Career News 24/7: The Cynical Girl: Social Media Saturday: Google+

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Cynical Girl: Social Media Saturday: Google+

Posted: 23 Jul 2011 03:45 AM PDT

I know you’ve been waiting to hear my review of Google+ and I’ll give it to you straight.

It’s okay.

Let’s take a step back. In early June, I decided to write about Google profiles and the Google +1 feature because I heard that the new Google+ network was coming (like everyone else). I wanted you to be prepared.

My advice still stands. If you don’t have a google profile, you need one.

Your google profile is the underpinning of the Google social network called Google+. And how is Google+ different than the million other social networking platforms out there?

Well, I’m not sure it is different.

Like most sites on the social web, we don’t know what we don’t know. We make assumptions about the potential Google+ (and other sites like Facebook and LinkedIn) based on what we know today. And we don’t know squat. Most of us realize that we are on the cusp of using technology in a really interesting way to connect, share and learn — but there are still problems around language, cost, and access to the internet.

And have you noticed that we’re all very stupid? Technology is a huge part of our lives — and it’s often wasted because we are all screaming at one another. We consume a tremendous amount of content but our reading comprehension skills are plummeting, too.

We are dumber.

So what do I really think of Google+? I don’t care. The platform doesn’t matter because I’m pretty sure Google+ can do anything we want it to do.

We should dream bigger.