Google+ - A Ghost Town?

Here's a link to an interesting study about Google+ which suggests that users aren't really engaging with it. Google claim the study is flawed because the study doesn't take into account 'private' content. What do you think? Do you use Google+? Is it the ghost-town that some claim it to be?


Our view is that it was always going to struggle against existing social networks until it offered something that, to the casual user, was different. Pinterest, for example, has done this; it may end up as a passing fad, but by concentrating specifically on the sharing of images organised in a particular way it has created a 'new' form of social media. It allows people to interact with other people in a way that's different to, say, Facebook*. Google+ is different to Facebook, but the differences aren't as immediately obvious to the casual user. This means that they're having to learn how to use a new interface in order to achieve something which, in their mind, they can already do elsewhere.


We'd be interested in your views on this.


*Of interest is the fact that whilst it is easy enough to share Pinterest content on Facebook, it is harder to do the reverse; at the time of writing you can't easily 'pin' images from Facebook to a Pinterest board.