Theres been so much talk of google “not getting it” with regards to social. Let me take a moment to explain why.
Google is a search company that makes money from Ad revenue.
The whole reason google exists (and thrives) is by getting people to use google search more than any other search engine. They make money by serving up relevant ads on google and using adsense on other peoples blogs and sites. Since when did Google claim to be anything other than that. They may be trying their hand at Social Media but it’s not their knack.
Android: Squaring off against iPhone?
You know why Google created Android? To increase search volume and sell more ads. You know why Google doesn’t realistically care about playing the stupid Android vs iPhone game? Because iPhone brings them a ton of searches. If Google sold hardware it’d be a different story but they don’t. Android is simply a portal to more Google users and more ad revenue.
Android is a way to keep winning the search game in the mobile space.
Google Buzz: Squaring off against Twitter
Buzz is a joke. Sorry, I love you google, I really do, but let’s be real, Buzz is a failed experiment. Do you know why? Buzz didnt present a compelling reason to replace twitter. While it boasted several features that I prefer to twitter, it could not replace the amazing community and the brand that Twitter has developed. Its noisy and lacks certain necessary features (detached from gmail, lists, 3rd party app support).
Buzz is a way to perpetuate the notion that Google can’t do social and does little to improve search results.
YouTube: The conquerer
Ever hear of YouTube; second largest search engine behind Google; BY FAR the most popular video sharing site? Yeah, no one talks about Google dominating that one area of Social.
Do you know why they won video? They bought a great company, kept the brand and then let it run. They let it run for YEARS without even turning a profit. It’s only now becoming a profitable site and their offering is ever expanding, now including full movies. The point is that it’s a destination and highly relevant in search results.
YouTube is a social site that allowed Google to dominate one segment of social and improve search results.
Why Google isn’t doing well starting their own social site.
Google is doing too much “me too” development. No one needs a Facebook competitor. No one needs another Twitter or Yelp or Foursquare. Stop trying to win that game!
Win the game you are already winning: search / organizing the world’s information. What’s really needed on all of those other sites (besides Twitter) is a good search feature, or integration with a good search engine.
Rather than trying to compete against entrenched social sites that have already won, why not buy something or create a partnership to keep winning search. Googles reach in search is it’s biggest asset, and they beter take advantage soon.
Dear Google, here’s the plan, you’re welcome…
Knock off this stupid idea of competing in social. Instead use social to keep winning search. No one needs you to create a new platform. Let me repeat:
No one needs you to create a new platform!
Your goal should be, nay, should continue to be, delivering relevant search results.
The social layer
Much has been made of Google’s social layer comments. What does it mean? I’m not confident that Google even knows what that means. A +1 button, really? Not a terrible idea but it’s far too similar to the Like button.
Heres what the social layer should mean…
Single login
Whether on Google Chrome, Firefox, Android or iPhone, I should be able to sign into my Google account to authenticate everywhere. Plug in every API to Google’s single sign on and Google becomes the passport to your personalized web.
Integrated site search
So now that we’ve signed into Google and have authenticated everywhere else…what’s next? How about this example: I sign into Google, it authenticates with my Yelp account. Now when I search in Google for a restaurant, I get integrated Yelp results. I’ve also been authenticated on Foursquare so I can see Tips left at that location and I can see check-ins. If I authenticate my Twitter account(s), I can see Twitter activity around that restaurant and tweets from the restaurant. I can see all of the deals via Groupon, Foursquare, SCVNGR and any other site I authenticate through Google. This would make the Google profile relevant. I’d add everything.
THAT is a social layer. Google asks for our permission to authenticate to those sites and then searches those sites as if we had visited the site ourselves, bringing back relevant results from social sites, right into Google results.
Share from Google/through Google to influence search results.
So now we’re authenticated, we can get integrated search results, what’s left? Obviously we want to share. We want to share things from reviews to tweets to links and everything else. Why not have a bar that goes across the top of the screen that gives you the ability to share via Google to any of those sites. Now Google can collect data that, when aggregated, can influence search results.
In conclusion
The reason that Google isn’t winning social is that they are playing the wrong game with social. The right game for Google is to leverage social technologies to improve search. End of story.
Some other ideas.
Buy Delicious shut down Google bookmarks. Have tagging activity influence search results.
Buy Twitter shut down Buzz. Twitter can’t seem to figure out how to make money. Buy it, don’t worry about the monetization right now, just figure out how to get Tweets integrated into search results. Leave their leadership team in place.
Buy Yelp shut down Google Places. Again, you are late to the party. Yelp has a community, Google places does not.
In the event that you cannot buy these sites, formulate a partnership that gives you access to their data and make it worth their while.
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