Google+ faces dozens of major challenges as it tries to break into the social networking world. Facebook is a fierce and aggressive competitor now that just broke the 3/4 of a billion users mark. Google’s reputation based upon past social attempts is tarnished. A large portion of those who will be social networking in the next year are already doing so – there just aren’t a ton of people who are still “on the fence.”
These are big, but there’s a subtle challenge that Google has created for itself that is overlooked but still extremely important. Perhaps it’s not as big as the challenge of trying to launch a social network in 2011 (sort of like trying to come back in the 4th quarter of a football game down 5 touchdowns), but it’s worth noting.
The name, while catchy as some think it is, is hard to make into a verb.
- When you search, you “Google it.”
- When you’re saying something pointless in 140-characters or less, you “Tweet it.”
- When you have a picture of a friend passed out on the sofa with pictures drawn on his face with a black marker, you “Facebook it.”
- “Are you going to share that on Google plus?”
- “Are you going to Facebook that?”
It may not be an earth-shattering, game-changing challenge, but it’s a challenge nonetheless and nobody’s talking about it (until now). Will this pose a problem for the success of Google+?
