The Big Flaw in Google+

I’ve been using Google+ for almost a month now, and I’m in love with the concept.  The only way to dethrone services that are deeply embedded in people’s lives such as Twitter and Facebook is to come out with something that is clearly superior and even then you’ll have to roll with the punches for a while until the general masses realize that it is superior (just ask any fan of the git code repository system). 

The flexibility of circles as first-class citizens is exactly what makes it superior.  If I found a piece of political humor that friends of one ideology would find hilarious while another would find offensive, I get to post it without feeling like I’m performing surgery on my friend’s visibility as I would on facebook.  If wanted to mention something about tech, I have friends who would be incredibly engaged, while others would dismiss it as soon as they saw that it was techno-babble.  People who I’m connected with on facebook find that I’m quite aware of my audience when posting to my wall.

Unfortunately, not everybody is the same.  How many friends do you have on facebook who you are real friends with and want to keep in contact with all of their personal endeavors, yet they can’t go more than four hours without letting everyone know exactly how they feel about their (least-)favorite political figure?  How about a friend that you know is a good person and otherwise want to be connected to, yet all they seem to post about is how much life is screwing them over:  At first several people reply offering condolences and offering to help.  After repeat rants, those replies taper off.

In order for Google+ to be truly successful, Google+ connections need to follow their outgoing posts with the same distinction as their incoming posts.  A great example is an initiative by a TWiT (This Week In Tech) army follower who started a public Google Docs spreadsheet where people can record their Google+ accounts and allow everyone to follow each other.  A handful of people did painstakingly went through the entire list and followed everyone on the list.  Being that I consider them a tech-brother of sorts, I follow them back, and throw them into my “Techies” circle.  This means I know they’ll appreciate anything I post that is tech-related.  It also means that they probably couldn’t possibly care less about a picture of my two-year old hosting a tea party for her five dolls.  So far, it appears that many people don’t follow this level of discretion.  People I’ve never met nor will probably ever meet inundate my wall with all parts of their lives that have nothing to do with the reason we mutually connected in the first place.

Here is where the subjectivity really comes in:  Some people may really want this.  Perhaps they feel like they are now connected in ways other than tech, and appreciate pictures of them and their three buddies at a party.  As for me, however, it’s the same reason why I’ve largely abandoned Twitter: My wall is packed with white noise.  I can’t possibly follow thousands of people and keep up with every part of their lives.

Google+ has shown that making polymorphic circles for outgoing communication is the future of social media, but the real nut left to crack is how we as consumers of incoming messages are able to have the same level of control.