#googlespaces

How Links Are Google's 'Secret Weapon' (Updated w/ Google Spaces)

Once upon a time, there were two separate things that were both called Google+: a social network, and a 'Unified Google Account' system and 'social layer'. The idea was that the two would rise together, and Google would simultaneously solve two of their biggest problems: their weakness in social media, and the fragmentation of their user accounts across many different services (there was a Google account, a YouTube account, a Blogger account, etc...), making it difficult for users to move and share within their ecosystem.

Eventually, the Google+ social network peaked at somewhere around the number of users of Twitter, but nowhere near the 1bn+ users of Facebook. The account system did considerably better, but many people resisted it or resented it due to its tie-in with a social network they didn't want to be forced to use, and thus the social layer connected with this languished.

Recently, Google swapped out the G+ account system with a more generic and less social Google account system, and made the network itself more of a standalone product with fewer deep ties into the rest of the Google ecosystem.

This seems to have been well received by most users (excluding many users of the Google+ social network, who were naturally more inclined to look favorably on it), but has left the company with one of the same problems the previous system was intended to solve: to make it easy for users to share with each other across the Google ecosystem. Since most users didn't Circle their important contacts, the Google+ social layer did not ultimately make sharing within and between Google products any easier for most users.

In the following article, I explain how Google has responded to this by dusting off and revitalizing that old chestnut of web sharing: the link. This new strategy is fast becoming standard across all Google properties, including the newly unveiled Spaces app for small group sharing.

#GoogleUpdates #GoogleSpaces

How Links Are Google's 'Secret Weapon' (Updated w/ Google Spaces)

Once upon a time, there were two separate things that were both called Google+: a social network, and a 'Unified Google Account' system and 'social layer'. The idea was that the two would rise together, and Google would simultaneously solve two of their biggest problems: their weakness in social media, and the fragmentation of their user accounts across many different services (there was a Google account, a YouTube account, a Blogger account, etc...), making it difficult for users to move and share within their ecosystem.

Eventually, the Google+ social network peaked at somewhere around the number of users of Twitter, but nowhere near the 1bn+ users of Facebook. The account system did considerably better, but many people resisted it or resented it due to its tie-in with a social network they didn't want to be forced to use, and thus the social layer connected with this languished.

Recently, Google swapped out the G+ account system with a more generic and less social Google account system, and made the network itself more of a standalone product with fewer deep ties into the rest of the Google ecosystem.

This seems to have been well received by most users (excluding many users of the Google+ social network, who were naturally more inclined to look favorably on it), but has left the company with one of the same problems the previous system was intended to solve: to make it easy for users to share with each other across the Google ecosystem. Since most users didn't Circle their important contacts, the Google+ social layer did not ultimately make sharing within and between Google products any easier for most users.

In the following article, I explain how Google has responded to this by dusting off and revitalizing that old chestnut of web sharing: the link. This new strategy is fast becoming standard across all Google properties, including the newly unveiled Spaces app for small group sharing.

#GoogleUpdates #GoogleSpaces

How Links Are Google's 'Secret Weapon' (Updated w/ Google Spaces)

Once upon a time, there were two separate things that were both called Google+: a social network, and a 'Unified Google Account' system and 'social layer'. The idea was that the two would rise together, and Google would simultaneously solve two of their biggest problems: their weakness in social media, and the fragmentation of their user accounts across many different services (there was a Google account, a YouTube account, a Blogger account, etc...), making it difficult for users to move and share within their ecosystem.

Eventually, the Google+ social network peaked at somewhere around the number of users of Twitter, but nowhere near the 1bn+ users of Facebook. The account system did considerably better, but many people resisted it or resented it due to its tie-in with a social network they didn't want to be forced to use, and thus the social layer connected with this languished.

Recently, Google swapped out the G+ account system with a more generic and less social Google account system, and made the network itself more of a standalone product with fewer deep ties into the rest of the Google ecosystem.

This seems to have been well received by most users (excluding many users of the Google+ social network, who were naturally more inclined to look favorably on it), but has left the company with one of the same problems the previous system was intended to solve: to make it easy for users to share with each other across the Google ecosystem. Since most users didn't Circle their important contacts, the Google+ social layer did not ultimately make sharing within and between Google products any easier for most users.

In the following article, I explain how Google has responded to this by dusting off and revitalizing that old chestnut of web sharing: the link. This new strategy is fast becoming standard across all Google properties, including the newly unveiled Spaces app for small group sharing.

#GoogleUpdates #GoogleSpaces

How Links Are Google's 'Secret Weapon' (Updated w/ Google Spaces)

Once upon a time, there were two separate things that were both called Google+: a social network, and a 'Unified Google Account' system and 'social layer'. The idea was that the two would rise together, and Google would simultaneously solve two of their biggest problems: their weakness in social media, and the fragmentation of their user accounts across many different services (there was a Google account, a YouTube account, a Blogger account, etc...), making it difficult for users to move and share within their ecosystem.

Eventually, the Google+ social network peaked at somewhere around the number of users of Twitter, but nowhere near the 1bn+ users of Facebook. The account system did considerably better, but many people resisted it or resented it due to its tie-in with a social network they didn't want to be forced to use, and thus the social layer connected with this languished.

Recently, Google swapped out the G+ account system with a more generic and less social Google account system, and made the network itself more of a standalone product with fewer deep ties into the rest of the Google ecosystem.

This seems to have been well received by most users (excluding many users of the Google+ social network, who were naturally more inclined to look favorably on it), but has left the company with one of the same problems the previous system was intended to solve: to make it easy for users to share with each other across the Google ecosystem. Since most users didn't Circle their important contacts, the Google+ social layer did not ultimately make sharing within and between Google products any easier for most users.

In the following article, I explain how Google has responded to this by dusting off and revitalizing that old chestnut of web sharing: the link. This new strategy is fast becoming standard across all Google properties, including the newly unveiled Spaces app for small group sharing.

#GoogleUpdates #GoogleSpaces

How Links Are Google's 'Secret Weapon' (Updated w/ Google Spaces)

Once upon a time, there were two separate things that were both called Google+: a social network, and a 'Unified Google Account' system and 'social layer'. The idea was that the two would rise together, and Google would simultaneously solve two of their biggest problems: their weakness in social media, and the fragmentation of their user accounts across many different services (there was a Google account, a YouTube account, a Blogger account, etc...), making it difficult for users to move and share within their ecosystem.

Eventually, the Google+ social network peaked at somewhere around the number of users of Twitter, but nowhere near the 1bn+ users of Facebook. The account system did considerably better, but many people resisted it or resented it due to its tie-in with a social network they didn't want to be forced to use, and thus the social layer connected with this languished.

Recently, Google swapped out the G+ account system with a more generic and less social Google account system, and made the network itself more of a standalone product with fewer deep ties into the rest of the Google ecosystem.

This seems to have been well received by most users (excluding many users of the Google+ social network, who were naturally more inclined to look favorably on it), but has left the company with one of the same problems the previous system was intended to solve: to make it easy for users to share with each other across the Google ecosystem. Since most users didn't Circle their important contacts, the Google+ social layer did not ultimately make sharing within and between Google products any easier for most users.

In the following article, I explain how Google has responded to this by dusting off and revitalizing that old chestnut of web sharing: the link. This new strategy is fast becoming standard across all Google properties, including the newly unveiled Spaces app for small group sharing.

#GoogleUpdates #GoogleSpaces

How Links Are Google's 'Secret Weapon' (Updated w/ Google Spaces)

Once upon a time, there were two separate things that were both called Google+: a social network, and a 'Unified Google Account' system and 'social layer'. The idea was that the two would rise together, and Google would simultaneously solve two of their biggest problems: their weakness in social media, and the fragmentation of their user accounts across many different services (there was a Google account, a YouTube account, a Blogger account, etc...), making it difficult for users to move and share within their ecosystem.

Eventually, the Google+ social network peaked at somewhere around the number of users of Twitter, but nowhere near the 1bn+ users of Facebook. The account system did considerably better, but many people resisted it or resented it due to its tie-in with a social network they didn't want to be forced to use, and thus the social layer connected with this languished.

Recently, Google swapped out the G+ account system with a more generic and less social Google account system, and made the network itself more of a standalone product with fewer deep ties into the rest of the Google ecosystem.

This seems to have been well received by most users (excluding many users of the Google+ social network, who were naturally more inclined to look favorably on it), but has left the company with one of the same problems the previous system was intended to solve: to make it easy for users to share with each other across the Google ecosystem. Since most users didn't Circle their important contacts, the Google+ social layer did not ultimately make sharing within and between Google products any easier for most users.

In the following article, I explain how Google has responded to this by dusting off and revitalizing that old chestnut of web sharing: the link. This new strategy is fast becoming standard across all Google properties, including the newly unveiled Spaces app for small group sharing.

#GoogleUpdates #GoogleSpaces

How Links Are Google's 'Secret Weapon' (Updated w/ Google Spaces)

Once upon a time, there were two separate things that were both called Google+: a social network, and a 'Unified Google Account' system and 'social layer'. The idea was that the two would rise together, and Google would simultaneously solve two of their biggest problems: their weakness in social media, and the fragmentation of their user accounts across many different services (there was a Google account, a YouTube account, a Blogger account, etc...), making it difficult for users to move and share within their ecosystem.

Eventually, the Google+ social network peaked at somewhere around the number of users of Twitter, but nowhere near the 1bn+ users of Facebook. The account system did considerably better, but many people resisted it or resented it due to its tie-in with a social network they didn't want to be forced to use, and thus the social layer connected with this languished.

Recently, Google swapped out the G+ account system with a more generic and less social Google account system, and made the network itself more of a standalone product with fewer deep ties into the rest of the Google ecosystem.

This seems to have been well received by most users (excluding many users of the Google+ social network, who were naturally more inclined to look favorably on it), but has left the company with one of the same problems the previous system was intended to solve: to make it easy for users to share with each other across the Google ecosystem. Since most users didn't Circle their important contacts, the Google+ social layer did not ultimately make sharing within and between Google products any easier for most users.

In the following article, I explain how Google has responded to this by dusting off and revitalizing that old chestnut of web sharing: the link. This new strategy is fast becoming standard across all Google properties, including the newly unveiled Spaces app for small group sharing.

#GoogleUpdates #GoogleSpaces