C2Comics Blog

So here’s my obligatory Google+ post. It’s gone through a couple versions:

Upon first hearing about Google+: “Sounds neat…but it’s invite-only…and a social network?  Sure, G-mail was invite only, but at least you could send e-mail to people who didn’t have G-mail.  And, Facebook was limited, but by college, you could be suggested someone you knew but hadn’t e-mailed.  I bet this will be really awesome, but few people will use it, Google will ignore suggestions despite it actively asking for them, and in less than a year it will cave.”

Upon getting Google+:

Week 1: “This *is* awesome!  The interface is great!  So much more intuitive than Facebook!  When I click ‘circles’, my circles show up!  On Facebook when I click ‘friends’, sometimes my friends show up, sometimes just people who want to be my friends show up….and sometimes it’s on the right, sometimes it’s on the left?  Google Plus is so much better!  I’m gonna send a bit of Feedback….feedbackfeedbackfeedback!”

Week 2: “Hm.  Gosh, hardly anyone’s on.  Better check facebook.  Doo doo doo.  Oh well, back to Google Plus, oh, so pretty!  Now back to G-mail.  Wait…why is my Google Plus name now my e-mail name?  Why is my Google Plus profile pick my G-mail pic?  Gross.  I don’t want my full name on my G-mail.  This sucks, I want to use my full name for Google Plus, but keeping that private for G-mail and shared documents is more important.  Gotta delete my full name from Google Plus.  Gonna send feedback about this, too….”

Week 3:  ”Google Plus is deleting accounts, without warning, of everyone who is not revealing their entire, full name?  And when Google Plus is deleted other Google accounts are sucked down the drain, too?  ….”

So, in summary, Google Plus is disappointing me the same (or more) as Wave.  It’s great.  It’s really fantastic – there’s a lot of room for improvement in the architecture, but the starting point is really sleek, smooth, and intuitive.  But hardly anyone’s on.  Furthermore Google’s mucking things up with idiotic name and universal linking policies.

Meh.  Later, Google Plus.