Let's start with the roll call of sites and services I have joined.
I have a Tumblr page, an Instagram account, a Twitter feed, a Facebook page, this website, an old and possibly deleted personal website, a Linkedin account, a Foursquare account, a work blog at newsherald.com and now, tonight, I added a Google+ account.
Now, granted, a lot of this is my own fault. I like to try new things. I had a Netflix account back when they were still building Blockbuster stores. I got an iPhone earlier this year and that made it worse. I could now check in and post on three or four new social services instantly and constantly.
That's great. Except that the people in my life who actually want to have a face to face conversation with me are forever annoyed that I won't get my head out of my phone.
Bah, if I wanted to have personal interactions I wouldn't have gotten a smartphone.
Anyway, let's take these services one at a time.
Linkedin: Our television friends on 30 Rock pretty much nailed this service when Jack Donaghy, the all powerful corporate executive talked about a failed executive who was looking for a job.
"I tracked him down to an address in Brooklyn. He's on LinkedIn, Lemon. He might as well be dead," Donaghy said. Correct.
Foursquare: Burned it up for about two weeks then got creeped out by it. Might use it again someday but haven't used it in nearly a month. Haven't missed it.
Tumblr: Really, really cool. If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have started this blog I would have just created a Tumblr account and let that be it. It seems like the perfect blogging tool but I get the sinking feeling that not a lot of people use it or want to use it.
Instagram: A photo sharing service that all the cool kids are using. I like it because it's smart enough to realize it's not the only game in town. I take a picture and I can send it anyplace I choose anyway I choose. I can send to Twitter and Tumblr and the blog or any combination of the three or nowhere except on Instagram itself. I wish more social sites worked this out. Also, it's designed for smart phone users. Highly recommended for smart phone users.
Twitter: I plan to do a longer post about Twitter someday but it boils down to this: You can check in on the news of the moment very quickly. You can follow the people who entertain you (not those awful "famous" people but cool people like writers and journalists). There is not enough space for family members to complain about their personal drama. Your mother and father aren't on Twitter and wouldn't use it even if they knew what it was.
In short, it's my go to social site of the moment.
Facebook: Like Dusty Rhodes used to say, "The Grandaddy of them all." Actually, that may be Myspace but come on, no one has a Myspace page anymore. Facebook is Facebook. You don't need me to tell you about it. You either love it or you hate it or like me you tolerate it because if you shut down your account your mom would get mad.
Which brings us to Google+.
Have you ever shown up at a party too early? Knocked on the door while the host was just starting to cook and had to sit on their couch while they made small talk with you and wondered why the heck you showed up a half hour before anyone with any sense was supposed to be there.
That's what Google+ is right now. No one you know is on Google+ yet which makes it functionally useless. Perhaps millions of people will join, heck for all I know millions of people have already joined just nobody in my circle of friends. It's got a pretty decent user interface and it seems like it could be something someday.
But one thing bugs me. Why does a huge tech company do something like this in Beta? I mean Yoda had it right, "Do or do not, there is no try." To be frank I don't like Google's always in beta strategy. It seems like a way to deflect criticism from products that aren't quite done when they should be.
Finally, my question about Google+ is yet to be resolved. Will Google+ be a service that I can use to master all my other services? Can I use it, like Instagram, to create something and then post that something around the web as I see fit? Or, is it a direct competitor to Facebook that will only work if it beats big blue and convinces the world to switch?
I hope it is one thing but it is probably that other thing.
P.S. Oh, I also have a Google Buzz account and a Ping (you remember Ping don't you it's on iTunes) account. I wrote this entire post, nearly finished and then remembered that I had those accounts. That ought to tell you all you need to know.
