Google Plus: The writing is on the wall

Just a few short months ago, the Internet was abuzz with anticipation of Google + launching. The Pier2Pier team, of course we were among the first kids on the block to see what all the hype was about. Initially, much like a trendy nightclub, nobody could get an invite, and naturally then everyone wanted to join.
In obtaining 25 million users in one month, Google + quickly secured its place in cyber history by becoming one of the fastest growing websites. So why then is my newsfeed as dead as my childhood dream of growing up to be an Egyptologist?

Around the web, there are many different opinions about Google +, and how active it is. Facebook currently stands at roughly 800 million active users, and Twitter recently confirmed their active user status at 100 million (October 2011). Both define an active user as someone who logs in at least once a month. Google + on the other hand boasts tremendously with a membership of 40 million , however this number does not represent their active users, but the total membership of those signed up.

More reports indicate that Google + traffic has plunged by over 60% up until September 2011, and posts per day have fallen from 0.68/user/day to 0.4/user/day. In this way, even though their membership is growing steadily, the degree of interaction on the site may not exhibit the same promise.

I’m not saying that Google + isn’t growing, it’s just that its expected revolution is not as widespread yet. Without resorting to statistics derived from intensive market surveys, I personally think that the purpose of Google + is redundant. Facebook with Twitter fulfil my online social networking requirements, and quite frankly, managing another account that provides such a similar benefit is an effort that I simply don’t have the time for.

Here are two additional reasons that may challenge Google’s newcomer:

The People
Imagine Google + as a party. How would you rate a party with 73.7% of the guests being dudes, and including a strong skew to the following occupations : Engineers (24.56%); Developers (13.5%); and Designers (10.77%)? And most likely, only one or two of your friends decided to pitch up (and they might have sneaked off early anyways to go to a better party i.e. Facebook).

The features
I’ll be honest, Google + is easy to use if you take an hour to explore its functionalities, but ultimately, the question arises on whether users will take this hour to figure it out. It seems like a bit of an effort to set the privacy of each of your updates to a designated Circle (feature allowing users to categorise their connections). The concept is good, but in practice, it may cause some embarrassing situations when posting something only those in your Friends Circle should see.
Even though Google + was ‘inspired’ greatly by Facebook (and I use the word ‘inspired’ loosely, and actually mean stealing), it still does not allow you to write on the walls of your connections. Another missing feature is that Google + does not allow you to send inbox messages, unless you go through Gmail, which is kinda like cheating don’t you think?

Ultimately, I love the concept of Google +, and sharing the web through recommendations (+1’s) is brilliant. It’s just that it’s user numbers and usage frequency is slumping behind which is tragic really.
I look forward to the day that users and usage picks up, the functionalities of the network has found it’s je ne sais quoi, and the day that they decide to make it look pretty.

I'm sure there'll be a few who want to prove me wrong, so please let me know what you think.