Google launches Google+ polls, putting its Polar acquisition to use
Today Google announced a new feature for its oft-ignored social network: polls. — The introduction of this feature comes with little surprise, as it closely follows Google's high-profile purchase of Polar …
Context & Ripple Effects
The launch lands four weeks after Google's September acquisition of Polar, which came with the stipulation that the standalone polling service would shut down at the end of 2014 — so polls on Google+ is the first visible product of that deal and the landing spot for Polar's users.
For a network whose engagement has been questioned since its 2011 debut — when coverage ranged from its potential workplace home to its share of Tweeted news links — an interactive format is a low-cost way to give users a reason to post. It also extends a thread running through Google+'s business-profile plans, giving brands another participation mechanic alongside analytics.
First-order effects
- Polar's existing users and poll creators now face migration to Google+ ahead of the service's planned end-of-year shutdown, consolidating one niche product into Google's platform.
- Google+ gains a lightweight engagement feature that requires no new infrastructure spend, since it is built on technology Google already bought outright.
Second-order effects
- Brands and page administrators on Google+, who were promised richer analytics back in 2011, get a new interaction surface that generates measurable responses — strengthening the case for maintaining a presence on the network over rival platforms.
Third-order effects
- If this pattern holds, small single-feature social startups become acquisition targets whose end state is absorption into a major platform's feature set rather than independent growth — raising the bar for any polling or interactive-content company trying to stay standalone.
The trend: Major social platforms are increasingly acquiring niche interactive-content tools and folding them in as native features rather than leaving them as standalone services.