Google are reporting more than 62 million Google+ users. Impressive, especially when compared to the 10 million users reported in July.

While not even close to the 800 million Facebook users, I suspect we’ll see serious growth and a closing of the gap over the next year.

Paul Allen thinks there may be 400 million Google+ users by the end of 2012, but a lot can happen in twelve months.

I believe that the growth of Google+ will be largely determined by the actions of Facebook.

If Facebook do nothing by the way of change or burn a few more privacy/usability bridges, Google+ will prosper.

When a competing product offers similar benefits, a little dissatisfaction may be all that’s needed to make the leap.

It’s a precarious position for Facebook, and a volatile one for Google.

Roll on 2012.

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The problem with new is that users don’t like to learn. Unless there’s something in it for them.

New for the sake of new usually just means difficult.

If you’re big enough to force your users to adapt to your new interface, they may grumble, but they won’t really have a choice. Think Microsoft’s Ribbon toolbar and Gmail’s new interface.

If you’re prepared to be niche enough that your different approach will attract a new type of user, then your innovation may offer a genuinely unique selling point for a small number of users. Think Ommwriter. Exactly.

If you’re not big enough to force your users and want to fill more than the smallest niche, then new may be risky. Unless your new approach is easy to learn and actually useful. Think Trello.

Bucking the trend may sound cool at conferences and networking events, but there’s usually more of a case to be made for improving norms and conventions.

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How do you choose your toilet paper?

Your first thought might be that price is the dominant factor, but you’ll almost certainly take into account the texture/comfort factor as well. None of us want to use the low-grade sandpaper that we saw in our schools, for example. A few extra pence can make for a far more comfortable experience.

I assume that the manufacturers have an uphill battle to separate themselves from their competition for two reasons.

The first is familiarity. There’s a good chance that the next time you buy toilet paper you’ll simply buy the same brand as last time. Which is why here in the UK so many of the options on offer use a similar blue or lilac colour scheme. Blue looks clean, and lilac looks… purple. But I myself have on occasion bought the wrong brand, which is one of the many reasons that I usually leave such matters to my wife.

The second reason is that it’s very hard to create a competitive advantage. Too cheap implies a painful user experience, so how do you differentiate what you have, when the product only performs one very basic and ultimately unpleasant task?

One way might be to lean towards the absurd:

Do this company really believe that your toilet experience will be any more luxurious by what the toilet paper is enriched with?

Or could this even be a little tongue in cheek (pun intended) humour?

Aside from the absurdity, I’m absolutely amazed by their choice of colour scheme.

Differentiation is important in a crowded market, which is why I’m surprised that there are no major “eco friendly” toilet papers on the shelves of our supermarket.

Surely a paper designed to biodegrade far quicker than any of the competition would have a competitive advantage that might actually persuade their loyal customers to switch?

If customers are merely loyal out of habit and convenience, the market is usually ripe for innovation.

Stupidity probably won’t make a dent.

Note: I was overwhelmed by compelling ideas when choosing the title for this blog post. Please feel free to add suggestions to the comments below. Crudity and vulgarity are very much expected.

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We live in an age of crap service. We don’t like it, but we accept it. Sometimes we even expect it.

A few weeks ago I had the dubious pleasure of staying in one of Hilton’s London hotels, for the European Software Conference.

The conference was great.

The hotel set a new benchmark in appalling.

The hotel seemed to think that this was good enough to serve for breakfast – scrambled eggs by the way, although I’m not sure what they’ve been scrambled with:

When we requested an extra bed for our little girl, they seemed to think that this was reasonable – a total of three slats missing; impossible to sleep on:

Needless to say I won’t be staying at that particular hotel again. Ever.

Many small businesses pride themselves on good service. And most if not all customers appreciate good service when they receive it.

Oddly enough, bad service has also never been so dangerous.

In the past, the only option for someone unhappy with their hotel would be to vent at the staff on the front desk.

Today the same person can share their experiences with the world.

Hello world.

In the not-too-distant past, good service was taken for granted. Today it’s a rare commodity and a competitive advantage.

If you have it, flaunt it. Make sure visitors to your website know how good your customers think you are.

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