Google + Versus Facebook
Finally after waiting and waiting Google + is born. I actually still cannot access it and am waiting for my special invite, I guess it will come in good time. I have been reading and watching etc so that when it’s time I will be up and running pretty fast. This is not to be confused with the Google + 1 button that I wrote about a couple of weeks ago.
So what do I think? It will be another tool for the tool box that will get us to spend even more time not doing what we should be doing 
and even more down time in business’s as people spend their time relearning a new “Shiney Object”
There is much written about the Google + but there does not seem to be many good writeups so will be very interesting as time goes by as to what will happen with Google +
Is there a Google + Versus Facebook?
I guess we are all so used to Facebook that we kind of think another similar model may not work. I personally think that Google may have left their run abit late.
What Google + does is it turns all of Google into one giant social network, thanks to a core group of social products and a new navigation bar that integrates sharing into every single Google product. I think the name is weak, and am sure they could have thought up something alot better than Google +.
I have some videos for you so take a look at them and you will get to see an out line of what to expect when you get into Google +
Below is an article from Mashable who I give credit to here no point re-writing something that has been well written, so you can go here to see or read even more Google + from Mashable
- Design: Aesthetically, it’s all Google — minimalist with plenty of white space. Nobody is going to complain about the design, but nobody is going to cheer about it, either.
- Usability: Google+ isn’t overwhelmed by its many features. It’s easy to navigate and its icons speak for themselves. After a few minutes of exploring, I quickly got the hang of it.
- Google+ Stream: The core of Google+ is the Stream, which doesn’t bring anything new to the table. It’s a lot like Google Buzz or the Facebook News Feed.
- Google+ Circles: Circles is well-implemented. It’s far easier than creating a Twitter List or a Facebook Friend List. The drag-and-drop functionality is a welcome addition, and the cute animations that appear when you perform actions give the product personality. That doesn’t necessarily mean users will take the time to create friend groups.
- Google+ Profiles: Google+ Profiles essentially port the existing data on your Google Profile. There’s nothing particularly special about Google+ Profiles, yet. One of the nice things is that it includes a Tabs feature, where users can add content from their Google Buzz or their Google +1s. This feature already exists on Google Profiles, but we bet developers will be able to add tabs to Google Profiles in the future, customizing and personalizing profiles.
- Google+ Hangouts: Hangouts is one of the more innovative concepts of Google+, and we think it’s a cool approach to getting users to accept group video chat. The camera switching feature (it changes who’s on camera based on who’s talking) is far superior to having multiple video feeds open at the same time. That said, it will require users checking their Google+ streams every day for potential chats to join. If Google+ gains traction, Hangouts will be a killer feature.
- Google+ Sparks: Sparks may end up being Google+’s most underrated feature. The company has essentially created a recommendation engine without calling it one. It’s designed to augment Google+, and if it works as Google designed it, it will create winners and losers in the publishing world, making Google +1 buttons actually matter. Before that becomes a reality though, it needs traction and it should consider acquiring advanced content recommendation technology from a company like Trapit or my6sense.
- Google+ Photos: The photo editor is essentially Facebook photos but with a photo editor. It’s quick and well-organized, making it a welcome addition to Google+. It should take a cue from Instagram and create simple ways to make photos more “artistic” and personalized.
- Mobile: The mobile version of Google+ is really simple, which is fine for a first release. It only has two unique features: instant photo uploads and Google+ Huddle. Instant photo uploads is a cool idea, but we worry about auto-uploading all of our photos for privacy reasons. We can see some users not being happy about auto-uploads, even if the albums they’re uploaded to are private. This could potentially create a lot of “garbage.”
- Google+ Huddle: Huddle is basically a group-texting feature for the Circles you create. It makes sense as a product, but it isn’t terribly exciting. I’m going to stick with GroupMe for now.
Conclusion: Google+ is a bold and dramatic attempt at social. There’s a reason why Google calls this a “project” rather than a “product” — they don’t want people to think of this as the final product, but as a constantly-evolving entity that permeates every corner of the Google empire.
Check out the videos below…
The Google+ project: A quick look
The Google+ project: Sparks
The Google+ project: Circles
Hope you enjoyed a quick look at Google +, if you did then please re-tweet, or comment or do something, be good to know your thoughts, would you ever move away from Facebook?
Thanks for the article, so important to keep up with things. I’m looking forward to trying out google + I like the idea of everthing being integrated in one, exciting stuff.
thats great, its alot to take in a whole new system… you can do it
Thanks Gail for explaining so clearly. Easy to understand,but I think it will take a lot of time away from other work as FB does now.I suppose we will get used to it and integrate it in our daily social network.
I think it will be a failure. it has nothing that will grab the audience to peruade them to change from Facebook to Google. Everyone is so used to Facebook especially the younger generation. They won’t change, it will be uncool to change
I think you are right, it is new but slowly and surely we will integrate it into our everyday lives
Thanks for your comment, will be very interesting to see… take abit of time I think…
I’ve been playing with this site all week – its interesting a few kinks to be ironed out but looks to be exciting in the not to distant future
Thanks for the very informative blog Gail. It looks great to me and I’m looking forward to it up and running, another new tool to learn. Going by the videos it looks quite easy to navigate. I’m not so sure that people won’t take it on board, particularly the younger ones as they are always out to learn something new, it will depend on the way it is marketed as well. History says they will give it a go.
oh lucky you
I am sure I will get an invite soon… in meantime I will get going on the other important things
am sure it wont be too hard, as many are saying its very like google … lots of white spaces and easy to get around,, just different names for things we are familiar with
There is certainly a lot to take in’but i guess time will tell !!
Well now. I have had a Quick look around Google+ and a very full discussion tonight with family and friends about Google+.
I think FB will remain for what it is. “Entrenched”
But! Google+ for wont of a better name will fill a gap were we wont/need containment and control. It looks like it will develop into exclusive groups or villages. I would love to see IMMAcadamy take this course. It is the right time with the right goods for both. I look foreword to promising developments. Lets get of the nail and get it done. The door of opportunity only opens to those that are ready. Then others, not ready, will say your just lucky. We don’t need to wait It can be used now.
it looks interesting anyway dosent it… will see what happens, I think the young people will love it… just means less productivity I think :-0
an interesting post and food for thought. It will be interesting to see if google have missed the boat or not.
hmmm will see… don’t think they have yet
What a great idea, with the different circle of friends , family and that they have a topic area also…far more interesting than facebook
thank you for sharing
I think it will be big, real big. People will start hearing about it like they did with messenger, myspace, twitter, facebook and we are naturally curious. We wont be able to resist this new hype and will have to check it out.
Google aren’t stupid and they certainly wouldn’t take a risk with something like this if they thought it wouldn’t work, it’s just the beginning…once Google+ starts getting used I think they will throw a lot more into it. I think Facebook will be getting used to invite people across to this new platform.
Me personally…well I love change so I will defo be exploring it
yes very cool… circle of friends sounds …hmmm friendly
I think it’s a good thing that someone tries to bring facebook down. facebook has ignored so many of it’s users complaints and it made a lot of people bitter because of it. Google has been researching, listening and taking action. I think the respect google has for it’s users will make the difference. if someone will bring down facebook, google+ will. For your amusement: Google” will kick Facebook’s ass
Because Google has a solid reputation from it’s search function, it might win over people who still see facebook as a kids gossip medium, don’t trust it, dislike all the changes and/or find it very confusing so hardly use it, if at all.
Young ones growing up now probably won’t have the same loyalty to facebook, they’ll just seize the best tool for their purposes, whether it is facebook or google+.
I think some of the features look better than similar facebook functions and new ones that go further than facebook does are welcome. Hangouts in particular – they could easily make webinar facilities available to everyone at no cost – this has to be a winner.
yes Trish there are some things that look very similar… I took some things from google + as far as lists go and used them in Facebook… we will see what happens… enjoy the book