Speaking at Le Web London, Bradley Horowitz of Google+ announced a future aspect to Google+ many weren’t really expecting — a future partnership with Flipboard — in other words another way to consume Google+ that is less about Google and more about the individual. Smart move Google.
Ahead of many more announcements at Google I/O (THE Google conference) shortly Google+ has been around for just 11 months and boasts 170m users (or as Bradley put it “converts”) — that’s a lot of people any way you slice it. But while we have a glimpse of where Google+ is going, it’s important to look at where it’s come in a short time. Oh and it hasn’t yet seen “[its] hyper growth phase”.
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Google+ makes Google smarter — there’s no two ways about it. Horowitz said before it had Google+, the internet giant effectively had amnesia — once the search string was entered it lost the user as it comes down to the type of person they are, along with intent etc. — Google+ changed all that. It effectively creates value for Google and value for the user as they get a richer (while some argue limited) view of the world. Sales pitch over.
There are few companies out there that could do what Google have done with Google+, what interests me is where they go next. How Hangouts will be used to create and drive real change. How the suite of products could change the way we learn — after all when you can Hangout with the best teachers in the world — why learn from less good ones?
When you have a phone that allows you to apply specific actions based on who that person is and how you know them automatically send to voicemail or alert you in a different way I see a useful future. I see alum being added and people being put first. In essence we use the technology to better our lives and it does not use us. That’s a future I like and want to see.
