Search Engine Land
  • SEO
    • > All SEO
    • > What Is SEO?
    • > SEO Periodic Table
    • > Google: SEO
    • > Bing SEO
    • > Google Algorithm Updates
  • PPC
    • > All PPC
    • > What is PPC?
    • > Google Ads
    • > Microsoft Ads
    • > The Periodic Tables of PPC
  • Focuses
    • > Local
    • > Commerce
    • > Shopify SEO Guide
    • > Content
    • > Email Marketing Periodic Table
    • > Social Media Marketing
    • > Analytics
    • > Search Engine Land Awards
    • > All Focuses
  • SMX
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • About
    • > About Search Engine Land
    • > Newsletter
    • > Third Door Media
    • > Advertise

Processing...Please wait.

Search Engine Land » Google » Brin: “I’m Not A Social Person” But “Google+, I Instantly Found Compelling”

Brin: “I’m Not A Social Person” But “Google+, I Instantly Found Compelling”

Google cofounder Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at Web 2.0 Summit today, and in talking about Google Plus, he said despite not being social himself, he found the service compelling. “I’m not a very social person myself,” Brin said to interviewer John Battelle, adding that he tried a number of social services “because I feel […]

Danny Sullivan on October 19, 2011 at 5:30 pm

Google cofounder Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance at Web 2.0 Summit today, and in talking about Google Plus, he said despite not being social himself, he found the service compelling.

“I’m not a very social person myself,” Brin said to interviewer John Battelle, adding that he tried a number of social services “because I feel it’s important to my job.”

None of them were a fit until his own company’s network launched.

“Google Plus, I instantly found compelling,” Brin said.

Brin was joined by senior vice president and Google+ czar Vic Gundotra. Are the 40 million users that Google+ claims actually using the service, Battelle asked?

“Well, they signed up, and they’re using it,” Gundotra responded.

Brin also said that at first, he didn’t like how Google+ was built but was happy with the outcome.

“I think the lesson is that you should not listen to me as a designer but as a user, I’m very pleased with the results,” Brin said

Gundotra countered, saying that Brin’s input was extremely helpful in places, especially in helping the Hangout feature get refined.

Brin said the service has helped him connect with “friends I haven’t heard from for a while” and that the existing services didn’t work for him with that, because they didn’t allow selective sharing so well.

Battelle said that in his own experience, while he sees lots of influencers sharing as he does on Twitter, in terms of family, “I’m still waiting for someone to pick up the phone.”

Gundotra admitted that it’ll take time for more people to come on but that “we’re quite happy” about how things are. He also said that growth was beyond what was expected.

Asked about an engineer’s long memo decrying that Google+ wasn’t built right, Brin responded that “I didn’t make it past the first 1,000 pages” of the memo and suggested that those sharing such thoughts should think carefully about an easy-to-read summary paragraph early on and to share things “appropriately.”

As for when brand pages will come to Google+, Gundotra said “imminently” but “not within days.” Gundotra also said, as AllThingsD focuses on in its write-up of the talk, that support for pseudonyms is coming, as is support for Google Apps users to be able to log into Google+ with their accounts. That’s promised “within days.”


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


New on Search Engine Land

    Google search results spam for ‘Bill Slawski obituary’ shows the dark side of SEO

    New mobile Google ad experiment puts favicon in-line with display URL

    Google launches video health tools to help publisher monetization

    SEO pioneer and expert Bill Slawski passes away

    New Yelp feature: Request a Call

About The Author

Danny Sullivan
Danny Sullivan was a journalist and analyst who covered the digital and search marketing space from 1996 through 2017. He was also a cofounder of Third Door Media, which publishes Search Engine Land and MarTech, and produces the SMX: Search Marketing Expo and MarTech events. He retired from journalism and Third Door Media in June 2017. You can learn more about him on his personal site & blog He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

Related Topics

Google

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Learn actionable search marketing tactics that can help you drive more traffic, leads, and revenue.

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes (virtual)

June 14-15, 2022: SMX Advanced (virtual)

November 15-16, 2022: SMX Next (virtual)

Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover time-saving technologies and actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges.

Start Discovering Now: Spring (virtual)

September 28-29, 2022: Fall (virtual)

Learn More About Our MarTech Events

Webinars

Take a Crawl, Walk, Run Approach to Multi-Channel ABM

Content Comes First: Transform Your Operations With DAM

Dominate Your Competition with Google Auction Insights and Search Intelligence

See More Webinars

Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Sales Enablement Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Digital Experience Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Call Analytics Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports

White Papers

Reputation Management For Healthcare Organizations

Unlock the App Marketing Potential of QR Codes

Realising the power of virtual events for demand generation

The Progressive Marketer’s Ultimate Events Strategy 2022 Worksheet

CMO Guide: How to Plan Smart and Pivot Fast

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily search news and analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • SEO
  • PPC

Our Events

  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX
  • MarTech

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.