Inside the failure of Google+, a very expensive attempt to unseat Facebook

[onehandle]

Create a social network or risk everything. That was the original pitch for Google's Facebook rival, Google+, a refrain hammered over and over by the social network's chief architect, Vic Gundotra, in meetings with the company's top brass.

Gundotra, described by colleagues we spoke with as charismatic and politically-savvy, eventually persuaded Larry Page, the Google cofounder who returned as CEO at the beginning of 2011 after a decade behind the scenes, to turn the company upside down for this cause.

"Vic was just this constant bug in Larry's ear: 'Facebook is going to kill us. Facebook is going to kill us,'" says a former Google executive. "I am pretty sure Vic managed to frighten Larry into action. And voila: Google+ was born."

http://mashable.com/2015/08/02/google-plus-history

The Mountain View Ad Company needs to stick to what they are best at. Spamming us with ads and stealing our personal data to sell to the highest and lowest bidder.

Their 'free' services ain't free.

[JimDandy]

1. I don't care for either.

Both steal your data and privacy blind.

[yeoman6987]

2. I am on google only for research but I am on facebook

More positive then negative in my experience.

[JimDandy]

3. Yes, that seems to be the consensus

about Facebook among most of the younger people I know--not among the more savvy privacy oriented ones, though.

[CJCRANE]

4. Here's my suggestion for a new social network: "Tabs".

The idea was inspired by DU.

You have five tabs: friends/family/classmates/coworkers/hobbies.

You put everyone you know into one of these categories. Then for example when you want to see what your relatives are up to you click on the family tab, etc.

You can also choose to post stuff on a particular tab.

Just like DU there could also be a "latest" tab with all the new posts on.

(I know that Facebook has some of this functionality but it isn't intuitve and I don't like the mishmash of the news feed).