Finally, after many mis-starts and social media product debacles, Google gets their social networking offering down right. The downside is, there’s no reason to call this a “Plus”, it’s just catchup.
Google has learned from failed attempts
Historically, Google has been complacent when it goes to social networking, not having realized how quickly Facebook was going to grow many years ago, innovation in this category was lackluster. Amid several attempts most have failed (see the chronology of failed Google attempts), there is hope with yesterday’s announcement. In previous launches, their efforts were mere copies of Facebook’s (+1 vs Like) or struggled with too much complexity (Wave) and privacy woes (see my additional analysis on Google vs Facebook vs Twitter).
Yet strikes the right balance with Google+
Although I’ve only spent a few hours cruising throughout Google’s latest endeavor, “Google +1” I found myself strangely comfortable with the feature set. Groups (now called “Circles”), A wall with a cascading microfeed, Chat tools, commenting tools. In particular, great care was taken to craft the “Share” feature which makes it crystal clear on which circle or even in public you’ll share information. In the past, both Google and Facebook have miffed on how information will be shared. Being a late adopter has given Google the advantage here, they’ve had a few mistries, seen where Facebook has fallen, and have put the right features together.
But offers no reason to migrate From Facebook…yet
Yet, despite the familiar balance of features and site structure layout, this looks like a bare bones version of Facebook (minus the excessive ads, applications, yesterday tabs, and confusing user interface). As a result, I don’t see how this differentiates from Facebook. There is one saving grace that could make this tool unique, “Google Sparks” which is a conversation starter around different topics, that could leverage the Google search and media features.While only on the first week, I’ll reserve final judgement, but there isn’t a compelling reason why someone would switch to Google+ after setting up their social connections on Facebook.
The Bottom Line:
When it comes to features, Google is at parity with Facebook, but isn’t compelling for a mass immigration of social behavior. They must quickly integrate Google’s unique products like YouTube, Gmail, Apps, and others to slowly attract users over.
Below is some screenshots, and here’s a link to my public Google+ profile.
If Google+ doesn’t inspire people to leave Facebook, will people on Facebook use Google+ as well? Will most Facebook users pass on Google+? Any thoughts?Â
I see a great need to discuss certain topics with “my” audience, public or private instead of a discussion within a specific news paper or blog. This could further disrupt online news papers.
I see a great need to discuss certain topics with “my” audience, public or private instead of a discussion within a specific news paper or blog. This could further disrupt online news papers.
I see a great need to discuss certain topics with “my” audience, public or private instead of a discussion within a specific news paper or blog. This could further disrupt online news papers.
I see a great need to discuss certain topics with “my” audience, public or private instead of a discussion within a specific news paper or blog. This could further disrupt online news papers.
Google+ will never be the new Facebook (though all the similarities), I think the most interesting possibilities lies in new combinations of social functions and existing products in the Google portfolio. Think about Google+ combined with Google Docs – a better way to collaborate and share documents in groups. Â
I think you hit it, it is the opportunity to throw away the cluttered FB experience and start over. Â Just like apps learn from failed experiences, users (FB) can start over and avoid the mess that they’ve help create. Â Even if Google+ were a complete knockoff in every feature, my ability to re-lauch my own social life–MySocialLife V2.0–would compel me to give it a try.
Nobody has addressed what the impact will be on brands or corporate accounts. Is this, and will it continue to be about people/ individuals or are you seeing a Page or something so entities can play in this space,too?
google has gotten it right this time . and with the power of android integration the possibilities are endless. just thing of it phones and computers with cameras being able to talk to each other regardless of platform ,the future looks great for the google and the fall of facebook is near. you all may laugh now but in 2 years facebook could look like myspace.
they are similar but its easier to use than Facebooks version. the people on your lists dont need to know which list they are on. all your friends in real life dont know just how close each is to you or to each other ,thats not what the circles are for. its to stop people from sending out shouts or alerts to the wrong groups.like the little girl that sent a birthday invite to 15000 pepole.
right but facebook hasnt made it easy for folks. im very computer savy and dont like all the hoops i have to jump through with facebook to send an alert out to the people whome you want to.everyone loves facebook because all there friends are there not because its easy to use.ive been there early on and dont really like it but if you dont use it no one hears you.just would like some real competition.
right but facebook hasnt made it easy for folks. im very computer savy and dont like all the hoops i have to jump through with facebook to send an alert out to the people whome you want to.everyone loves facebook because all there friends are there not because its easy to use.ive been there early on and dont really like it but if you dont use it no one hears you.just would like some real competition.
I agree with other posters that Google+ doesn’t have to be called a replacement for Facebook, but the converse of your article’s title can be argued just as easily, once you’ve got enough people to follow in Google+ that your stream is worthwhile (which took me less than 3 days). Â You say Google+ doesn’t offer a reason to leave Facebook, but my reaction has been that I can’t think of a compelling reason to continue to use Facebook.
My wall on Facebook is already a joke compared to my various Google+ streams.  Every time I log into Facebook, my feed is full of junk from new stupid app invites for me to block, a hundred invites to events I don’t care about, and 30 friend requests from people I’m not sure whether I’ve met.  Since the “friend” relationship has to be two-way on Facebook, you can’t toggle which friends can clutter your feed without removing them entirely, which takes away their ability to see anything you post as well. In contrast, Google+ lets me have a stream full of great tech blog info by letting me create circles full of people I like to read, whether they know and follow me or not.  Twitter works the same way in terms of showing me only posts from people I choose to follow, but in Twitter I have one stream to sift through.  In Google+ I can quickly change my stream to show me only what my co-workers or family members are chattering about with a single click.  If I have a gig someplace I can announce it to just the circle of people likely to be interested without cluttering the streams of people who won’t care about it, or creating an invite and hand selecting recipients. As even your article states, audiences are far easier to manage with this circle model than Facebook groups.The +1 button is far from analogous to “Liking” something on Facebook, as long as you use it outside the Google+ site.  In Facebook, if you like a band or company profile, it adds nothing but a little link to their Facebook page to your profile, and a bunch of spam to your “News” section.  In Google+ people have an optional profile tab that displays all of their favorite sites, articles, media, etc. to exactly the audience they want to see it.  As a visitor to someone’s profile, that’s infinitely more useful in telling me something about a person or providing me with useful information I may not have found otherwise.It’s hard to say that Facebook’s photo albums are anything but dwarfed by Picasa’s feature set, the Facebook calendar is nothing compared to Google Calendar, and a lot more people use their Gmail address book to store their contacts than those trying to accomplish the same thing with their Facebook friend list.  If you’re an Android user, your Google address book is the same as the one in your phone by default.  Google Groups gives your group members better control of notifications than Facebook groups and offer you a lot more moderation tools.  Gtalk offers video chat, XMPP,  and better integration with 3rd party clients, website integration and mobile device support than Facebook’s chat feature.  They’ve even taken that a step further with the Hangouts feature in Google+. Â
I can see what you’re saying about how Google should integrate some of these things into Google+ better, and maybe it’s in the works, but check out that toolbar at the top of your browser when you log into Google+ (or check out the attached image). Â You’re already logged into any Google service you want to use and can share any content you generate using other Google services with your Google+ circles and contacts. Â You choose only the features you want to use, and everyone in any circle you share with is already logged in using their own Google accounts as well, so it’s already integrated into a single browser session.
A lot of it might take a gradual change in the way people think about sharing, and about what they’re expecting from their social networks. Â Perhaps those that already use Google products in tandem will be quicker adopters as well, but if Google+ lets me say things I would never say in front of a potential employer or my mom without making me “unfriend” those people, and it offers me a more useful feed than my Facebook wall, and it does every single thing Facebook does (minus the stupid games so far) either directly or by using a completely developed free-standing web app integrated with the same account, what compelling reason can you give me NOT to stop using Facebook and spend more time on Google+?