Sound the “Google+ is dead” alarm. Larry Page hasn’t posted a public update since May 25. Just in case it isn’t crystal clear, I was being sarcastic.
Paul McNamara at NetworkWorld posted today that Google CEO Larry Page “isn’t” using Google+. Later, he slips in that important “at least as pertains to public posts” part. Still, he says it’s adding “fuel” to the “ghost town vibe”.
Google+ was launched as a social network that let you control privacy using Circles. This was one of Google’s main selling points for it, and one that Facebook then copied. The point is that you can get your messages to the people you want to read them. There’s a very good chance that many of us are not in the CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the world’s inner most circle. Also, perhaps he doesn’t have things to shout at the entire world on a completely regular basis.
We, in the press, as well as other more casual observers, are watching everything Google says, especially the higher-ups. Perhaps Page doesn’t want everything that’s on his mind to be scrutinized by the entire Internet. I’m willing to bet he’s a fairly busy man, and perhaps doesn’t always have time for status updates anyway.
Sometimes I find myself lacking time for socializing, and I’m a lot less significant to most people than the CEO of Google.
Either way, does the co-founder have to be a hard core user for the product to be successful? If Bill Gates isn’t regularly playing Call of Duty, should we speculate about the future of Xbox?
Page has also been in the news this week for his absence from some Google events, as he has reportedly lost his voice.
As far as Google+ being a ghost town, here’s what George Takei thinks about it.