As a direct Facebook (FB) competitor, Google+ doesn’t stack up well. But what if directly competing with Facebook isn’t the point of Google’s (GOOG) social networking service? Over at Fast Company, David Llorens makes a reasonable case that Google+ simply cannot fail because Google has decided to make it “the Borg-like hive-queen that connects all the other Google products like YouTube, Google Maps, Images, Offers, Books, and more.”
In particular, Llorens notes how Google has shrewdly integrated its Maps application with Google+ by compelling small businesses to start their own Google Plus Local Business page if they want their business information to appear on Google Maps. From this perspective, it’s easy to see why Google+ will be around for a long time, regardless of whether anyone actually likes it — Google has simply made it nearly impossible for users to avoid.
