Is Google Asking The Wrong Question With Social?

Today's soft-launch of Google's new social galaxy, Google+, raises one interesting question: Can Google, a massive, multinational, cash-rich, consumer technology company with multiple successful productivity applications and services, take its dough out of the oven and bake a social network into their bread? Over the past year, Google has undergone some big changes. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt stepped down. Co-founder Larry Page stepped in, reshuffling the deck and tying employee bonuses to creating a successful social experience. The result seems to be a slick-looking yet potentially Wave-like confusing constellation of social "circles," "huddles," "hangouts," and  "sparks" that could, theoretically, lay the foundation for new, more nuanced social networks to form. In the middle of all the reactions to today's release, I believe it's important to step back and ponder whether Google is focusing its efforts on the wrong problem, and in doing so, to investigate a potentially better fit that coincides with the company's own DNA.]]>