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Google's mis-step-plus

When Google decided to force Google+ on its YouTube and other users, many within those communities were outraged.

Even I posted a rant in which I expressed by outrage that Google was falling into the trap of fixing stuff that wasn't broken and, in the process, making users' lives hell.

At the time it seemed as if Google was going to ignore the massive groundswell of opposition to the G+'ing of everything, and the pressure to join the search-giant's social network continued unabated.

However, something has changed and it seems that a penny has dropped deep in the bowels of Googledom.

Vic Gundotra, the man who headed up the Google+ assault on Google users has suddenly and unexpectedly parted company with the company.

Did he jump or was he pushed?

Perhaps the truth becomes a little clearer when you realise that (according to this report) the whole G+ initiative is now in question.

The core G+ team are now apparently being re-allocated and physically relocated -- perhaps signifying an admission of defeat on the part of Google.

The costs of clearing up the mess after tens of thousands of Google users went on a spamming spree in the wake of the YouTube/G+ fiasco must have been significant. YouTube also lost the support of a number of key content producers when, like so many others, they found themselves unable to comment on their own videos and locked out of some services unless they signed up to G+.

Word on the ground is that Google will be moving its focus from G+ to more Android-based apps, some of which may deliver similar functionality but which won't be compulsory in the way the former was.

We live in hope that others will learn from the mistakes that Google made in respect to G+.

If you have a very popular product - don't fix it!

If you feel the need to improve a product, turn to your users for advice and direction -- not a bunch of "know all" executives.

Net users can be a very fickle bunch and, thanks to the fact that there will always be new players prepared to step in and fill any void, changes to a working formula must be made with great caution and only after much consultation with those who will be affected.

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