So, Google+ is here, and apparently my social graph is significant enough that they’ve given me early access. I like it so far, and I’ve even sent out a few tweets about what I like. But I keep getting one linger question:
“When are you going to review Google+?”
Every other major social media blogger has published some kind of review of Google+ and how terrible it is or how wonderful it is and why it won’t beat Facebook or why it will beat Facebook and how it’s trying to be Twitter but it’s not. I’ve seen how to use Google+ for business, way not to use Google+ for business, and the business behind Google+.
What. The. Hell.
This treatment is maddening for a product that has been in the hands of a very small public for less than a two weeks. “But Jay, it’s from Google! And everyone is watching Google.”
I get that, but who decided that every social network needs a review, and that anyone has the knowledge, insight, and talent to judge these networks? No one did this to MySpace in 2003, or Facebook in 2004, or even Twitter in 2006. Sure, we didn’t have a basis on which to judge these networks, but we used them based on whether or not we and our friends enjoyed them.
Social networks aren’t like movies. They don’t come out every week, and they aren’t scripted, acted, and filled with a crap ton of special effects. They’re software designed to help facilitate interactions between people. Sometimes that’s just for fun, sometimes it is for business. But when we start judging every new method of communication instantly after two hours of use and condemn it for not being original or not being “enough,” who is ever going to try something new.
Stop reviewing everything instantly. Social networks like Google+ and Facebook are just tools. If you never try a new one, you’ll never know what you’re missing out on.