Ask HN: Why aren't Google Groups more popular

3 pointsstanislavb3 comments

Hey guys, I'm wondering how many of you here use Google Groups actively. They seems like a great way to organize an online community. Is it just because people don't trust Google?

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Specifically: I agree that Google Groups is just great in terms of functionality (though I wish it was less CPU intensive in the browser). I haven't used it on mobile, but I suspect it doesn't work well there (see CPU load).

Generally: I think I observed that fora in general fell out of fashion. Anything that resembles a forum moved to reddit, the rest seems to be self-hosted niche communities. Google had a number of great services, eg google+, that just didn't get traction.

Yes, it's interesting how Reddit won this space. Yet, I have a feeling that Google Groups could be so much appealing to many as one could use them simply by email. No extra UI needed.

I think it's a combination of most people not knowing it exists, and it's not that user-friendly.

Every Google Group I've been invited to, or have been forced to join, usually 'died' quickly after the creator lost interest or switched to a different medium.

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