Google+ had billions in funding, world-class engineers, and arguably better features than Facebook. And it still failed. In this short, we break down the real reason Google+ collapsed — and why great technology alone is rarely enough to build a successful product. Google focused heavily on features: Circles, Hangouts, cleaner interfaces, better privacy controls. But they never answered the question users actually cared about: “Why would I leave the place where all my friends already are?” Facebook wasn’t necessarily the better technology. It was the stronger identity. That sense of belonging, familiarity, and social gravity mattered far more than technical superiority. If you’re building a startup, SaaS product, social platform, or consumer app, this is one of the most important product and marketing lessons you can learn: people don’t just adopt products because they’re better. They adopt products that fit into who they already are. #GooglePlus #Facebook #Startups #ProductMarketing #Branding #BusinessStrategy #TechHistory #Marketing #ProductStrategy #SocialMedia ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ℹ️ Check out Stateshift 👇 Most tech companies struggle to build reliable user and developer engagement. We ride shotgun with you, with clear coaching and frameworks driven by 27 years of experience, to deliver consistent adoption, revenue, and brand growth. Customers inc. Dagger, Comcast, IBM, Linux Foundation, Neural Magic, CNCF, Pfizer, Okteto, Dragonfly, Gates Foundation, and many others. Find out more: https://clcl.ink/yt-d Also check out: Stateshift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stateshift Stateshift Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stateshift/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 🚀 SHIFTsignal 🚀 Weekly insights to help you grow your community or DevRel program—fast. Get practical tips, guides,
Full Transcript
The key nugget of what not to do here is in the story of Google Plus, because this one is bloody tragic. Google had everything, billions in funding, a massive existing user base, and some of the best engineers on the planet. Google Plus even had an objectively better set of features than Facebook. Circles gave you proper privacy controls. Hangouts offered group video chat before anyone else did it as well. And the interface was generally a bit cleaner, but nobody gave a 90% of user sessions lasted less than 5 seconds. The New York Times called it a ghost town, and it was shut down in 2019, >> [music] >> widely considered one of Google's biggest failures, which is saying something. Go and check out the Google Graveyard. So, why did it fail? Well, it's because Google led [music] with features. Look, we've got circles. Look, we've got Hangouts, but they never answered the fundamental question that most people had, which was, "Why should I leave the place where everyone I know already is?" Because, let's be honest, Facebook wasn't better technology, but it was the place where your friends were. And that identity, that sense of belonging, trumped every feature Google could throw at the problem.
Original Description
Google+ had billions in funding, world-class engineers, and arguably better features than Facebook.
And it still failed.
In this short, we break down the real reason Google+ collapsed — and why great technology alone is rarely enough to build a successful product.
Google focused heavily on features:
Circles, Hangouts, cleaner interfaces, better privacy controls.
But they never answered the question users actually cared about:
“Why would I leave the place where all my friends already are?”
Facebook wasn’t necessarily the better technology.
It was the stronger identity.
That sense of belonging, familiarity, and social gravity mattered far more than technical superiority.
If you’re building a startup, SaaS product, social platform, or consumer app, this is one of the most important product and marketing lessons you can learn:
people don’t just adopt products because they’re better.
They adopt products that fit into who they already are.
#GooglePlus #Facebook #Startups #ProductMarketing #Branding #BusinessStrategy #TechHistory #Marketing #ProductStrategy #SocialMedia
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ℹ️ Check out Stateshift 👇
Most tech companies struggle to build reliable user and developer engagement. We ride shotgun with you, with clear coaching and frameworks driven by 27 years of experience, to deliver consistent adoption, revenue, and brand growth.
Customers inc. Dagger, Comcast, IBM, Linux Foundation, Neural Magic, CNCF, Pfizer, Okteto, Dragonfly, Gates Foundation, and many others.
Find out more: https://clcl.ink/yt-d
Also check out:
Stateshift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stateshift
Stateshift Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stateshift/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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