I think it's fair to say Google has simply given up on +Google+ as a great platform to promote
I'm watching the #Pixel2 event right now and what better event to remind people of the existence of Google+ and the tremendous amount of talented photographers here? So what does Google does when outlining the new features in their flagship phone camera? They get some Instagram dude to come and user test it.
Earlier they did the same thing when talking about the sharing features on their new #pixelbook laptop, "modify photos using the Lightroom app and share them on Instagram" … I'm sorry what?? Why should Instagram, a property owned by Facebook of all places, be more important in the social scene than this place here?
As a Google+ user I despair to see such blatant abandonment. Should this place even be called Google anything anymore?
I appreciate no one is going to comment on this but what future is there for this place when the mother house has all but abandoned it?
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Well… I like this place as much as probably anyone who is still here, but I can readily admit that the current state of it doesn't really make it appropriate for a presentation as glossy as today's event.
+Andreas Bartels why not? Because photos integration sucks? (It mostly does) Because it's full of spam? (Is Instagram spam-free?) Because it has no high profile advocate? Or simply because Google HQ is just ashamed of it?
I don't think there's one big fault to put the blame on, more like a huge number of smaller kinks.
Besides the many bugs, issues and UI peculiarities, one is the amount of high-visibility spam and low-quality content, another is the fact that there's currently no convincing story-telling going on: Who should use Google+, what for and how?
I'm sure that answers to these questions exist – I actually like the idea of connecting people around their interests – but there's not much beyond a number of buzzwords like "Discover" and taglines like "The stuff that you're into and the people who get you". This story-telling needs to happen first, both on the platform itself and through off-site advertisement – and probably, attempting to convincingly tell that story will make it obvious that some features are still incomplete and need another round of development.
Unless all of that has happened, not promoting Google+ doesn't equal "being ashamed of it", but just "being realistic".
With the army of developers that Google could afford to hire they could easily crush the spam problem and make a slick and purposeful platform in no time. The only reason they don't is because they don't want to invest in it. Whether they don't do so because high profile users choose not to invest in it or the other way around we will likely never know but you can't deny the fact that it doesn't feel like we're ever gonna get to a point where Google will showcase the Plus again.
I feel like the conversation about where G+ is headed really needs to happen in a clear and honest way so that they (or we) can devise a strategy on how to make this place better than anywhere else or decide that actually social networking does bring the worst out of people past a certain threshold and it's not worth being a high profile platform after all.
+Jean-Loup Rebours-Smith
+Jean-Loup Rebours-Smith
Try Tweeting or some other way of pinging Eric Schmidt. Charman & CEO of Alphabet, Google's parent.
He is a very smart man. Perhaps the adoption rate doesn't justify further investments. Everybody, even Eric Schmidt has to perform for their stockholders.
I used Google+ to host a couple of open houses but got no traction. So I moved on.
Perhaps it is time for you to do the same thing
+Fernando Avila Google's head honchos have no time for the likes of us. But that said I don't want to move on. And move on where anyway? It's not like there's a friendlier place out there
Understood!
I use conference calls or Skype sessions to do what u wanted to do with Google+ but failed.
I challenge your assumption regarding the Google Honchos.
I say again; reach out to the Google "Honchos" and keep at it. I know you will get a reply that is hopefully to your satisfaction.
Good Luck.
Fernando
+Fernando Avila Did it not occur to you that I may have spent the last couple of years doing just that and getting no response?