back to article Panic on the streets of Google+? Choc Factory hires Digg founder

Google has reportedly hired Digg founder Kevin Rose, who earlier this week shuttered his latest startup project, Milk Inc, to allow the outfit to shift to an unspecified new project. It turns out, according to a scoop from Liz Gannes over at All Things Digital, that Rose is moving to the Chocolate Factory with his Milk team. …

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  1. Mark C Casey
    Mushroom

    Soo...

    Google is wanting to alienate the remaining Google+ users and get them to migrate to Facebook?

    That's Kevin Roses speciality.

  2. Spearchucker Jones
    Coat

    What is Google+?

    Anybody heard of it?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What is Google+?

      90 million users if you believe Googles numbers and their rather odd way of counting. If you do believe that then you'll believe that there are 15 million users on Apples Ping because they have an iTunes account!

      No one gives a flying thing for google+

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. DrXym

      Re: What is Google+?

      Go click on that + thingy on the top left of your Google account. It actually works quite well though the merits of social networking remain as iffy as they ever were.

      IMO it has a better interface than Facebook though it lacks the users. That said I think that G+ is close to critical mass too since it's not hard to find interesting things to subscribe to.

      Another alternative is Diaspora which also works very nicely as well but I think it would be vastly more popular if Linux dists bundled the app and running it on Windows was simple as downloading an installer exe and changing a few simple settings.

      1. Audrey S. Thackeray

        Google+ is the best of those sort of things if you like them.

        By which I mean technically best as the fact that no one actually uses it makes it redundant.

        So I am surprised they are hiring techies and not marketing types. The thing works, it just needs users.

        Maybe they'll be working on Facebook integration, trying to become a Facebook, Twitter etc front end - if you can't steal the user base then share it.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: What is Google+?

      I'm sure the unwashed on the street haven't, but that's a GOOD thing...

      It doesn't have the useless drivel that the great unwashed amble on about. It's the best bits of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, without any of the crap that bogs those services down.

      I find my Google+ experience far rewarding that Facebook ever was, and I don't give a shit about numbers of people using it or not using it.

    4. zebthecat
      Facepalm

      Re: What is Google+?

      It is the Betamax of Social Networks.

    5. The Software Fairy
      Trollface

      Re: What is Google+?

      I think I heard someone mention it on MySpace.

      Which leads me reminds me: What is Digg? Who is Kevin Rose?

      Does anybody know? And would Kelvin Rose be a good match for Google+?

  3. Lallabalalla

    Tumbleweed passes.......

    ... quietly ...

  4. Andrew Jones 2
    FAIL

    I find all the extremely exaggerated reports of the death of Google+ quite odd to be honest.

    I am seeing new people joining every day and my news stream moves a lot faster than my Facebook one.

    As I am forever pointing out - Google+ is NOT competing with Facebook - they are completely different services with a completely different operating model.

    Facebook was designed and is still primarily used as a place to connect with people YOU ALREADY KNOW. Facebook makes it very difficult to connect with people you do not know based on interests you share. Though they are starting to change that with interests lists.

    Google+ on the other hand is a place where you primarily meet people you do not know - but you share one or more common interests. The only people who are reporting that Google+ is a failure are people who are paid by Apple and/or Facebook.

    And no - I don't have any proof of that claim - other than that the same sites that claim the death of Google+ are the same sites that slag off every Android phone and slag Google off at every turn. These sites are also the ones who proclaim that Apple is the best thing ever and every product they release is like the discovery that a sharp object can slice bread.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Spearchucker Jones
      Go

      So Google+ is like match.com?

  5. Nextweek
    Headmaster

    Shame on El Reg for bias

    Technically it is a social network, its just not the social network.

    Did everybody imagine that anybody could come along and supplant Facebook in less than a year? Facebook already has critical mass which takes time to overcome.

    The reason people say its full of timbleweeds is because its not a narcissistic stalking zone like Facebook. I like the fact that G+ isn't filled with people telling me what they are going to eat, that their baby has just thrown up again or that Kony 2012 will change my life.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: Shame on El Reg for bias

      > I like the fact that G+ isn't filled with people

      And may you enjoy it for that reason for many years to come!

      1. Craigness

        Re: Re: Shame on El Reg for bias

        " I like...G+...[a]nd enjoy it"

        it is Take Things Out Of Context day?

  6. Keep Refrigerated
    Thumb Up

    They need to promote Hangouts

    I've recently got my wife to stop buying group video on Skype (thus feeding MS) and get her and the rellies using Hangouts for free which - despite slightly lower quality and extendability - manages to land it in the 'good enough' zone.

    IMO Google should keep G+ but demote it in favour of promoting Hangouts and the other spin-off services (unlimited Android photo upload via Picassa). I can imagine Hangouts leading people onto G+ much faster and easier than G+ leading people onto Hangouts.

    Oh and they need to allow an easy share/rss to Twitter and/or Facebook. Contrary to the walled garden approach, more people are going to find it easy to move if they know they can automatically update FB with their G+ statuses, rather than have to find a 3rd party app.

  7. Tom Maddox Silver badge
    Childcatcher

    When I worked at Be, we had an employee-submitted list of failed slogans for BeOS. The two memorable ones which are apropos of Google+ were:

    "BeOS: It sucks less than you might think."

    Followed by (as the fate of the company became increasingly apparent):

    "It doesn't suck less enough."

    G+ definitely sucks less than you might think (far less than, for example, Facebook), just as BeOS sucked less than Windows or MacOS, but it doesn't suck less enough for people to make the move.

    Meeeeeemories . . .

  8. toadwarrior

    Google+ is a technically superior product to Facebook, imo, but no one uses it. That's the problem it has. It's also a harder problem to solve. You can't just throw the smartest programmers at it and hope for the best.

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