Originally shared by Dan Soto
Ever since Google’s Q2 report last week, there has been a big buzz over the amount of people using G+. Last week they reported 10 million users and some sources are claiming 20 million now. Awesome. There have even been two popular graphs showing how long it has taken G+ to reach those those numbers compared to Twitter or Facebook. Cool-but-not.
YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!
Everyone has their jaws dropped over how quickly this has happened but, let me try to give an analogy to show why you’re looking at this the wrong way. (I wish I was a graphic artist to show this visually but hang with me 🙂 )
Visualize the following:
2004- A swimming pool with 5 people around it. A man decides to jump in and do a “cannonball” (make a big splash). Since there are only 5 people around it, not many are affected.
2006 – Same swimming pool but with 100 people around it. Another man attempts a cannonball and now splashes 100 people.
2011 – Same pool. 1 million people. Man jumps in for a cannonball and splashes 1 million people.
– The people around the pool represent the number of people that know about social media.
– Each man that jumps in the pool represents a new major SM player.
As time goes on, we are building a bigger base of people who know about SM. In 2011, hundreds of millions more people are aware of SM than than in 2004. If G+ would have come out in 2004 with this exact same product, the effect would not be nearly as dramatic.
There is also one other perspective. Existing fan base. Google has a massive fan base of users of their products already. Facebook and Twitter didn’t. Think about it. If you were a loyal Heineken drinker and they gave you a free sample of a new adult beverage, would you try it? Most likely yes.
I’m not knocking Google at all. They have an impressive product that will revolutionize the world of SM as we know it. I’m glad. My only point is to put things in proper perspective.
Thanks for listening. Your comments are always appreciated, welcomed and urged.