Google has finally pushed its way into the social networking world, with Google+ taking off in a way that Wave, Buzz, and other attempts never did, but tech experts are asking whether it will be able to maintain its popularity beyond its novelty, or whether the competition will drown it out.
In the first two weeks of Google+, it managed to break the 10 million user mark. So far, user feedback seems to indicate that people are happy with the service once it passed the initial feelings that they don’t need an additional social networking account beyond Facebook, that it is immensely similar to Twitter, and that they simply don’t understand what the fuss is all about.
For this reason, it’s clear that Google+ has had a strong start. Of course, whether or not this popularity will continue is dependent on many things, including how it will implement mobile into its growth, and how it keeps up with the actions of its competitors. It is impossible to determine whether the early adopters of the service will be indicative of the things to come.
The fact is that there hasn’t been any real testing. At the moment, it is a toy and has not proven its place in the mainstream world of social networking. While its users do seem pleased with it so far, they continue to hang on to their profiles with Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks, as well, until they find out how things play out.
Moreover, others are watching Microsoft’s actions, as it has recently been revealed that they may intend to release “Tulalip”, a social media app. This would enable users to login with their accounts through Twitter or Facebook and share their content. It is not yet known if this is merely an internal development project, a strategy to draw attention away from Google, or a legitimate work in progress, but it does show that thoughts have been made in a different direction.
As Bing has nowhere near the popularity of Google, this could very well be a sign of Microsoft’s efforts to break away from its spot beneath the search engine giant.
