Google+ Gets Redesigned To Focus Around You

STATES CHRONICLE – Since its inception, the social media platform hasn’t seen great success, but now Google+ gets redesigned to focus around you, along with new Communities and Collections. Perhaps with a bit of effort, it might just become a contender for social media. Or perhaps it has already missed its window.

Google’s social network launched in 2011, and hasn’t met excellent results. In fact, it’s one among the list of many attempts from the tech giant at breaking through social media. But, like Google Buzz, Google Friend Connect, or Orkut, it fell short of expectations. Even more though, it was no match for Facebook’s 1.4 billion users.

Since then, Google+ has drifted away from the initial goal, and was left behind by the separation of its best features. Both Google Photos and Hangouts were turned into standalone apps that actually became rather successful on their own. However, the tech giant has not yet given up on their social media platform. What they did was change the tune of their song.

Unlike Facebook, who focuses around friends and their abilities to fill your News Feed, Google+ will be concentrating around you and your interests more. It has updated both its Collections and Communities feature for its reported 540 million users. From now on, it will center more around the specific activities and interests that captivates the user’s attention.

According to Erna Alfred-Liousas, analyst from Forrester Research, it “isn’t about competition right now”. It’s rather clear that Facebook has pulled far ahead of most. However, according to Google, their Communities feature is getting around 1.2 million people joining every day.

Communities now keeps you to a page where users can filter through their interests, whether they’ve already joined them or recommended. These can range from things such as Fitness, to Health, or Nutrition.

Collections has received a similar revamp, where users can browse through the thumbnails of their chosen interests. Again, Google+ provides a wide variety, from news on Coral Reefs to things such as applications. With the new layout, navigation is easier and the blank, white spaces are now marginally more occupied.

It makes for a more pleasant aspect overall, but it’s still unknown whether or not it will be Google+’s saving grace. Some don’t believe it’s out of the race just yet. However, perhaps they have updated their understanding of their audience. And, just maybe, they haven’t missed out their window of opportunity in the eyes of the internet, who has been viciously mocking the platform for years.

Image source: technobuffalo.com