Google Plus: In which I feel like I’m taking crazy pills
If you’ve ever seen the movie Zoolander, you know that there aren’t too many profound moments in the film. However, sometimes events in life can make silly things seem profound. Case in point – my observations on how Google Plus is being adopted by the masses.
So in the movie Zoolander (scooting back a bit), Derek Zoolander, played by Ben Stiller, has been at the top of the male modeling industry for years. One of his big claims to fame is all of his “looks.” In fact, he even makes a calendar that features each of his looks. Of course, each look is just the same facial expression, and all the facial expression consists of is slightly pursed lips and a look that tries to be seductive. Nobody seems to notice this, though, until the very end, when villain Mugatu (played by Will Ferrell) says something along the lines of, “Oh my God! Does no one see that he just has one look? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!”
That sense of exasperation is how I am feeling about Google+ right now.
People have said that Google+ is a Facebook killer, an email killer, or a Twitter killer. To me, having talked about engagement for the last million years, Google+ is best poised to destroy all of the remnants of the idea of engaging online to grow your business.
I know, that’s kind of a sharp claim, so let me delineate some things, and then you can feel free to point me in the right direction 🙂
1. Wasn’t everyone talking about how they couldn’t get work done because they had to try to get their email inbox to 0? I currently have 45 email messages just related to Google+ and because it’s gmail, each email consists of 3-4 chained messages, so really I probably have closer to 200 emails just related to Google+. I’m sure I could go in and turn off all of the email notifications like I have to do on Facebook periodically, but guess what? I don’t get paid to do that either.
2. Wasn’t everyone talking about how they can’t really engage properly on Facebook or Twitter because there’s too much noise? I thought I had heard this from a couple of people at least, but I must have been hallucinating because, well, everyone is adding everyone on Google+. Sure, there are circles, and a lot of people are getting very inventive in how they sort people out (of course, you can also choose to post your info to all of your 15 circles separately if you want..hello noise), but who has the time to do all of that?
3. I feel certain a few people were saying that they weren’t successfully growing their businesses online because they were networking on a social basis rather than with potential prospects and existing customers. In the frenzy to get connected and/or invited, are your first circles things called “people I want to meet with at xyz show” or are your first circles for friends, family, and Twitter buds?
4. I must have been dreaming when I read a zillion blog posts with titles like, “Help, I have too many people in my online community.” There doesn’t seem to be any filtering process (other than time-consuming circles) going on right now. In fact, I’ve seen a few people just importing their Facebook databases (where they complain about having too many people to network with) into their Google+ world. Now they have to talk to all of those folks in 2 places. Thwah?
5. Oh, OK. Google+ is the ONLY thing you can use for business. I’m really scratching my head about this one. I mean, people said Facebook and Twitter were negating the need for things like marketing, email, advertising, breathing, and most other things. Now, after a week, it’s Google+ that will be the savior of all people trying to build businesses online. See above for my concerns on this one.
6. Um, hi. Like, totally peek-a-boo. A lot of people are saying that things like the Google “hangouts” (video chats) are the next great thing for businesses. It’ll replace GoToMeeting. It’ll replace Adobe Connect. It’ll replace Facebook chat before it even gets started, right? I’ve only been on Google+ for a few days but I have some news…I have been able to see when someone is “hanging out” and more than that, who they are “hanging out” with. Now it may be possible to do that stuff privately, but are people looking into that? Do you want to “hang out” with your clients in the open Google+ stream? Do you want to “hang out” when you should be working? These things are on my mind, anyway.
I don’t have anything against Google+ but I’m viewing it as a purely social experiment right now. My great fear is that people who are feeling disenchanted business-wise with Twitter or Facebook are going to throw everything into Google+ and make the exact. same. mistakes. The updates will all be self-promotional or not at all related to business. Profiles will not mention where you work or what you do. Your stream will be filled with pictures of kids instead of pictures that…well, have to do with work.
Is anyone watching this? Are we once again just “socializing” instead of ENGAGING on Google+?
Or is it not that I’m on crazy pills but rather that I’m just plain crazy?
You tell me!
This is post #83 in the Engagement Series. I hope you are enjoying it (still!).
Image by Marek Bernat. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/obyvatel
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Margie! (HI! I was worried you might get violent with those jerky plants!)
You think YOU are crazy?! How do you suppose those of us who are brand new?! New, I should say…the “Brand” in Brand New probably has worn off, I think I just wiped off a drop of blood dripping from my eyes!
I, like everyone else just being “comfy,” was used to FaceBook when I found HubSpot to help me try to save our business from becoming obsolete. Introducing LinkedIn and Twitter. Twitter about put me in the hospital, but that sweetie Leo made that nifty BufferApp and it helped me finally “get it”. It really did! Twitter is so fast and like learning a whole new language!
So. Figured out LinkedIn, really lovin’ Twitter, shaved my head again over learning commenting systems and now Google+?! excuse me, (WTF?!) Ok. Feel better now.
I have to say, everything you listed just makes perfect sense. Another one? I got sucked into the Klout and Empire Avenue (I have a VERY addictive personality!) Seriously, I do not have time. Period. I had an epiphany a few days ago when we lost ALL internet for two days. I wrote like I have never written before! Yeah, I had to wait (and hope) for the guys to get me up and running again, to do a little research and check some facts, but the bones, were all there. No beeps or tweets or dings. Just writing what I couldn’t grab outta the floaty stuff in my brain. It flowed.
Yes, I’m in and on Google+, I have to be, don’t I? If I want folks to find us…I have to be where they can find us. -Yes? (That really is a question!) Take care and value those nice quiet plants for me! (I could use a few non-talking entities around me!) ~Amber-Lee
Seems like I hit a bit of a button with you 🙂
Yes, it is a lot to learn. A few years ago I felt a great amount of pressure to stay on top of everything and try every new thing so that I could report on it adequately. It’s just not possible. The important thing is to find tools that help you do what you need to do. If you have time to do more exploring, great, but learning & exploring shouldn’t become your reason for living unless, well, unless it’s your reason for living 🙂
Perhaps that is why it is called social media instead of business or marketing media? Margie I know that you and many others are using social media to promote and market business enterprise and business opportunities or themselves – which I think is a great thing and wish you all the best with doing so.
However, I view social media such as Facebook, Twitter and yes Google + as a method to communicate with my family, friends and others who I want to keep in contact with personally and professionally. I am looking to keep these tools for social networking as more social and less professional. I use social media to learn more about the topics that interest me and meet people who are more knowledgeable in those areas than I may be.
I am going in a different direction than you are at this time and use these social media tools differently than those who use them to market themselves or products. So yes I like many others, I am just socializing, instead of engaging potential or actual clients on social media whether it be Twitter, Facebook or Google +. However, I will still use them to publicize a new blog post every so often :-).
Is that a bad thing?
Harold
Hi Harold,
Of course you have a 100% valid point. This post was not really geared towards folks who are using Google+ as a social networking tool. Rather, it was a post talking to people who have been saying the stuff I mentioned above – “Oh, this isn’t working for my business, now let me try it on Google Plus.” That’s the stuff that is making me do a series of double-takes 🙂
Margie, super post. Love to read your blog because you question everything and come up with sound arguments for and against–whatever the topic. This is one time where I’m glad that I was left out of the invite loop. xx
Ohhh, such a sad little note to end with, m’friend 🙂 Thanks. Glad you liked the post 🙂
Margie,
I’m so overwhelmed by Google +. And it seems, rightly so. I already sleep very little because I worry that if I’m not available 24/7 I’m going to drop something important. It’s getting to be too much, sometimes.
I’m sure I’ll figure out how to use it best, but something may need to be put on the back burner for that to happen.
Thank you for your insight. You’re always providing thought provoking information.
Sara
Hi Sara,
For me, Google+ is what is taking the back burner. It just is. It isn’t all that interesting to me, I have a few concerns about it that I don’t have time to deal with right now, and…well, that’s just the way it is 🙂 I like sleeping!
Funny, I just wrote a post today that’s quite similar in thought to what you have said. Guess I’m taking the same crazy pills, just a different dose 🙂
Well, we knew that 🙂
Margie, I hear you…
I’m going to be a “fast follower” on Google +. I’ve been tinkering with it for the last day or so and am impressed with it for a variety of reasons. However, Google Plus isn’t the silver bullet that people are hoping for… It doesn’t replace sound business strategy, aggressive marketing and advertising, and responsible time management. It’s another tool , a fascinating one, but a tool nevertheless.
well said, Stan. Google+ doesn’t float my boat, but if you find it interesting, great! But I don’t want to hear people feeling sad when they find that it’s also not making their businesses grow. I am not really seeing how it could at this point, though I’m sure a lot of people said the same thing about Twitter. It seems very much in the social realm of social networking to me.
Hi Margie, 🙂
I rarely disagree with you (well, maybe except for the be a wordpress blogger rather than a blogger blogger thing) but I’d have to take the opposite point of view on this one concerning the viability of Google plus as a social platform. All points taken re: the “noise”, the hype and all the carnevale like hoopla surrounding it (Woot! Carnevale!)
I’d have to say that it’s a work in progress and I can see a lot of potential in it.
I guess this would have to stem from my perspective as an old school blogger rather than as a marketer, which I’m not.
Anyway, there’s still a lot of adjustment that it needs to do but overall, I’m excited that I think it can be what each of us may want it to be. 🙂
Hi Danny,
Sounds like you’re in Harold’s corner, where you haven’t really been using Social Media as a business-building tool anyway. And that is totally cool and certainly understandable, but it also means a lot of this post can just roll right on off your back 🙂 I was really aiming it at people who have found other platforms lacking who are then doing the exact same stuff on this new platform. Makes me feel crazy, yo! Fer realz 🙂
Have I mentioned how much I love you in the morning? 🙂 Nice post, and neatly relays why I haven’t dipped my feet in the Google+ pool yet. Will stay tuned for more information when people have a firm grip on what’s going on and what they’re supposed to do with it!
Thanks, Renee. It’s a scary place. Enter with caution. Just my opinion 🙂
I agree with Harold Shaw.
See my response above 🙂
I know it’s dangerous to like an idea because it makes you feel more comfortable, but I am so grateful for this post and the comments.
I think it’s important to keep all tools in their proper context. To use something just because it is there is not appealing to my sense of time management, nor is it part of my personal purpose for using social media (similar thought to @Harold Shaw perhaps?). Thanks for this honest post and for making me feel a bit better about remaining on the fringes of Google+!
Thanks, Mimi. I don’t really have anything against Google+ as an entity. I think there’s a lot of interesting stuff about it. It just screams “massive time expenditure” and I don’t know where that Google+ time would come from right now. I’m happy where I am 🙂 As for business folk, I would say it might help to master marketing or growing a business on other social media platforms first, then take that knowledge and move it to this new venue. Again, just my opinion. Take it worth a grain o’salt 🙂
Margie, love this! I haven’t even peeked at Google + yet because I don’t have the time and realize that I’ll most likely be circling up people I already chat with on Twitter and FAcebook, so what’s the point?
Also, I realized that, unless we invite everyone we already know and work with into Google+ we can’t really effectively do business over there yet.
Also, it seems that every new platform starts with a rush to euphoria only to settle back to reality. Remember when Quora was going to take over the world – yeah, that was 6 months ago. : ).
I don’t need to be an immediate adopter. In fact, I prefer to wait and see for awhile before spending an inordinate amount to time sorting through something that may or may not make a difference in my business.