When you mention Google+ to people, you tend to get a very pointed reaction. Outside of a select few influencers, I have yet to hear anyone say good things about it. This opinion isn’t helped by the recent moves by Google to make Google+ the backend authentication mechanism for their services. What’s Google’s aim here?

Google+ draws immediate comparisons to Facebook. Most people will tell you that Google+ is a poor implementation of the world’s most popular social media site. I would tend to agree for a few reasons. I find it hard to filter things in Google+. The lack of a real API means that I can’t interact with it via my preferred clients. I don’t want to log into a separate web interface simply to ingest endless streams of animated GIFs with the occasional nugget of information that was likely posted somewhere else in the first place.

It’s the Apps

One thing the Google of old was very good at doing was creating applications that people needed. GMail and Google Apps are things I use daily. Youtube gets visits all the time. I still use Google Maps to look things up when I’m away from my phone. Each of these apps represent a separate development train and unique way of looking at things. They were more integrated than some of the attempts I’ve seen to tie together applications at other vendors. They were missing one thing as far as Google was concerned: you.

Google+ isn’t a social network. It’s a database. It’s an identity store that Google uses to nail down exactly who you are. Every +1 tells them something about you. However, that’s not good enough. Google can only prosper if they can refine their algorithms.  Each discrete piece of information they gather needs to be augmented by more information.  In order to do that, they need to increase their database.  That means they need to drive adoption of their social network.  But they can’t force people to use Google+, right?

That’s where the plan to integrate Google+ as the backend authentication system makes nefarious sense. They’ve already gotten you hooked on their apps. You comment on Youtube or use Maps to figure out where the nearest Starbucks already. Google wants to know that. They want to figure out how to structure AdWords to show you more ads for local coffee shops or categorize your comments on music videos to sell you Google Play music subscriptions. Above all else, they can use that information as a product to advertisers.

Build It Before They Come

It’s devilishly simple. It’s also going to be more effective than Facebook’s approach. Ask yourself this: when’s the last time you used Facebook Mail? Facebook started out with the lofty goal of gathering all the information that it could about people. Then they realized the same thing that Google did: You have to collect information on what people are using to get the whole picture. Facebook couldn’t introduce a new system, so they had to start making apps.

Except people generally look at those apps and push them to the side. Mail is a perfect example. Even when Facebook tried to force people to use it as their primary communication method their users rebelled against the idea. Now, Facebook is being railroaded into using their data store as a backend authentication mechanism for third party sites. I know you’ve seen the “log In With Facebook” buttons already. I’ve even written about it recently. You probably figured out this is going to be less successful for a singular reason: control.

Unlike Google+ and the integration will all Google apps, third parties that utilize Facebook logins can choose to restrict the information that is shared with Facebook. Given the climate of privacy in the world today, it stands to reason that people are going to start being very selective about the information that is shared with these kinds of data sinks. Thanks to the Facebook login API, a significant portion of the collected information never has to be shared back to Facebook. On the other hand, Google+ is just making a simple backend authorization. Given that they’ve turned on Google+ identities for Youtube commenting without a second though, it does make you wonder what other data their collecting without really thinking about it.

Tom’s Take

I don’t use Google+. I post things there via API hacks. I do it because Google as a search engine is too valuable to ignore. However, I don’t actively choose to use Google+ or any of the apps that are now integrated into it. I won’t comment on Youtube. I doubt I’ll use the Google Maps functions that are integrated into Google+. I don’t like having a half-baked social media network forced on me. I like it even less when it’s a ham-handed attempt to gather even more data on me to sell to someone willing to pay to market to me. Rather than trying to be the anti-Facebook, Google should stand up for the rights of their product…uh, I mean customers.