Poll: Are you (still) using Google+ | Hacker News Reader

Poll: Are you (still) using Google+

12 points0x1221 comments

People are talking about the 'flop' of google+ because of the reduced number of public posts. Others counter that this is due to the fact that moost google+ activity is hidden from the public eye.

To resolve the question, here is a poll:

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I clicked "use it sparingly", but what are you comparing it to? I don't have a Facebook account at all and also only use Twitter sparingly. So I haven't reduced the number of posts I'm making, I was never a big "frequent" user to begin with.

I used it a lot, then stopped while nymwars got sorted out, then got caught in nymwars myself, i can no longer post or comment while my account, which is linked to my phone and gmail, is under review.

Logged in to take a look, put some people in circles, only people that are regularly using it are people I read on Twitter anyway.

Seems like it's having trouble "jumping the chasm" from techies and early adopters to the masses, who are largely confused by the whole thing and don't see a need to jump from nice, comfortable Facebook where all their friends are.

Facebook hit it dead on (or got lucky) by being exclusively for college students first - get the college girls, you get the college boys, then their younger siblings want to be on as it's "cool" and their parents want to be on to stay in touch/keep an eye on the kids, then once the parents are on they help the grandparents get on.

Same with MySpace, which targeted bands - another cool demographic. Adults don't have time to be screwing around with social networks for the most part, but make them think their KIDS ARE IN DANGER and they'll log right on - then stick around and start finding it useful. If anything, the cable news hysteria over social networks might help rather than hinder adoption amongst older/non-technical people.

Google+, well, who wants to hang out with nerds? :)

As of now, Google+ and Facebook remind me of ICQ and AIM.

I used to only use ICQ. I tried to avoid AIM, but then ended up joining to chat with a girl I was interested in. Turned out most of the non-tech/engineer world was also on AIM, and over time AIM won out as my chat client of choice.

So my suggestion to the Google+ team: find a way to get girls to join!

ROFL! +100 mate.

One issue, as comments suggest, is that the people most willing and most able to switch to G+ are the same ones who don't do much on other social networks.

I use it sparingly but then I have never posted on Twitter (aside from three sarcastic posts aimed at a friend) and never posted to Facebook; so for me it is a hit. I think Leo Laporte got it right a few weeks ago when he said it was more popular for technical people and photographers than the general population. That being said, I do think that Google will cancel it like the did with Wave.

At first I was really excited about G+, but that faded fast. Now the only reason I visit the site is to play poker. I don't post to Facebook either, and haven't for years, with one exception -- birthdays. I still use FB to wish close frieds and family many happy returns of their birthday.

If I have something to share online, my goto service is still Twitter.

Google Plus does not seem to give me (or my friends) a reason to undertake the effort required to start using it in place of Facebook. On a similar note, people using Facebook are already accustomed to it, and at least in our case, Facebook doesn't give us a reason to use something else.

Never really used Facebook much, but I like and use Google+ regularly. A lot of my geek friends are already there, as well as many photographers. There's a thriving photography community on Google+, and it's very engaging.

Agreed. I am a very frequent user. Yet most of my posts are shared solely with my friends.

In fact, almost everyone in my circles is doing the same thing. So, I don't think calling it a flop does any justice.

Same here. I do use it to follow some people, also.

Rightly or wrongly, I think my friends are (and consequently I am) more likely to switch to Diaspora than G+, at least if they can fix some of the remaining bugs and thus make it a bit less frustrating to use.

I enjoy it because it is primarily tech oriented. I really don't care about what your cat did this morning, but I do care a lot about the new js library you've been playing with.

Google+ is great for finding content and in depth discussion. The quality of commentary exceeds that of Slashdot even after moderation which G+ doesn't have.

None of my friends really are active on the network, so I find myself not using it.

I use it daily but almost all my posts are public

Use it sparingly, but still more than facebook.

You should add an option "I'm an Apps user" :)

As I've commented before: G+ is to be judged differently.

Public post counts are not reliable measures, besides it's way too early to tell, ask again when it's visible to all users and integrated into all of Google's products and have the basic features of search and even "vanity" urls, not to mention removing the invite bottleneck.

It's Google's social play, something it must have, a list of people you know and interact with over Google products. It's a work in progress and will still unfold for some time.

And for the record if any other startup got the numbers they have it would be dubbed a huge success, it's just that people like to speculate about and judge everything Google as it gets them clicks.

Bingo! Having been able to create a niche in itself is no mean feat.

Surprisingly enough the lower noise is putting people off! One of my friends commented that he missed 'mafia wars' and troubling random people (!) .

Wasn't it the same initially with orkut? Back then, especially in India and Brazil, people were skeptical about facebook.

Can you imagine that?

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