Google+ Creating Problems at Google?

Well, we all know my stance on Google+ as a social networking tool- it’s something that could have been great but was just missing that special something that set it apart from other social networks. The result has been disappointment by many in Google.

Today though, a former high-ranking Google employee agrees with the rest of us. James Whittaker, now an employee at Microsoft, says that things have faltered at Google since the release of Google+. Before Google+, Whittaker says the company was focused on innovation, employee creation, and think tanks. In fact, employees were able to (and encouraged to) use 20% of their time to work on projects outside of their work. The result was many interesting innovations, including Gmail.

Since the release of Google+, however, Whittaker claims this spirit is dead at Google, and that the company is turning into an advertising company only focused on revenue.

This insight is very interesting to me, because I think this is hitting the nail right on the head. Google has just gotten so big that they’ve lost their roots for innovation. After a fail with Google+ (we can call it that- it simply has not taken on like they had hoped), Google lost sight of who they were and instead looked for quick solutions.

So has Google been ruined by Google+? Probably not. Has it limited Google? Probably.

Given Google’s success in the past, I can only hope that new management comes in and makes sweeping changes back to the good times.

– Bryan Nagy