CubeWeek

Why Google is Failing at Social Media

By Scott M. Stolz

Google has been trying to get into the Social Media space with various products such as Orkut, Google Buzz, Google Friend Connect, Google Wave, Google Profiles as well as adding social media elements to various existing websites, like YouTube & Gmail.  All these initiatives by Google have had various levels of success, but they cannot seem to compete with the juggernaut that is Facebook.

First of all, before we get started, I want to say I love Google.  I am just frustrated that for all the things that they have gotten right, they are so many things they could do better.

In this series on Why Google is Failing at Social Networking we will explore some of the reasons why and what they can do about it.  Some of the major issues include:

• No Central Jumping Point
• Lack of Integration of Services
• Flawed Accounting System
• Needs More Third Party Application Support
• Needs Third Party Social Network Integration
• Needs a Memorable Brand

We will go through each of these below and in other articles in the series.

No Central Jumping Point

One thing that Facebook has going for them is they are a central point for jumping to so many other things.  You want to see what your friends are up to? Check. You want to see what your favorite business or celebrity or restaurant is doing? Check. You want to invite your friends to an event? Check.  You want to promote your business or website? Check.  You want to run any number of third-party apps? Check.

And you know what? With Facebook, you login to one place and you can get to the world.  You don’t have that with Google and it is sorely missing.  Sure, we have the Google Start page.  And there is a link to “My Account” in some of Google’s website, but not all.  But that does not really serve as a good starting point.  We need something deeper.

What is needed is a central page that I can go to that tells me what is going on in every Google community I am connected to.  I should be notified of any comments people make in Google Buzz or on my Blogger blog, replies to my comments on other Blogger blogs, replies to my posts on Google Groups, notification of any private messages I received on YouTube or Orkut.  Any Orkut scraps that were posted on my account. New posts from websites and blogs I subscribed to in Google Reader.  Any new friend requests and event invitations.  And whatever else we can think of integrating.

You create a central place where people can aggregate updates from all their Google Services in a Google Buzz / Friend Feed or Facebook News Feed style page.  Make it full configurable, and add third party app support, and you got a winner.

Integration of Services (or lack thereof)

You might (key word “might”) be able to get away with not having a central jumping point if your services are integrated together well.  Unfortunately, most of Google’s services have little or no integration other than being able to login with a single user account (the Google Account).

This causes many problems including problems with navigating from one Google service to another, as well as the fact that many people do not even know about other Google services.  For example, how many Gmail users actually know what Knol or Orkut is?

Then you have some of the most blatant holes, like why is Google Buzz not in Orkut.

Google could do a lot in the realm of integrating services, which would give a much better user experience and promote the use of other services they have.

I talk about this more in the article “Google’s Integration of Services (or lack thereof).”

Flawed Account System

The way Google’s current account system is structured is a result of mashing together the various web properties that they have created or accumulated over the years.  Some of them, like YouTube, had its own login system prior to being purchased by Google.  While the Google Account has created an ease in logging into various Google websites, it also has some major limitations.

For example, many users have one Gmail account, but then have multiple YouTube accounts, some for personal use and some for business use.  Yet you can only link one Gmail account and one YouTube account together.  And what is worse, once you link your Google Account with a YouTube account you can NEVER unlink it ever ever ever ever.  You are stuck.  Good luck if you accidentally linked your personal Google Account with your employers or business YouTube account.  You’re basically screwed.

The way Google Accounts are structured and integrated now show that Google really does not understand how its customers actually use their services.  The structure of the account system really needs to be completely rethought out if they are to succeed in the social media space.

I talk about this more in the article “Google’s Flawed Account System” (coming soon).

More Third Party Application Support

One thing that makes Facebook so powerful is its third-party application support.  Google sees the potential here and has been working on creating apps that work in Google Apps, Google Widgets that work in various websites such as the Google Start Page and Gmail, not to mention the Android apps marketplace.  So I think they get the concept.  They just need to grow this more.

What would be really cool is if they created a “Facebook emulation mode” where a creator of a Facebook app could easily port their app to Google Apps.  And think of the possibilities if Google Android apps could be ported to Google Widgets.  You could have a nice mini-app on your Google start page or in Gmail.

Third Party Social Network Integration

If you create some of the items I mentioned earlier like a centralized jumping point, and integration of Google services, take it one step further and integrate other social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook.  You see some of this in Google Buzz, but I am surprised that there are so few options.  This should be expanded to as many as possible, making Google Buzz your destination to interact with all your other social media sites.

I already use this type of integration with Twitter and Facebook.  My tweets (Twitter posts) get imported into Facebook and appear on my profile page.  People them respond to my Tweets directly in Facebook.  I use Twitter to broadcast it, but I use Facebook to comment on it and hold conversations.

And it should do more than import.  For example, in addition to replying to a imported tweet (Twitter post), you could have Google Buzz also send a reply in Twitter itself via your Twitter account.

Memorable Brand

Now, I may step on some toes here, but there needs to be a good brand for the social networking website, especially the central jumping point I mentioned before.  Right now you have Orkut, which is the closest thing Google has to a Facebook-like website.  I know that Orkut was named after its creator, and the domain name was available, but unfortunately it is not a good name for a social networking site.  For one, it took me years to even remember what the name of Google’s site was (Orkut), and then once I remembered it took me months to remember how to spell it.  That is not good.

Face it, most really popular sites and services on the web have a really cool or at least memorable name.  Google qualifies as that.  So does Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, TechCrunch, Mashable, Amazon, CubeWeek, etc.

(*Well, hopefully CubeWeek is memorable. )

The Social Media Overhaul

Google really has a lot of pieces of the social media puzzle in place, but unfortunately they are scattered all over the place.  They don’t necessarily have to create a unified website like Facebook that encompases everything, but they do need to create a good jumping point and integrate their services better.  That and a cool name, and I think they have a winner.

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