Google Engineer: “Google+ is a Prime Example of Our Complete Failure to Understand Platforms”

Silicon Filter: Google engineer Steve Yegge apparently wanted to post a rant on his employer’s problems for other Google employees to read, but it instead it went public. Here are some key pieces of his criticism of Google+:

• “Google+ is a knee-jerk reaction, a study in short-term thinking, predicated on the incorrect notion that Facebook is successful because they built a great product. But that’s not why they are successful. Facebook is successful because they built an entire constellation of products by allowing other people to do the work. So Facebook is different for everyone. Some people spend all their time on Mafia Wars. Some spend all their time on Farmville. There are hundreds or maybe thousands of different high-quality time sinks available, so there’s something there for everyone.”
• “The Golden Rule of Platforms, ‘Eat Your Own Dogfood,’ can be rephrased as ‘Start with a Platform, and Then Use it for Everything.’ You can’t just bolt it on later.”
• “I’m not saying it’s too late for us, but the longer we wait, the closer we get to being Too Late.”