Lately, Google business tactic is a little bit annoying. The Internet search giant changed some of the features in its services to make that service integrate with its social network Google+. Some services require sign-ups and engagement is mandated. Later on, Larry Page gets to claim increased Google+ user numbers on the next quarterly earnings call — perhaps in the hope that having those numbers widely reported will in itself create an inevitable, Facebook-like rush to join the service.
At the end of 2013, you needed a Google+ login for commenting on YouTube. On Thursday, it was the turn of Gmail, and its highly respected, 11-year old free email service, to be saddled with a feature nobody wanted. Gmail users can now be contacted by anyone, anywhere on Google+ (they have to add you to their Circles first though, but that’s a formality). You can choose to opt out of this feature, of course. However, most users will be too busy, or they’ll miss the opt-out email, and the first they’ll know about it is when they get a message from some guy they met at a conference once, someone they didn’t give their email address to for a reason. What Google seem unaware of is that nobody can ever be forced into having a party. That in fact, the forcing is what makes a party impossible.
A social network is supposed to be fun, yet Google+ has always seemed a little too hung up on the mechanics — the photo sharing options, the event invitations, and its Circles. At Christmas, they make trees twinkle and snow fall on your photos. This is a nice little things, but meaningless if none of your friends are there. This party host seems convinced that all you need for a better party than your neighbor is better decorations and spiffy letterpress invites.
There’s one way Google+ could become party central, and that’s for Google to deny us access. Put a velvet rope in front of it and don’t let anyone in without one of a limited set of invitations — a tactic that has worked well for other Google products, from Gmail to Project Glass. It worked well for Facebook, back in the day. The parties we want to join, it turns out, are the ones that might be just a little too cool and exclusive for us. And right now, that’s certainly not Google+.