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Online Loneliness At Google+
An anonymous reader writes "Google+ is a lonely place. At least according to a new study that paints the social networking site as a virtual tumbleweed town. Using information culled from the public timelines of 40,000 randomly selected members, data analysis firm RJMetrics found that the Google+ population, which currently numbers 170 million, is largely disengaged, with user activity rapidly decaying—at least when it comes to public posts. According to RJMetrics, 30 percent of first-time Google+ public posters don't post again. Of those who make five public posts, only 15 percent post again. The average time lapse between posts is 12 days, and RJMetrics cites a cohort analysis showing that members tend to make fewer public posts with each successive month. And the response to public posts on Google+ is extremely weak. The average post receives fewer than one reply, fewer than one '+1' (the equivalent to Facebook's 'Like'), and fewer than one re-share — basically most posts in the study did not garner any response."
I was very active at G+, but stopped using it after they started to censor everything like a moral police or something. I haven't used it since 2 months and don't plan to return.
cause it sux.
Microsoft aggravates my tourettes syndrome.
Well, of course they want participation. Participation means more information.
Google should focus on making their search engine better while thinking up the next big thing. Unfortunately, Google is so engineering-driven that it has a hard time understanding people. Even the use of "+1" comes off as mathematical and robotic. Grandma doesn't want to "+1 something".
Engineers often have trouble seeing their own work objectively, and they're afraid to apply human intuition in place of sampling data (e.g., the infamous 41 shades of blue). Google needs to change its culture so that it places greater emphasis on design and human interaction rather than technical impressiveness.