First of all, I am by no means a Google Plus expert—at least not yet. What little familiarity I do possess, is mainly the result of hype over usage. I do however, have opinions and feelings—surprise, surprise. So, if you are here for a blecture (blog lecture) on all the latest bells, whistles and fun stuff Google Plus has to offer, than you are in the wrong place.

My opinion is absolutely no. Google Plus is not worth the hype and fuss it has received over the past few weeks. In fact, if it wasn’t under Google’s wing, I doubt it would even exist. But why, you ask?

To clarify, I am not saying that Google Plus will die. I just don’t think it will become the social networking behemoth many predict it to be. I certainly don’t believe it will eat Facebook’s lunch, snack or stale crumbs. Here are three  SIMPLE reasons why:

1.) Speed-to-market—if Google Plus was launched 2 years ago it would have a fighting chance. Facebook and Twitter have had significant time to push their business model forward and provide clear and predictable valuable to individuals and brands. Fortunately enough for Google, they have plenty of other revenue sources to keep Google Plus afloat for a long-time. However, Facebook is the social mining and behavioral capital of the world with a nearly priceless value as a result. But even more significant, Facebook has hit a critical point within the users mind—the networking giant is no longer a casual “visit”, but an ingrained behavior/addiction in some cases.

2.) A feed among better feeds—In my very few experiences with Google Plus, I have asked myself—why don’t I just do this on Facebook or Twitter? This is where all the people familiar with Google Plus raise their hands and shout out all the features I’m missing. I can’t say that I care. Facebook has created the ultimate on-demand news feed and has the numbers to prove it. Twitter on the other hand, gives users an opportunity to reach millions within a simple format. Simple being the key word, which I would not use in reference to Google Plus.

3.) Table Scraps—Twitter and Facebook alone have nearly 1 billion active users. Yes, that is 1 billion! There are 308 million people in the United States in case that number wasn’t impressive enough on its own. While the world population is close to 7 billion the opportunity for those who have a propensity to join a social network(s) has to be narrowing. If you think about it in terms of new user opportunity, Facebook and Twitter have gobbled up more than a substantial share. My point? Google Plus either has to entice people enough to join another social network (assuming they are on Facebook, Twitter or other network already) or create enough incentive to get new users entirely. See the challenge?

Do you disagree? I would love to hear from someone who hears differently and why you feel like Google Plus is worth the hype. Just be sure to share it on a network I am guaranteed to listen—Hint, not Google Plus.

-Drew @drewschulthess