Is Google+ third time a charm?
Google is taking on Facebook once again.
After failed attempts to break into the social networking juggernaut with Google Buzz and Google Wave (2009 & 2010 respectively), Google+ is focusing in on social relationships again with “real-life” sharing services. It looks like they take the Facebook Groups feature and kick it up a notch with Circles, Huddle and Hangout, allowing you to choose what you wish to share with whom.
The interface and maintenance looks pretty sharp from the video snippets. With all these new features, simplicity is key. People have spent a long time setting up the FB pages – (uploading massive amounts of photos, adding/purging friends and playing plug-in games) – will users concede all those man hours to set up another network identity?
Is it just a “me too” contribution? Or will some of the new features be enough to create converters from Facebook? They will certainly be a bandwagon effect in the initial product push, but will users stay or wander back to Facebook. Perhaps it’s best to let Google enjoy the glow of the spotlight and see what the numbers say next year.
Here is a link to the Google Blog with videos of the new features and more concise descriptions of the latest features.
Will you be signing up?
Doug Brown
June 29, 2011 9:38 amI want to say no: I don’t want to bother setting up yet another public profile that offers so much duplication with Facebook and the zillion other platforms I seem to be on. But I’m going to say yes: I want to see where it goes from an objective standpoint and can’t do that from the outside looking in.
Stephan Rosger
June 29, 2011 11:19 amIt’s tough changing brands of anything. I mean, I absolutely hate Hotmail because it takes forever to load in my browser, and it’s antiquated, but I’ve gotten so familiar and conditioned with it that I’m still forcing myself to get used to Gmail – eventually I’ll make the complete switch. Facebook’s huge, and even if Google+ takes off as being much more usable and simple, people will have a hard time rewiring their internet patterns. I sometimes mindlessly check Facebook, as if my brain’s just doing its own thing. On the other hand I think that this kind of competition is needed or else Facebook will become a bit too powerful. They’re already known for their overconfidence with trying to bypass basic privacy issues. This kind of competition compliments each other, and is always better for the user, so for the sake of social media evolution I give Google+ a thumbs up…we don’t want Facebook inbreeding.