Google+ is a ghost town, study says

[Reality]

Google+ is a ghost town, study says
http://www.bgr.com/2012/05/15/google-plus-social-usage-study/

The RJ Metrics suggests that an average post on Google+ gets fewer than one “+1,” the equivalent of a “like” on Facebook, and fewer than one reply as well. Links and other items shared publicly by Google+ users are re-shared just 0.17 times per post on average. Users covered by the study averaged about one post every 12 days, and usage per user declines each month after they make their first public post.

In what is perhaps the most concerning stat from the firm’s study, about 30% of users who make a public post on Google+ never make a second one.

Full Article

#reality

 

[JonJon]

I don't know why this is surprising to them. The interface is not at all as earth shattering as the hype would lead you to believe, and it would need to be in order to supplant the average user from Facebook. Also, most businesses have made a heavy investment into Facebook now, so if the Google devs thought that everyone was just going to jump ship, they were sadly mistaken.

 

[Concord]

Sam isn't going to be happy about this.

 

[theogt]

Who didn't predict this?

 

[big dog cowboy]

“By only tracking engagement on public posts, this study is flawed and not an accurate representation of all the sharing and activity taking place on Google+,” the Google spokesperson said.

There's a shock.

 

[RS12]

“By only tracking engagement on public posts, this study is flawed and not an accurate representation of all the sharing and activity taking place on Google+,” the Google spokesperson said

So says the guy whose job is on the line. Lets see, late to the party and not as intuitive, sounds like not worth the effort.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I would say I've probably made less than 20-25 public posts on it (probably 50-60 private posts), but I follow it several times a day. I follow interesting people. Tech, business, Python, astronomy, etc. I'm not a very social person beyond this place. Even when I did logon to Facebook, I didn't post much.

One thing I've noticed on G+ is I see people comment on someone elses post, and when I look at their profile. They have not shared any posts with me. Meaning public posts. They are only sharing with their circles. Hard to get hard counts on someones posts when they don't share them publicly. They definitely comment on other peoples posts though. You can see those from their profile though. You have to be looking at a post that they commented on.

I will say this. To say G+ is a ghost town is incorrect. G+ has a comment limit of 500 per post. I come across a lot of interesting posts that I can't comment on because it's already hit the 500 comment threshold.

 

[vta]

I created an account at a friends invitation. The place is dead and I never remember my password, because one, Google is lame and insists I can't just create my own without them haranguing me about it not being 'secure' enough, like I'm harboring state secrets and two because I barely go there.

Meanwhile on the Facebook side... I have to wonder, what makes this mindless site so valuable? I can't imagine their paltry advertising on the right of the page is doing much business and I guess GM feels the same way.

I doubt the advertising companies pay top dollar for is very effective.

Facebook heads into its initial public offering on target to become a $100 billion company.

But while its supporters see it as the next Apple (AAPL) or Google (GOOG), not everyone "likes" the company: Some detractors wonder whether the social networking giant could instead ultimately be headed to the junkyard to join ******* and Friendster.

General Motors (GM), for one, appears to no longer believe in the power of Facebook -- the automaker plans to stop advertising on the site because it said its paid ads had "little impact on consumers' car purchases," according to The Wall Street Journal. GM, the country's third-largest advertiser, had been spending about $10 million on Facebook ads, according to the Journal. The company will continue to reach out to customers through its Facebook pages, however.

Link

 

[ajk23az]

I only use Google+ for the group chat feature w/ the app.

 

[YosemiteSam]

I only use Google+ for the group chat feature w/ the app.

Are you talking about Google Hangouts or GChat?