Why I just deleted my Google+ account.

By slacy|General|Be the first to comment!

I just logged into Google+ and deleted my account.  I’ve also uninstalled the application from my phone.  Here’s why:

1. The red notification box in the upper right of virtually every Google product these days is incredibly annoying.  To me, this box says “stop working, and start using our social network”.  It drives me crazy, and the only way to truly turn it off is to delete my account.
2. Incessant “Person X has added you to their circles” messages. These are unstoppable.  I’d get about 10 people adding me to circles every day, and virtually all of them were fake looking accounts.  Therefore, I can’t make the red notification box go away, ever.  I tried turning off Profile visibility as much as possible, but it had no effect.  This is unacceptable.
3. Google+ offered no additional value to me that my existing, active social networks don’t already give me.  I think this is the most major shortcoming of the system.  Circles are fine, if a bit tedious.  Public circles are actually sort of annoying (just like Twitter lists are.)  If Google+ had surfaced new and interesting people & content in a way that doesn’t or can’t happen on other networks, then I would have been hooked.
4. The +1 button is pointless.   Why would I ever click it?
5. Forced integration of Google+into other Google products.  I don’t want Google+ integrated with:
   1. My GMail (I don’t want to be distracted away)
   2. Google Reader (I want a separate social network)
   3. google.com Search Results (I don’t want to be pulled into “entertainment”)
6. No one is using it.  I had over 350 “people in your circles” and all I ever saw was updates from my friends at Google.  Seriously.  Those are the only people using it.

Sorry, guys.  Maybe if you improve content & discovery I’ll give it another try in a few more months.

Thanks for making it easy to delete my account.