Considering that I tweeted this sometime back, and found this a great read, this post is not on the pros-cons/ how to use Google Plus or on the lines of 'why I am getting out of Facebook and hopping into bed with Google Plus'. These are just thoughts based on a query I asked on and about the platform a couple of days back.
The context: I observed that, on my Plus stream ( I have 'circled' about 150 people), a few people were sharing the same content they did on Twitter and LinkedIn, presented the same way as well. I could understand why they would use these as distribution networks because it is difficult to accurately predict who catches what in busy streams. But what did surprise me was this content being shared as 'Public' on Google Plus, when it is very easy to create circles of people with common interest and share accordingly. (using earlier interactions on other networks or even what they share on Plus) And so I asked
twitter.com/#!/misentropy” target=”_blank”>Iqbal, who nailed it with “we are used to the environment defining the limits of who we share with – rather than having the ability to choose and consciously picking one set of people over another, every time we have something to say.” In this context, I remembered an excellent post by JP Rangaswami on the subject of filters, publishers and subscribers. While I agree with his summation that “We can only fix filter failure by providing subscribers with better filters, by providing publishers with tools that allow subscribers to filter better“, I did feel that in the interim, till the environment (/infrastructure) is able to deliver this at least to a certain degree of satisfaction (it's a dynamic scenario, not likely to be completely perfect), publishers (us) should filter our output too.
All of this led me to a comparison of this scenario to that of brands as publishers. Thanks to traditional media platforms, brands had an environment which to a large extent defined the what/who/where/how of marketing communication. Few brands have been able to cope with the explosion of platforms and the freedom, choices and protocols that come with it. As consumers become filters and learn selective broadcast, exploring and navigating the platforms might be a good idea for brands, but it might be a better idea to (also) invest in a content-communication infrastructure which can be customised to meet both the dynamics – the brand's messaging needs and the consumer's sharing habits. (in the brand's context)
I could be very late to join in but I noticed today that when you share something with me (in a limited group), I get a notification. Whereas when we share with the public, it is merely a part of the noisy feed!
But as I told you on the status update as well, I think people share what excites them. So, I really don’t think about who would appreciate it.Â
On the other hand, if I share certain things with my circles (I have 67 people in my circles but I am in 150 people’s circles), people who have chosen to follow me to read what I have to say will miss it, no? Also, the 67 people who are in my circles, if they haven’t added me back, they might get notifications that they did not subscribe to?
Considering that I tweeted this sometime back, and found this a great read, this post is not on the pros-cons/ how to use Google Plus or on the lines of 'why I am getting out of Facebook and hopping into bed with Google Plus'. These are just thoughts based on a query I asked on and about the platform a couple of days back.
I could be very late to join in but I noticed today that when you share something with me (in a limited group), I get a notification. Whereas when we share with the public, it is merely a part of the noisy feed!
But as I told you on the status update as well, I think people share what excites them. So, I really don’t think about who would appreciate it.Â
On the other hand, if I share certain things with my circles (I have 67 people in my circles but I am in 150 people’s circles), people who have chosen to follow me to read what I have to say will miss it, no? Also, the 67 people who are in my circles, if they haven’t added me back, they might get notifications that they did not subscribe to?
Layers of issues here?