovation – the spirit of adventure that the internet is supposed to have?

Google+

Google say “Google+ makes connecting on the web more like connecting in the real world”. OK, tell me more! “Share your thoughts, links and photos with the right circles”, mmm? “Getting everyone on the same page with fast, simple group chat” – You mean like Google Wave was?
Google’s latest head-long, blind-folded dash into social networking was opened in ‘Beta’ to tech related folk only two and a half moths ago. Now open to all, and with the ability to invite friends means the user base has quickly grown to tens of millions. Two weeks after flicking the switch, Google announced that its new service had attracted 10 million users.

With its innovative features, Circles, multi person “hangouts” with video chat and ‘Social Search’, maybe I’m being to hard on Google – maybe it will work. I am signed up, I have had a look, and I am having a go. Looking at it now, but all I see is my Twitter feed…?

Here’s an idea. Why does Google not buy Twitter? I see it as an obvious next step! If Google gets its wallet out it could probably buy Twitter with the loose change it had in there – it’s not the cash that’s the issue.

Over two years ago; “Tech Crunch” quoted:

“Here’s a heck of a rumor that we’ve sourced from two separate people close to the negotiations: Google is in late stage negotiations to acquire Twitter. We don’t know the price but can assume its well, well north of the $250 million valuation that they saw in their recent funding.

Twitter turned down an offer to be bought by Facebook just a few months ago for half a billion dollars, although that was based partially on overvalued Facebook stock. Google would be paying in cash and/or publicly valued stock, which is equivalent to cash. So whatever the final acquisition value might be, it can’t be compared apples-to-apples with the Facebook deal”

It must be the conspiracy theories which simply muttering the phrase “Google to buy Twitter” generates! Ideas such as Google wanting total access to Twitter’s data so it can make real-time information an integrated part of itself. Google has been indexing Twitters users’ tweets to add a real-time element to its search experience since 2009 anyway.

What is Google waiting for – if it’s for Facebook to get any bigger, they won’t have to wait long. The speculations around the cost run from 5 to 10 billion dollars! A lot of money by anyone's standards – but if Google let Facebook run away, they might never chat up with them.

Did you ‘Wave’ goodbye to Google’s first attempt at Social media?? Are you nonplussed’ at Google+? Tell us your thoughts.
…Get the wallet out Eric and find that loose change!