As all of the news hits regarding Facebook being a pay-to-play platform, and gurus tell everyone to run to Google Plus where the grass is greener, I’d like to remind everyone to take those rose-colored glasses off.
While Google Plus is an excellent platform — and yes, we will be spending a lot more time and effort on my personal page and the B Squared Media page — it’s not perfect by any means.
We’re all a work in progress, right?
What I Think G+ Could Do Better
The most annoying thing about Google Plus for me personally is the fact that they make switching between accounts so difficult on mobile devices.
Take Facebook, for instance. With both the Facebook app and the Facebook Pages app, you can easily switch between your personal profile and any of the pages you manage. This is invaluable as a Community Manager (CMGR).
When you’re setting up your Google+ app you can choose which account you want to connect:
- Personal page
- Biz page
However, once connected, there’s no way to easily switch back and forth between your accounts seamlessly. Being able to connect and manage accounts while on the go is a huge asset for me, and in this aspect I think Google Plus is really missing the boat.
For me, this little hiccup means I primarily have to use G+ from the web – not my fave mode of choice.
While they do a million+ (like what I did there?!) things better than Facebook, this is one misstep that’s hard to forgive (though there are some peeps who say you shouldn’t compare G+ to Facebook).
In any case, I hope they fix this soon!
What Others Think G+ Could Do Better
I posed the following question on the B Squared Media Facebook Page:
“What’s the ONE thing you DON’T like about Google Plus?”
Surprisingly, other people had their own complaints (though no one had a similar rant to mine).
Some other complaints (also valid, I might add!):
- Nancy Babcock of Creative Arts Consulting LLC says G+ could do a better job of improving the Help function (apparently it’s not so helpful!).
- Veronica Solorzano Athanasiou of Oroklini Design says she wishes you could tag people with their first name (rather than their whole name), like you can on Facebook.
- Kerry Armour admits it’s a PITA (pain in the ass – haha!) when notifications disappear. (I have to agree with this one as I’ve had similar experiences)
- Steve Sonn of Care Communications, Inc. doesn’t think G+ does a good enough job of recommending good people to follow (like Twitter does).
So, I guess there’s not ONE thing, but several, that Google Plus could improve on.
What about you? Do you have any ideas for improvement by G+? Let me know in the comment section below!
See you in the social sphere!
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12 Comments. Leave new
As you know, Brooke, I’m a G+ evangelist but I agree with you. Switching on mobile is a PITA. Granted, it’s better than it was, but would be nice to have a separate app for pages (as Facebook does).
I have another mobile issue. We can’t view or comment on G+ events on mobile.
This forces us to watch a HOA event on the youtube channel if the link is provided.
I also agree with the other points made.
I’ll send these along to the Google gods. With just the right “offering”, who knows, they may listen.
On the plus side, they did take action on a problem that many people complained about re: scheduled HOA’s not having customizable banners. Now we brand our HOA events as we did before on the old style Event page.
I know you are a HUGE proponent of G+, Ray! And that’s also why I’m so glad that you chimed in. I haven’t tried an HOA on mobile, so I wasn’t even aware of that issue. It sounds like mobile is an area they can improve on overall (and hopefully that will be a focus in 2014).
And, I completely agree with you: They do a much better job at addressing user concerns than some of the other platforms out there (cough, cough, FACEBOOK!). 🙂
Thank you SO much for chiming in and sharing your wisdom! And for sharing on G+.
yes, yes, yes! It is such a PITA and I manage 6 pages…I really wish I could do it on mobile, like we do on Facebook, especially on the days I travel and attend events and meetings.
Great points. As G+ is barely 2 1/2 and Facebook is now 10, we’ll give them some slack! But I sure hope Google is listening.
Agreed, Dorien! I will definitely cut them some slack … but I’m hoping that they change it soon. Mobile seems like such a huge push/big deal. Let’s hope they’re listing. 😉
I’m glad you brought this up Brooke – like others how have commented before me, it’s a TOTAL PITA to switch on mobile! Google Plus has developed this beautiful platform and app but this is a big piece that is missing from it. Hopefully they will wise up to this and fix it.
Am I the only one who just learned of PITA?? LOL.
Their platform is beautiful, Mandy. Even the mobile app is stunning (way better than Facebook in my opinion). I just think with a few minor tweaks they can really become the platform we are wanting them to be! Thanks for chiming in!
Yes! I so much agree with you Brooke. I just choose the page on the App and I reply from gmail as Veronica. I also have Hootsuite where you can manage both from the dashboard. Have you tried this on mobile with your management tool? It works for LinkedIN too.
Are you writing an article next on what LinkedIN could improve?? There’s plenty of room for improvement there too!
Thanks for the feature. It’s a pleasure to be able to have these exchanges with you.
Good point, Veronica. Yes, we can manage G+ through Sprout Social, but I don’t schedule much content (I like to post organically when possible). That’s a great workaround, though.
Haha! No plans to write about LinkedIn improvements. Sounds like you have a few in mind … care to tell us?
Thank YOU for connecting and conversing, as always. 🙂
Hi Brooke, good conversation!
It seems like some 3rd party apps like Buffer have a hard time integrating. I’d use g+ more regularly if it were easier to use through productivity tools.
It’s also annoying that you can only post to one community at a time. Why is that?
{A friend of mine named her 1-eyed hermaphrodite, anxiety riddled pug “PITA” … It fits well!!}
Shelley Steigerwald recently posted…List of Must-Read Marketing Blogs
Thank you, Shelley! I don’t use Buffer, but I know a LOT of people who do, so I can imagine that is very frustrating for you. My guess on the community posting is SPAM?? Not sure, but that may be a measure to keep a spammer from targeting several groups with a bad link or something.
LOL! PITA is my new favorite acronym – who knew it was so well-known! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by.
Hey Brooke,
I love using G+ on my mobile. I simply logout (from ‘Matt Crawford’) & log back in again and choose the page I want to work as & find it an excellent way to keep up-to-date with the pages I’m managing. Better than Facebook I like that I can check-in to a location as my page. I also like that when I am logged back in as myself and ‘like’ something it doesn’t ‘like’ it as my page (which often happens on Facebook). I reckon G+ have nailed it compared to Facebook. Even the fact that you only need one app. I would however prefer if the Hangouts app was integrated into the G+app. Let’s Hangout sometime and chat about it all.
Love your work.
Matt.
Hi, Matt! Happy to see you here!
That’s the same process I use. It works but it’s not as convenient as it could be. According to what they (G+) had to say at Social Media Week, they are working on fixing this. Let’s hope!
Would love to chat with you over a G+ hangout sometime! Ping me when you’re up for it. And thanks SO much for your kind words. 🙂