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Rush To Claim Google+ Page Expertise Is Silly

posted on November 8, 2011


This whole Google+ brand page “event” puts firmly on display something that plagues the Internet space. It is the rush to claim expertise, claiming to have everything all figured out and, of course, the whining.

While it’s no surprise it didn’t take the Google+ resident know-it-all Robert Scoble long to jump into the fray, he did so with mixed results.

OK, you all know I’m Google+’s biggest fan, right? For the past five months I’ve poured almost all my time into my Google+ account, which has paid off with a fun community and a lot of followers.

But yesterday Google+ rolled out brand pages. Here’s all the relevant news about that on Techmeme.

I wish I had never heard of them.

Why not?

Feel free to read the litany of issues Mr. Scoble rattles off.

Admittedly, Google often appears to do things that show how distant they can be from their end user. They do things that make engineers need a cold shower but often miss the mark on end user experience. It is likely that there are issues with Google+ brand pages.

But let’s get real here. They are barely 24 hours in the wild and not everyone can get one yet. But you would think that they had been around for months with all the criticism, expertise claims, ebooks being pushed and more. It’s like calling a baby ugly as soon as it’s been born without giving the poor kid a chance to clean up a bit.

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I get this desire to be first but shouldn’t the desire to be right trump that? Just because someone is upset at how these pages work in their particular environment doesn’t mean it’s dead wrong for everyone. And it takes some time to see how these things develop over a period of time to make real assessments of value etc.

The Internet industry as a whole needs to step back and stop trying to figure everything else without any real evidence other than overly emotional personal observation. The reason Scoble is so upset is that he got caught in a shortcoming of the service regarding having only one admin per page. Only fools rush in?

Yesterday, we posted a great take on Twitter from Louis C.K.. We are posting it again and ask that you go to the 45 second mark where he comments on our current culture’s need to do without thinking. It’s funny but sad all at once.

Google+ brand pages are going to change. Maybe we should remember that only the tech crowd is on Google+ at the moment anyway and rushing to get a Google+ brand page in place as a business may not make sense at all if none of our audience is there yet.

Slow down folks. It’ll be OK.


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  • http://pointblankseo.com/ Jon Cooper

    It’s people like Robert that make me chuckle, because they honestly think the 100% bug free version of a product will be the first version of a product. Um, have you ever heard of software updates? It’s called not getting it perfect the first time! That’s life! But to criticize this fact is preposterous.

    Thanks Frank!

  • http://www.brickmarketing.com/social-media-marketing-training Nick Stamoulis

    Everyone is always in a rush to get the “next big thing” up and running. Where’s the fire? I think most brands can survive without a Google+ brand page for the time being. Don’t waste your time and effort on something you don’t fully know how to leverage.

  • http://www.equinosvet.com.br Shampoo para Cavalo

    I think the Page from Google Plus is a great idea! ;)

  • http://www.bluelinemedia.co.uk Simon Jackson

    Classic gold rush mentality. I’m sure that in the long game Google+ pages will have a value, but nobody (not even Google) can ascertain exactly how they are going to plug into the wider world or how successful it will be. To pretend otherwise is sheer stupidity.

  • http://justaskpatrick.com Patrick Allmond

    Wait – does this mean I can’t have my $97 webinar on how to become a Google+ page guru? :) I had that scheduled fo 5pm today. Dangit :)

    • http://www.frankthinking.com Frank Reed

      @Patrick – Go for it! Just because it’s completely premature it doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there to buy it up! I never said anything about people not making money on this because they will.

      Of course, they have 24 hour old knowledge so the value to the purchaser is what can be debated :-) !

  • http://www.garious.com/ Aaron Eden

    I think that in the world where change happens in a millisecond, some folks will always want to be one step ahead of the game. I just feel the same sentiment as well and it’s too early to be an expert of something’s new; for all we know, there will be more changes to Google+ brand pages and to write a book on the subject matter right now is too much of an overkill – no matter how popular you are on the Social Web.

  • http://www.redlinecompany.com Rob Griggs

    I too noticed what seemed to be a mad stampede to publish e-books and “expert tips” on a platform that has only just surfaced! Seems a little crazy to me.

    Let’s face it, Google will probably make so many changes to Google+ pages in the coming weeks and then all of those e-books and “how to setup your Google+ page” blog posts, will be out of date.

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