So, How is Google+ Doing?

Google+.  It was all the rage just a few months ago, but it seems like the luster has faded.

For one thing, I keep forgetting that it's there.  And that's an impressive feat, considering I probably have my Gmail window open 23 hours out of the day.  And Google+ has a little notification system inside my Gmail window.  Yet...I still forget about it.

Occasionally, when I do remember that I have Google+, or I see the Google+ notification in my Gmail window, I will head on over to see what's happening.  And...well, nothing is happening.  There might be millions of people on Google+ (though apparently 60 percent of them are inactive), but I only have 78 people in my "Circles."

I'm not exactly a social networking wallflower -- I have over a thousand Facebook friends, and every single one of them is someone that I knew, in real life, before we became "Facebook friends."  Yet for some reason, only about 60 of these 1000+ Facebookers have moved over to Google+ (and of those 60, only about 10 post with any regularity).

Need even more proof that Google+ is just not happening?  Apparently most of the Google execs don't even use the product, according to blogger Michael Degusta over at The Understatement.  Degusta also put together a handy little chart, so you can see exactly how many Google+ posts Google execs have made in the past few months:

 

Interesting.

What's more, it's not just the execs who are hating on Google+.  Google software engineer Steve Yegge accidentally publicly broadcast a 4500+ word rant about Google, including the following choice notes about Google+:

Google+ is a prime example of our complete failure to understand platforms from the very highest levels of executive leadership (hi Larry, Sergey, Eric, Vic, howdy howdy) down to the very lowest leaf workers (hey yo). We all don’t get it. The Golden Rule of platforms is that you Eat Your Own Dogfood. The Google+ platform is a pathetic afterthought. We had no API at all at launch, and last I checked, we had one measly API call. One of the team members marched in and told me about it when they launched, and I asked: “So is it the Stalker API?” She got all glum and said “Yeah.” I mean, I was joking, but no… the only API call we offer is to get someone’s stream. So I guess the joke was on me.

Yegge posted his rant to his Google+ account, and meant the post to be private (visible only to Google employees).  He has since recalled the rant, with the following note:

I posted a long opinionated rant tonight about how I think Google could be doing a much better job of thinking from the ground up in terms of services rather than products. Sadly, it was intended to be an internal post, visible to everybody at Google, but not externally. But as it was midnight and I am not what you might call an experienced Google+ user, by the time I figured out how to actually post something I had somehow switched accounts.

Of course he's not an experienced Google+ user!  Because, apparently, nobody is.

Remember to add me on Google+ :)