How Google+ Will Trivialize Pureplay Social Networks

Making Disruption Profitable™

How Google+ Will Trivialize Pureplay Social Networks

Opportunities 2012-2013

Entire contents © 2010-2012 by Christopher S. Rollyson

Social Business for Enterprise, Government & Small Business1/24/2012

Copyrighted material

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Agenda

• Background– How search works– How social data is different– How Google+ combines social and search to change the game– Google’s business model much more robust and why that’s

important• Opportunity

– Debunking conventional wisdom– Google+ functionality and opportunities– Features and how firms can use them

• Recommendations for 2012



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Background: My Perspective

• 25 years experience as managementconsultant and line executive

• Expertise: disruptive innovation, strategyand transformation

• Strategy and execution for game-changers: Java, e-business, SOA, Web 2.0, social networks

• Founded CSRA in 2006 to advise commercial and government enterprises on social business

• Orkut—social network launched in 2004

• Dodgeball—geosocial app acquired in 2005

• Jaiku—microblog app acquired in 2007

• Google Wave—Launched in 2009, integrated functions of email, IM, photo sharing and groupware

• Google Buzz—Launched in 2010

• Google+—Launched in 2011



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Background: Conventional Wisdom: “Google Failed Social”

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• Orkut—social network launched in 2004

• Dodgeball—geosocial app acquired in 2005

• Jaiku—microblog app acquired in 2007

• Google Wave—Launched in 2009, integrated functions of email, IM, photo sharing and groupware

• Google Buzz—Launched in 2010

• Google+—Launched in 2011



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Background: Conventional Wisdom: “Google Failed Social”

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# F AI L



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Background: The Anatomy of a Social Action

• Social action: "an action is 'social' if the acting individual takes account of the behavior of others and is thereby oriented in its course” (Max Weber)*

• Pureplay value proposition– More engagement

• Google+ value proposition

– Infusing search with social

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* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_actions

Act

ion

SocialSocial

Implicit

Explicit



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Background: Social Network Business Models

• Twitter: still searching• LinkedIn: diverse revenue streams• Facebook: growing on size and gaming• Google: in a class by itself, revenue from Google+ not needed

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300 million users300 million users $45 million (2010)

120 million users120 million users $243 million (2010)

800 million users800 million users $4,270 million (2011)

90 million users*90 million users* $29,321 million (2010)Source: WikipediaSource: Wikipedia * Projected 400 million, December 2012 - Website-Monitoring* Projected 400 million, December 2012 - Website-Monitoring



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Background: Big Idea

Pureplays pale in comparison to Google: it can outinvest them and create synergies with Internet search

• Profile, friends, circles• One Wall.. but also Walls for each circle• Share updates, photos, videos and +1 (likes)• Photo & video albums: powerful editing tools• Google authentication across the Web• Hangouts: real-time video chat• Analogous to Twitter and Facebook, but...

– No 140 character limit– No need for advertising (that’s not the model)

• Sharing is easy and clean, one click– Friends and Extended friends– Any combination of Circles– Individual user [is a private message]– The Public



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Strategy: Introduction to Google+

• Strengths– Social actions juice search results

• Internet searches more relevant to buying than social networks’• Normal Google combined with “social network effect”

– More focused, less advertising– Seamless integration with other Google products– Android ecosystem will introduce mobile advantages– Your competitors don’t understand it

• Weaknesses– Mink oiled boots syndrome– Less obvious value proposition for users– Potential antitrust impact

• FTC investigating whether Google unfairly advantages Google+ results

• Think Microsoft desktop+browser



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Strategy: Google+ Balance Sheet

SPYWSearch Plus Your World



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Strategy: Google+ Strategy: Add Social to Search

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Strategy: Big Idea

Google has more social transactions with people than all other social networks combined

• Circles let you segment and relate– Different types of prospects– Each with its own Wall– Affect search results

• Growing developer community will add widgets• Pages for brands but better

– Circles make it easier to share with various constituencies– Synergies with YouTube, Picasa, Docs and others

• Facebook Pages very limited, most brands have poor ROI• Internet searches more likely relevant to buying decision

– Social network searches usually relevant in pre-buying



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Opportunity: Functionality and Tools



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Opportunity: Circles Enable Granular Sharing



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Opportunity: Circles Have Their Own Walls



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Opportunity: Big Idea

Google+ is not a mere social network—it combines social actions with search to impact Internet buyers’ decisions



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Recommendations: Google+ Opportunities in 2012

• Make Google+ pilots a priority if your firm invests in Internet search/SEO/SEM– There will clearly be disruptive advantages because social data

improves relevance (and search results)• Explore Google+ pilots if your firm does not invest in search

– Analyze Google+ activity and memberships– Determine how its segmentation and sharing tools compare to

your other social business investments• Google+ will disrupt the market, so most organizations will

benefit from gaining experience with it– Few firms understand it because they think it’s a social network– Use their confusion to your advantage

• Remember, Google+ is social– It will take time to develop a quality community (in circles)– Community sharing affects search results and buying decisions



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Learning More: Contact

• Social Business Services– How enterprises evolve sales, marketing, service, HR,

IT, Product Management...– http://socialbusinessservices.biz

• The Social Network Roadmap– Social business risk mitigation methodology & toolset– http://socialnetworkroadmap.com

• The Executive’s Guide to Social Networks– Methodology for platform-based social business execution– http://executivesguide-socialnetworks.com

• The Global Human Capital Journal– CEO/CMO/CIO journal for innovation– http://globalhumancapital.org

• Social networks– http://www.linkedin.com/in/csrollyson– http://www.facebook.com/csrollyson– http://google.com/profiles/csrollyson– http://tinyurl.com/orkut-csrollyson– http://tinyurl.com/xing-csrollyson

Microblogs & Video• http://twitter.com/socbussvcs• http://twitter.com/snroadmap• http://twitter.com/execguide• http://twitter.com/csrollyson• http://foursquare.com/csrollyson• http://youtube.com/user/csrollyson• http://vimeo.com/csrollyson• http://identi.ca/csrollyson• http://csrollyson/tumblr.com/• http://plurk.com/user/csrollyson• http://friendfeed.com/csrollysonOther• skype/IM - csrollyson• iphone - [email protected]• iphone +1.312.925.1549