The Startup Narrative and What It Means for Google+

November 2nd, 2011 by Tim

Facebook. Twitter. Myspace. Friendster. Geocities. Hell, throw in Tumblr, Instagram, Digg and Reddit while we’re at it. What do they all share?

The social networks that capture popular attention – and mass audiences – almost always share a very similar origin story: the scruffy, boot-strapped start up.  Aping the early histories of HP, Microsoft, Apple and Google, the story of dominant social media websites are pretty much the same – a group of young guys start from nothing but a good idea to make a company that takes over the world.

It’s a cute story – even when it’s not true – and it’s guided a lot of the way both marketers and consumers view these websites. It’s hard to be mad at the Twitter fail whale when you think of Biz and Matt hammering away at code, right? We’re all a bit more forgiving – and a bit more interested in seeing the evolution of the product – when a website is couched in the “scruffy start-up” narrative.

That brings us to Google+. It’s not a fully-fledged, brand-friendly social network yet, and that’s weird. Google is famous for releasing complete (or nearly complete) products and calling them “Beta,” but this one really seems unfinished. Strange, coming from the very well-established technology company that’s already brought us the fully-baked-and-fully-unsuccessful Wave and Buzz.

Without the gauze of “oh, but they’re young and trying so hard!” over our eyes, we’re all seeing Google+ for what it is – a little quiet, mostly full of good ideas, and decidedly unfinished.

Whether the authors of articles and blog posts everywhere are aware of it or not, coverage of Google+ has been affected by their unique position – being an established tech company launching a social network that achieves significant scale – and will change the way we look at network launches from this point, forward.

Tags: futures, google+, social media, strategy

Categories: Google Plus, M80 Intelligence, Social Media Strategy