First off, it’s way too soon to declare the death of Google+. The usage numbers released by Hitwise come with some big asterisks marks, as my colleague Jared Newman points out. But at least five features have lost their luster since I joined. Here they are:
Circles – I rarely add more people to my Circles. Not because I’ve got too many folks circled already, but because I’ve found the process to be one of the more buggy features in Google+. I’ve noticed that if I try adding from the list of suggested friends, I can only add a few at a time without having to log back in and out. There’s been other bugs that may be on my end, but almost surely have something to do with the field test. Either way, with so many social networks out there, it’s hard to justify dedicating the time to something that doesn’t work smoothly.
Huddles – Group text messaging seems like something that I should love to use often. Then I realized that the conversation on all my huddles seemed to center around how cool Huddles are, while the real important business and communication of the moment with the exact same people was still happening on e-mail. While Huddles may be prettier, the “CC:” field dies hard.
Sparks – Another idea that seems to have potential, but Google has yet to dedicate much attention to. The algorithm used to deliver content on whatever your interests are is less powerful than the search function in Windows XP. I search for “technology” and just get a sampling of postings with the word technology in the headline. In other words, unless your interests are super-specific, like Jell-O molds, it’s best to stick with Google News.
Invites – I know it’s sour grapes, but I stopped using invites after Google started randomly closing and opening the invite window. I know things are a little more predictable now, but I don’t have enough friendships to risk losing them over another “Hey, that Google+ invite you sent me didn’t work” conversation.