Google's latest fail

Google plus is a social networking and identity service operated by Google Inc. It was launched as 'invite only' in June 2011. Due to the high demand it was then made public in September 2011 to anyone aged 18 years or older. Goole+ in essence is an integration of social services such as Google Profiles and an introduction of newer services known as ‘Circles, Hangouts and Sparks’. Google+ aim was to make connection on the web more realistic as such that it would be the same as if connecting in the real world.

This is Google’s second attempt at trying to break into the social media market. The first was Google buzz which was a fail. If one were to look at sign up figures in the first month we would be saying goodbye to Facebook. Google+ managed to sign 25 million users in a month which makes Google+ one of the fastest growing websites in history. These figures are staggering and enticing at a first glance but when a closer look is given these figures a merely a smoke screen. In order to understand why Google+ didn’t take off we must understand why its main rival Facebook has stood the test of time and succeeded.

Facebook was developed firstly with college students in mind and when it was made available to users worldwide it was user friendly and exciting to use. But, for the most part the reason for Facebook’s success was the fact that it was innovative, new, and streamlined for users in comparison to its original rival MySpace. Google+ merely took Facebook’s idea and ironed out the flaws such as privacy settings and layout. These reasons do not make for a better or more competitive rival. Users are not concerned with such minute details. If an individual is ‘over’ Facebook it is not for a reason such a colour or layout it is because for the most part they are simply tired of social networking. This is turn would imply that they would not simply switch to Google+ to get the same thing but just have a different layout.

Although the figures are staggering, most people have just signed up for Google+ to see what the initial craze was. For the majority of profiles that have been created there are no profile pictures therefore illustrating that they have never logged on since they signed up.

Google+ became a failure because it was in the end a cheap copy of what was already in existence. For something to compete in a market it must be innovative and differential to what co-exists.

Are we looking at another bubble soon to burst!

You must be hiding under a stone if you haven’t heard Facebook’s latest and most elaborate spend to date. Facebook has decided to spend a whopping $1 billion on an app that makes no money! Instagram has 33 million users implying that Facebook paid $30 per user.

This extravagant spend was on the app ‘Instagram’. The app is made with the intention of allowing you to share your life ‘as instant and magical’ as the first Polaroid pictures had been when they came about.  Now don’t get me wrong it’s a brilliant idea but the only difference is the options to make your pictures more retro and there are 11 other options to change the picture one takes.

Facebook uploads an average 250 million pictures a day. Facebook’s main feature is photo sharing so of course they will be able to utilise the Instagram app but $1 billion is just too much money. . Instagram seems to have been bought so that other social networking sites won’t gain access any revenue that could be made. I would be of the belief that Facebook was trying to ensure that Twitter would not buy the app.

I can’t help but think back to when Google purchased YouTube for $1.65 billion. Or when eBay purchased Skype for an estimated price of approximately $3.1 billion and two years later was sold to Microsoft for $8.5 billion. This was Microsoft’s largest sever acquisition at the time (May 2011).

These elaborate spends by these very profitable companies have to bring to all our minds when the dot com bubble burst. If you are not familiar with the dot-com bubble it was basically an increase in the value from the growth in the internet sector. The bubble burst and only 50% of dot-com's survived.

So the acquisitions of YouTube by Google, Skype by Microsoft and now Instagram by Facebook has us all wondering is there another bubble on the horizon similar to that of the dot-com bubble.