An open letter to Google Product Managers

(Disclaimers -
1. I am not associated or employed with any social networking portals, views expressed are personal and to the best of my knowledge.
2. This is long post, probably the longest I have written in a while for which I am not getting paid!)

G+ is a great product, although many might have contradicting views I feel it has all the features (let’s rather call it interaction points, as that sells more rather than features in social media context) and some cool new ones. I also super liked the positioning of Google as well, "The Google+ project: real life sharing, rethought for the web" (Google).

Do I think it will succeed? Before stepping in to that, let me try and put my views on reasons why FB succeeded!

Reason 1: Beyond a tool which could help you "connect" with friends, it had a lot more "interaction points". While connect here means ability to sent private/public messages, getting updates of the where abouts of them and communities etc, "interaction points" which propelled Facebok were its entire eco-system of apps (I know, security threats comes free with that). These so called apps had a double effect, one it made FB a social network plus entertainment site plus they also gave the users some incentive to keep their profiles updated; which from FB's point of view gave a significant selling boost against Google in the AD space.

Reason 2: Users of other networking sites for whom the interaction points mentioned above weren’t motivating enough there was another reason to migrate to Facebok - I feel even though social networks are practically virtual, you often tend to interact with people with whom you anyways interact in the real world albeit not as frequently as say your family members. Office colleagues, class mates, club mates for example - these (lets call circles, to be consistent with the topic) second level circles I feel are the focus areas for any social network. (Yes, that’s why I love the Google plus tag line/positioning) So coming back to the point, the other set of users migrated to FB as everyone they were following or interacting with on Orkut suddenly started to be more active on FB than Orkut. It was like they were "contributing" more on FB and "referring" only on Orkut.

For example, even though I had a FB account, I logged in as infrequently as once a month before I joined PGPM. There I realized, everybody else was on FB and it was more like a virtual classroom! No we didn't discuss MBA there but anything under the sun except MBA was there on FB, and it felt like the peer learning wasn't sufficient without knowing the latest gossips from Facebok!

So can G+ do what FB did to Orkut? Well in the current state of affairs I'd say NO (Except if you seriously consider my suggestions detailed later in the post).
Reasons? The following -

* When Facebok started its pursuit, social networking was an independent or an autonomous system in itself. But now social networking platforms more than double up as a framework for branding, CRM, grievance management and other host of application which find some revenue generating or expense/service management streams. So its not only the users which Google has to lure but also the app/service providers, game developers, companies (especially the ones for which social media is a significant part of their marketing budgets) etc. Essentially even if G+ to FB ratio on awesomeness (functionality, features etc) is equal to the same ratio of FB over Orkut, the task would be atleast twice daunting now if not more.
Some might add here that when FB came to limelight internet penetration was low, social networking was not adapted by one and all like it is today etc, but I don’t think that’s a reason good enough. To cut a long reasoning short, the population growth will take care of this factor along with current population who are under 10 (significant users base of the future). Also the fact the undoubtedly internet penetration has increased, but its still far from saturated (atleast in India)

* Analyst (if you call them so) argue that Google (and its products) have a large user base already and the only reason why it didn’t succeed in this space till now is because none of their previous attempts (remember wave, buzz???) weren't great! And with G+ things would change. I agree Google Plus is a great product in itself but what I argue is providing an awesome social networking is not Google’s mindset; building intelligent products/apps and tightly integrating them with each other is their USP other than off course Gmail and search!

So, what’s the point? What do I want Google to do?

I want Google to focus on providing a complete internet experience rather than just a social network! And mind you, if all the microsofts, Faceboks, yahoos of the world try to race with Google on this they will take atleast a decade to match the infrastructure they already have (in terms of apps) and still may not be able to build them as intelligently as Google does it. Getting down to specifics here's what I propose –

First and foremost don’t focus on Social Media solely, the crux of my solution is “Instead of attracting, compel them to use Google Plus”. Build an array of solutions/services to cater to all user needs where he/she can potentially use the internet.
For example (and how Google expertise can be leveraged)–
• A job search solution – no doubt Google has the best search intelligence; leverage it to for both recruiters and applicants. I know there are many Meta search site in this space powered by Google search, but is there something which helps recruiters to find right candidate?
• A matrimony site – similar benefits as above, albeit in different space.
• Provide packages for institutions and companies to maintain an interactive alumni portal
• May be (random thought) have a groupon like site

Options are endless; the point is to focus on the trend! What I am proposing is whenever I seek any service over the net which requires me sharing personal information at any level; I need a 1 stop shop!
Then use a Google plus to integrate this all, imagine the following and think how seamless and easy the internet will get for the users –

• You have to maintain your information at only one place, and use chunks of it for matrimony, jobs, professional network, alumni network, dating sites etc. This also means only one source from you get all notifications and this will reduce spasm considerably too.
• Right in you Gmail inbox, there is an auto categorization of all mails/notification related to each service.
• If you find a good recruiter/job or a potential spouse, simple add him/her (or may be it, if Google plus has a concept to similar to pages in FB – another idea) to a respective circles. And whenever you want to check the status of say your job applications just check that stream.
* When you open your laptop the first thing in the morning, just open one site - G+. Takes care of your friends, professionals, family, matrimony, mails and what not!

What’s in there for all the concerned parties (I will keep in short, I know it’s a long post)

• Google – No advertiser will even think of any shop to post listings. Period!
• Service providers – Cross-sell, targeted advertising, getting the right talent/spouse
• Marketers – The only need a focused user base, don’t they?
• Users – Already discussed above!

Comments welcome! I wish I could conclude it in some better way, just got too tired in the end! 