How Google+ Broke Up with Me

Wed, Apr 10, 2013

This is the story of how Google+ broke up with me.

Like a good social networking Internet citizen, I’ve been using Google+ almost daily since late 2011. In spite of numerous issues with the service, I’ve looked past its flaws and embraced it for a year and a half. But no more.

So what went wrong?

No API. Every other major social network (Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc.) has an API, allowing me to easily create new posts in various ways using my choice of tools. Only Google+ forces me to enter things manually through their web interface. Think about that: Google, the successful software company, won’t create an API for Google+. It wouldn’t be so bad, if the manual process worked ….
Broken Google +1 Button. For many, many months, I’ve used the Chrome Extension called “Google +1 Button” to add web pages to my Google+ +1 list and to create new posts. However, over the past couple of weeks, the interface for this extension has been unreliable and mostly unusable. To put it simply, sometimes the button worked, and sometimes it didn’t. Remember, this is a Google-built Chrome tool created by Google for Google+, and Google is a successful software company. With the button broken, I was forced back to the normal Google+ web interface.
Broken thumbnail picker. Using the normal Google+ web interface, when you create a new post from a link you can pick which thumbnail to use. However, for the past couple of days the thumbnail picker has not worked. The little thumbnail toolbar is stretched way beyond normal, and the arrow buttons to select a thumbnail are missing. Don’t forget, this is a Google-built web interface for Google+, and Google is a successful software company. So to solve my problem, I visited the Google+ support forums.
Broken support. My first stop in the Google+ support forums was a page listing all of the help categories for Google+. Amazingly, there was no help category for creating new posts. So I used the forum search instead. Unfortunately, the search results were listed without dates and without any way to sort or filter the results by date, leaving me to click around in a list of hopelessly out-dated questions. Remember, this is a Google-built forum to support Google+, and Google is a successful software company.

Wow. How did our relationship get this messed up? Why did something created by a successful software company become so user-hostile? Google+, where’s the love?

I think I see what’s going on here. I can take a hint. I know when I’m not wanted. Or maybe … I know Google isn’t really a software company after all. Maybe Google is … something else now.

Good-bye Google+!

Until you change your ways, I won’t post my content to you any more.