Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Google Maps takes on Facebook (Again)

How many of you remember Google+, the social network that rolled out in 2011 and shut down in 2019. But it had obviously failed long before the official shutdown in 2019. Despite the wide-scale usage of google account for email, YouTube and Drive, they were unable to take on the social media giant Facebook in gaining active daily users. This time Google is focusing on just one aspect of social media, the newsfeed, and is bringing it to Google Maps. The "Community Feed" as google calls it will be initially focused on food and drinks. This scrollable feed will include content created by users and businesses that pertain to locations near you. The user will be able to like posts, follow creators and business, and even message businesses directly.

I believe Google's community feed will end up being more like yelp, where people will only engage with it if they are looking for something specific. I believe they will have a hard time providing the entertainment factor of a true social media platform and will end up being more paid advertising for businesses. I am skeptical that this new attempt at taking on Facebook will pan out much better than the previous one.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/01/google-maps-takes-on-facebook-with-its-own-news-feed/

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