Alright, We have been seeing a lot of Facebook vs Google+ discussions of late, and the discussion just doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. So has Google finally found a social network that appeals to the mass in it’s fourth attempt? Yes fourth it is, since Google had previously launched Orkut, Wave and Buzz but all of them failed and the last two did miserably. But with the sudden launch of Google+ everyone is jumping into it, and it is spreading like wild fire. People have already started taking it as something that could easily overcome Facebook’s success. But as I discussed in one of my Previous post, why Facebook won’t fail anytime soon, Do you think Google+ has it in it? So many of my friends have already voted Google+ over Facebook, So does Google+ really have it, to overcome the power of a site that has over 750 million active users? We take a look at the points that could lead Google+ all the way to that spot. Well there are some points that are a + for Google+ and some weaknesses in it too. We take look at both in detail.
Pros
- Security
Google+ has taken the issue of security seriously. It lets you to decide if you want to share your pictures, status, and other things within a certain circle or to the general public. Say for example If you do not want to share certain thing with your office members, you could avoid that, by not making it public, and not choosing the circle while sharing it. Similarly you can directly send message to a person from the stream box. - Circle
Circle is one new approach to grouping a specific list of people. Circle allows you to categorize people into different groups, like Office, College Friends, School Friends and so on. Though Facebook allows this too but it is not as easy and not as nice as Google+ has made it. - Hangout
Hangout is one another great feature that has so much to offer. Hangout lets you have a video hangout with a group of people. You and your group of friends can have video chat together and share memories, while you could also hold a business meeting online. Though Facebook did launch video chat in partnership with Skype right away after the launch of Google+, it only allows you to talk to one person at a time, and group chatting is not an option. - +1
Google’s +1 is similar to Like button on Facebook. It lets you rate a status, image, link, video just like Facebook, but one thing that needs to be taken into consideration is that it’s Google(Worlds best Search Engine)’s +1 and we can not deny that in future that could play a part in the search. - Sparks
Sparks is one new feature to Social Media. It lets you add your interests and show feeds from that interest of yours. So it keeps you updated in your field of interest. So you have latest news on your field of interest right at your +. - Chat
Google has been providing chat for a long time, and has chat enabled in the form of GTalk and also on Gmail. Now a chat on Google+ that lets you connect to friends on Gmail will make it easier to be in one place all the time. - It belongs to Google
Oh Yes! This is a huge plus to Google+. I mean Google is the Giant in Search, so is it in Email business with Gmail, has Youtube and other features like calendar, Business email, and webmaster tools to name a few. And if not all, most of us at least use Google for search and have a Gmail account and have a Google profile along with a Youtube account. So when everything comes into play and you can relate to each and everything from one single place, you have nearly everything you need. So being a child of Google the big daddy in the web is seriously a big Plus.
But not everything has only pros to talk about. Every coin has it’s other side, and so has Google+. Though some cons we talk here about might be addressed or may be in the process of development at Google ( we don’t know) but for what Google+ has to offer now, we have made a list of some cons.
Cons
- No Business Page
One feature that has played a huge part in making Facebook a hit, is it’s “Page” feature. It lets business from anywhere in the world have unlimited client resource and helps make business easy even when they do not have a Website. This has been a feature that has wooed both the business owners and consumers alike. Different Brands, Bands, Celebrities, and others have had an effective medium to connect to their audience, and vice-versa. This is definitely missing in Google+ but we feel that this is coming very soon. - Group Features
Though circle and group may seem similar in verbal, it is not the case in these site. What Google’s Circle offers is totally different from Facebook’s group. A group like feature lets the group interact with each other effectively and share between themselves statuses, videos, photos, and links. A group is also equally important to promote business more or less like “Page”. - Events
Events lets people create notifications of the event that is going to be held and let people post their participation on that event and interact with other attendees. While Google+ does not have this feature, but proper integration of Google Calendar could get it moving. - Questions or Polls
Questions or Polls are a new feature to Facebook to being introduced recently, but has got the users addicted to it. Several questions from reasonable to totally insane are asked and people like answering them. When people were starting to think there is nothing noticeably new in Facebook, in came Questions and it surely has helped Facebook a lot. - API
API has played a great role in making websites a success in these days. As I discussed in one of my previous article, that App has played a great role in making Facebook what it is today, Google+ is surely missing that right now. Websites release their API which lets other developers interact with the site and create apps that make use of the site details and make other websites or the same website more useful. Facebook apps like Games, Quiz have made it fun and interesting while, other features like Facebook Connect, Like button and other such features have made it easier for targeted clients to interact with the site with information from Facebook. So this is one feature that Google must work on if they don’t want to see Google+ follow wave, buzz and orkut.
So here were my thought on why google could post serious threats to Facebook and some point that it needed to work on if it really wants to do that. Go ahead, have your say. What do you feel. If this will happen or is Google+ just a wave that will pass by like other of Google’s social networking attempts. Leave your thought in the comments.
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