Social Media Butterfly

Google’s Slow and Subtle Foray into Social

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Google Reader, an RSS newsreader, is going social but in a very subtle and simple way.

Here’s the deal. You’ve been able to share items in Google Reader for a while, as well as email them to friends, etc. Now you can use a toolbar button to “note” things in reader, and they’ll be grouped with your other shared items.

My first reaction was, “Big deal, it’s not like this is Facebook or Twitter.” But then I remembered my thoughts from earlier in the week where I’m looking for social media that has more of a purpose and is less of a fad.

In fact, the lack of hype about Google’s foray into anything remotely social is refreshing, especially with the popularity of Google’s brand.

Hype has a tendency to peak. Friendster’s buzz faded in MySpace’s shadow and now Facebook is the hot network andTwitter is all the buzz, too.

Compared to that, Google’s social growth seems turtle-like. But Google’s pace may help it avoid some of the hype and tech pitfalls that plague the uber-popular sites of today.

Additionally, Google’s social products will likely be built in to the things you do every day - chat, email, read RSS feeds, for example. In a sense, if social is part of the grand plan at Mountain View, Google is almost building backwards from current web 2.0 sites, many of which are sprinting in a marathon.

FYI, if you want to read my shared items, click here.

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