Google Schemer – What and Why??

Google announced Schemer last week (not to be mistaken with Schema, of course). Rather than trying to explain it myself, I’ll just share Google’s overview of it:

“In Schemer, users create, share and do “schemes.” A scheme is any activity that can be done in the world, whether it’s ordering a favorite dish at a restaurant or snorkeling in the Caribbean with sharks.”

At the moment, it’s not specifically targeted at users outside the US. But being as nosey as I am, I couldn’t help but have a go. Besides, the experience I have so far is that very few ‘Schemes’ are location specific.

However, what I am finding confusing is the point of it all. I can sort of understand sharing your favourite activities with those in your Google+ Circles. But I’m struggling to understand what Google will get out of this in the long term. They’re partnering with businesses already, but the early adopters on board seem to have little interest in the commercial offerings as I have so far been able to tell. I also came across a comment on Schemer’s official Google+ page from a user who sums up my initial impressions reasonably well:

So far on Schemer, I’ve told people that I have learnt the very basics of Photoshop and that I want to learn Swahili. Are people really interested? Well, it seems so. I can’t really understand why though.

To sum up, I’m not keen at the moment. With that said, I don’t think Schemer is that keen on me either…

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I just can’t see the purpose behind it right now or why it would need to be separate of Google+. Why couldn’t it just be a feature of Plus?

Of course, I was also a Twitter cynic three years ago and now I’m close to addicted. So, perhaps it’s just something I need some more time to experiment with.