Throughout the life of Google's young social media network, +Bradley Horowitz has led the Google+ product development team. He has been a part of the Google organization since 2004, and before Google+, he spent time working on many different Google products including GMail, Google Voice, Google Talk, Orkut, and Google Docs.
To follow up our interview with Vic Gundotra last year, we asked Bradley a set of questions in order to learn more about him, what the rest of the year holds for Google+, and his thoughts on several aspects of the platform.
To follow up our interview with Vic Gundotra last year, we asked Bradley a set of questions in order to learn more about him, what the rest of the year holds for Google+, and his thoughts on several aspects of the platform.
Interview with Bradley Horowitz
What excites you every day when you go into work at Google?
In general, we start our mornings by diving into our metrics and graphs. To say that everything is “up and to the right” is an understatement. We think Google+ has a bright future!
You post a lot of pictures from your travels on Google+. What is your favourite place you’ve visited so far, and what’s at the top of your list of places to visit?
I absolutely love travel, and apart from working at Google… travel is my next favorite way to spend my time. I have a particular fondness for Hong Kong. It’s such a blend of old and new, sophisticated and traditional, familiar and strange. It’s also an incredibly photogenic city, and I love traveling with my camera! (Currently a Sony NEX-7 is my weapon of choice!)
What’s your favourite Google product that’s not a core service of Google+ (Gmail, YouTube etc.) and why?
I’m a huge fan of Android. Every release gets better and better. They’re an incredibly passionate and talented team.
Which areas are you most excited about improving in the coming year, or which part of Google+ do you enjoy the most? As in, Photos, Communities, Profiles, Explore, etc.
It’s unfair to ask us to pick a favorite child! I can honestly say I’m excited about projects across each of the major features you call out.
You’re probably getting hundreds of +mentions and other interactions a day, how do you manage your notifications? And do you have notifications enabled for certain circles?
Yes, definitely. As much as we aspire to, Vic and I can’t personally respond to all of the users who reach out to us on a daily basis. We try! But in the meantime, it’s great that we’ve built a product that will make my phone buzz when our family and close friends post!
Looking back to day one of Google+ - when you first created the product, did you ever dream of it becoming such a big part of Google? How much have your plans changed for its future since its inception, considering how much is has already changed?
I’m personally stunned by how much of Vic’s original vision for the product remains consistent and relevant today. If anything, I’m stunned by how quickly “the future” arrived.
News in the way of updates and improvements on Google+ has been slow this year so far, are you and the team gearing up for some big launches later in the year? Is this a sign of a maturing product?
We typically stabilize our products through the holiday season, with a flurry of launches at the end of the year. But we’re not slowing down. We’re always working to improve the Google+ experience, so stay tuned! Exciting things ahead.
We've seen a lot of dramatic improvements recently in the way users view their stream and manage their content; are there any plans to focus on making the Profile more dynamic?
Profiles are indeed a focus for us. We’ve got ambitions to make both Profiles and Pages more dynamic and more useful for both their owners, and the people who visit them.
Do you think our About pages would benefit from more specific identification options (philosophies, sexual orientation, family ties, skill sets, etc.) like those on LinkedIn or Facebook, or would you rather Profiles use fewer labels and focus on content?
We definitely appreciate and encourage diversity - and so we’re always considering ways to make our product more expressive for our users.
Are you working on deepening the integration between Google+ and Google Play? For example, linking content creators' profiles directly to their content, integrating Google+ comments into Play Newsstand, etc.
We’re very excited by the traction we’ve seen to date with respect to our Play integrations. For me, seeing the apps that my friends and peers recommend and endorse provides a huge source of value. We’re definitely working closely with the Play team to take this to the next level.
Some critics say Google is forcing Google+ on users by integrating with other popular products such as Search, Blogger, etc. What do you say to them?
Our aim is to give users incredibly delightful and useful experiences across every product we build. Each and every integration has been designed toward that goal.
What has been your biggest challenge in growing Google+?
Patience. We’ve got huge ambitions and a lot of work ahead of us. But in building a product for the long-haul, it’s necessary to put one foot in front of the other and build on a solid foundation.
Any final thoughts?
Just excited about the future of Google+, and grateful for the supportive community of our users.
Final Notes
After reading what Bradley has to say about Google+, it's clear that even in the product's fourth year, the team's drive to building a successful product is doing everything but slow down. Expect continued growth of Google+ as the year progresses with more updates coming in the later half of the year, probably starting at Google I/O in June.
What did you most enjoy learning from our interview with Bradley? Let us know by leaving a comment below!
What did you most enjoy learning from our interview with Bradley? Let us know by leaving a comment below!