The future of Google's social networking plans

Well we have seen quite a lot of buzz going around the blogosphere over Google's latest debacle, Google Wave. It was a little over a week ago that the number one search engine decided to pull the plug on what was certainly the most advanced we chat software around. This advanced form of web chatting was quite complicated and made it very difficult for most to get into it. But I have to stop and wonder, was this is a total waste? The answer is absolutely not! We are only beginning to see what Google probably has in the works, with their latest purchase of google.me, it is probably safe to say that Google is going for the social media market.

Google has been on the move when it comes to Social Media, with their launch of Google Buzz earlier this year.  Google really has all the pieces of a puzzle that could make, well, a super community network.  They have the potential to put all other social networks to shame with their arsenal of web products.  Where do they lack?  One word.  Usability.

Making your product easy to use is the key to success.  Sure your product can do x, y, and z but if I only need it for x then why would I use your product.  I think the best real world example is Facebook vs. MySpace. Facebook was so simple and easy to use, whereas MySpace had more moving parts.  Now with MySpace you could design your own profile page, but did people really care?  I think most just found it annoying.  This is probably where Google went wrong with Wave, they made it full of features but most people only needed to chat. 

Google is without a doubt a quality company that makes quality products and they will absolutely come up with some big ideas that could really change the game.  I really think that Google has all the tools to competitively compete with Facebook, but the real question is how they use them.