Micro Social Networking: From Google+ to GroupUp

I was cleaning out my Google+ circles and organizing to make my feed more useful and fun for me. As I organized, I couldn’t help think once again how different Google+ is than from when it started. You can’t avoid the conclusion that while Google+ initially had very strong social network aspirations, it’s certainly given up those aspirations. The war is over and Facebook won.

Google, with all the money and resources in the world wasn’t able to build a sustainable social network. My previous product, GroupUp, couldn’t build a product heavily reliant on social network dynamics. The common issue between both products was that each tried to build a social network from the top down, instead of building a platform where a social network might develop organically. Both products, as dissimilar as can be, ran into the same few issues.

For the last couple years I’ve talked about the rise of micro social networks. The idea was that people would get tired of using Facebook all the time and would migrate to a series of specialized, more intimate, social networks. I was both wrong and right in this. Where I was wrong, was that I thought these social networks could be designed from the top down, that there existed space in the market for fully formed social network to co-exist with Facebook. Where I was right, was that there is enough space for social networks, but the networks will develop organically.

Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, & Slack all represent app/services that have had social networks spring up around them. What they all have in common is that they exist primarily as a platform first, a social network second. They don’t try to do everything expected with a social network, but instead focus on one or two things they do really well, and allow the apps to be social.

Google+ was not a micro social network, but what has succeeded within Google+, namely Communities, Hangouts, and Photos, were built as platforms first, social networks second. Google tried to create a stream based social network with the expected features, but ran into the same sort of roadblocks any app or service will run into these days.

First, if your app or service requires all your friends to be using the app to be useful, forget it. It will never happen. It’s very hard to get more than a handful of your friends to install any app just to use it with you. This was a common problem with GroupUp. The app required a lot or all of your friends to be using the app to be useful, but this is extremely hard to make happen. So GroupUp did not capture many people’s interest. Google+ suffered the same issue. You could get some of your friends to come over, but not all of them, so if you wanted to see what everyone is up to, you end up back on Facebook.

Secondly, it turns out your social graph is not all that useful to anyone but the main source. Facebook can do a lot with your social graph, other apps not so much. Just knowing that someone is a Facebook friend doesn’t tell us that much, beyond making it easier to find your friends on a new app. A new app can’t easily determine which of your Facebook friends you really interact with, which of them you know in real life, which of them you chat with. It’s just a list of people, that sure, let’s you find your friends on the app, but that’s about it. When it comes to your contacts, the same issues arise. It’s hard to know which of your phone contacts are the people you actually contact. People’s contacts, and to some extent friends lists, are messy and disorganized. Trying to make sense of it all, in a new app is very difficult.

Lastly, social networks can no longer be built from the top down. In fact, they can’t be built anymore period. That time has passed. The reason things like Instagram, Whatsapp, Snapchat, and Slack are doing as well as they have is because they have singular focuses. Instagram started as a way to take your pictures, do some artsy filters, and share everywhere. Whatsapp has a very compelling feature of texting super cheap. Snapchat plays into people’s concerns about privacy. Slack has turbo charged collaborative messaging in a way that seems so obvious, but that no one had ever done quite as well. None of them began as social networks.

My advice, while admittedly based a lot on one single app that didn’t pan out, is to pretty much never try to build something that looks or smells like a social network. If your app needs social network content to be interesting, rethink it. It’s probably not going to pan out. Instead, focus on a singular task or service that makes people’s lives better, that can be shared, but that doesn’t require it. If your app does share, make sure the content you share is high value. Sharing ads for your app doesn’t work anymore. It just gets tuned out.

The war for social is over, and I think any battles, no matter how small, aren’t worth the time. There are so many aspects of our lives that can be improved and made more efficient, spending time fighting against Facebook’s attention is a lost cause. You’ll come out of it tired and ground down. I know from experience.