Why is Google plus such a failure?

Now, it's the general opinion that Google plus is absolutely rubbish. It's never caught on and the controversial integration of the social network with YouTube comments cause outrage amongst YouTube users to say the least. So why is Google + such a failure?

Well, firstly, it hasn't been very innovative. What does Google plus do that Facebook and Twitter don't? And the answer is nothing really. Granted, Google Hangouts is a good feature and I've used it a couple of times with a fair amount of success but in terms of video conferencing Skype is leading the way. So apart from that, you can keep in touch with people on Facebook and 'follow'people on Twitter. Google Plus is not unique. Therefore, why should people use it? They have no reason to switch from Facebook where they're comfortable and have an established profile to Google Plus which is a bit confusing and overwhelming to say the least.

Google does boast that it has around 300 million users. But this statistic is incredibly bias and misleading. It doesn't take into account the fact that anyone with a Google account is automatically assigned a Google Plus one. That means anyone with a YouTube, Blogger or any other Google owned service is a 'User' Of Google plus, by Googles terms anyway.

Lastly, I'd like to mention the intergration of Google plus with YouTube comments in 2013. Forbes magazine described it as causing an 'uproar' and they weren't far from the truth. Many popular prominent YouTube users spoke out against the intergration, for example this rather humourous video below: