Social networking has grown steadily in scope and importance
over the last decade, and over the past few years, Facebook's position as the
top dog of social networking services has been solid and unquestioned. Enter
Google+. Google's attempts to step into the realm of social networking have
been plentiful and almost undeniable failures, but Google+ is undoubtedly their
strongest showing yet, and has the best chance of success. It is growing
steadily in popularity, but how well does it work and what sets it apart from
its competitors? Read on.
Social Networking, Google Style
Google has a long, tumultuous, and mostly unknown and ignored history with
social networking. The following is a rundown of their previous attempts.
Orkut: As far as I am aware, this is Google's earliest and (until now)
most successful attempt at a social networking platform. It didn't ever gained
much popularity in the United States, but it is huge in Brazil to this day, and
it also has a following in India and other various countries.
Open Social: Launched in 2007, it's not technically a social network in
and of itself. Open Social is Google and MySpace's attempt to create a common
programming interface that can be applied across several social networks,
allowing programmers to easily integrate these networks into websites and other
applications. This has largely been drowned out by Facebook.
Friend Connect: Launched in 2008, Friend Connect was Google's next
attempt at a Facebook or MySpace style social network, but it took the approach
of using various open standards (including Open Social) to create this network
across different types of accounts and websites. I had not even heard of it
until I started researching for this article.
Google Lively: This was Google's attempt to create Second Life style 3D
environments that could be installed onto any website, where users could log in
with their personas and interact with each other. It only lasted for a few
months before it was discontinued in 2008.
Google Wave: This was a communications format that was
intended to combine features from e-mail, message boards, and social networking
schemes to enable a conversation-style information exchange (or wave) that
could include various type of media added by various networked contributors.
Google has basically abandoned the project, but it still exists under the name
Apache Wave.
Google Buzz: A social network that has been integrated into Google's
e-mail service, Gmail, since 2010. It allows people to share information with
one another in a social networking format right inside the Gmail interface.
Ironically, Google Buzz has barely generated any buzz at all.
So what's to say this attempt will be any better? Read on.
Circles
Circles are the core concept of Google+, and the key feature that sets it apart
from its competitors. Anybody you wish to communicate with goes into one or
more of your "circles", or groups of people you know. You can have a
circle of friends, a circle of co-workers, a circle of family members, etc, and
nobody but you can see what circles you have or who is in them. Then when you
write a status update, you also choose which circles to share it with. This
makes privacy a breeze, a fact that sets Google+ firmly apart from Facebook,
where privacy settings are terribly complex to manage and seem to change every
few months. Even better, when you're setting up your personal information in
Google+, there is a place in every field to specify with which circles that
information is shared. For example, I have my phone number set up to only be
visible by friends and family, but I have my profession set to be visible by
all my circles. It's a snap. Then when you go to look at status updates that others
have posted (which is in an interface similar to Facebook in basic appearance),
you can filter the information by circles with just one click. It works
extremely well, and you can color me impressed.
Hangouts
Another unique feature in Google+ is the concept of a hangout. A hangout is
basically a video chat room, where you can invite friends and talk freely
amongst each other. Webcams are becoming very widespread, and are even built
into laptops and netbooks. It sounds great, but it is not without its setup. To
even get started with hangouts, you are asked to download and install the
"Google Voice and Video plugin", and then you have to find a frÃend
who is on Google+ (and is in one of your circles) who is willing to do the same
thing. However, once you're done with all that, the streaming video seems to
work flawlessly so long as you have a good internet connection. Even through
the limited resources of a netbook, I didn't run into any hiccups. Once again,
I'm impressed.
Missing Features
With all of its clean look and smooth operation, there are some features that
are conspicuously missing from Google+. Most notably as of the writing of this
article, Google+ lacks any way to set up an account for a business or
organization (called "Pages" on Facebook). In fact, Google is
actively taking down standard user accounts that are set up for organizations.
They claim that they are working on some sort of platform for business
accounts, but demand is high, so they risk alienating new users if they take
too long. Another conspicuously absent feature is a way of setting up an event,
or any sort of calendar entry for that matter.
Conclusion
Google+ is definitely a top-quality effort by Google to break into the social
networking field, but only time will tell whether it can topple Facebook from
its position as top dog in the pack. For my money, though, it has a good
chance. It doesn't have all the features yet, but with its clean interface,
simple no-brainer privacy, and fun methods of interaction, I highly recommend
checking it out.
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About The Author
This article is presented by Jacob Strandlien, who operates Savvy Duck
Computers, providing Eugene-Area Computer Repair and related
services.
Sources: SiteProNews, Mon 9/5/2011
