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Awesome, can't wait to try it! Circles sounds like just what everyone wants. I think I'd switch to any half-decent social network made by Google. I do hope they

Awesome, can't wait to try it! Circles sounds like just what everyone wants. I think I'd switch to any half-decent social network made by Google. I do hope they provide a way to use the Facebook data export to make switching easy.

Kadin 15y ago
Same here. Although I don't necessarily envy them; Facebook has a huge advantage by virtue of network effects. I don't know anyone who really likes Facebook; they've alienated users with privacy missteps and stupid interface changes over and over and over. But everyone keeps using it because that's where everyone else is. Somehow you have to break that cycle. If anyone can do it though, it's probably Google. They effectively broke the back of the fat-and-lazy AOL Instant Messenger (at least in my experience) when they built chat into Gmail. Once they did that, AIM went from a "must-have" on most of my friends' computers to something they barely remember their login information to anymore. Here's hoping they can find some leverage to get a critical mass of users over from Facebook.
- zppx 15y ago
  Facebook's interface is much better than Orkut's interface, Orkut is a social network that was acquired by Google some years ago, and it does have the broadcast feature that made twitter popular, so Brazilians, were Orkut was really popular, loves Facebook. I think that Google can leverage adoption by targeting android users and creating a good application for them. EDIT: Orkut still is really popular here in Brazil but the majority of my friends migrated to Facebook and do not login in Orkut anymore.
  - gfodor 15y ago
    Orkut afaik was a 10% project, and named after its author.
- scottkduncan 15y ago
  Facebook certainly benefits from network effects, but it will be interesting to see if Google can benefit from the potential of complementarity between its products that Facebook doesn't have. In my mind, two of Google's most valuable assets are Chrome and its affiliation with Android, both of which have been gaining marketshare. If they get a non-invasive Chrome toolbar and a sleek Android app out, you could get Google+ in front of a whole lot of users pretty quickly and make it a natural extension of people's mobile and browsing activity. Also, Circles might help mitigate the network effect advantage of Facebook. Even if only one of your real-life circles (say your early adopting tech nerd friends) sign up at first, it can provide some functionality while it is still being more widely adopted by other groups.
- Canopy 15y ago
  I'm not sure the network effect of FB will be so hard to turn over. The point is there are a lot of people (or people aspects) not on Facebook. Most engineers I know aren't on Facebook and none of them would use Facebook for work practices. If Google+ is good enough for distributed workgroups, it could be a hit.
razor 15y ago
You should give circleriot.com a try. They pretty have much the same concept.
scorpion032 15y ago
Facebook would go any length to not let off their social graph to be consumed by Google.

Kadin 15y ago

Same here. Although I don't necessarily envy them; Facebook has a huge advantage by virtue of network effects. I don't know anyone who really likes Facebook; they've alienated users with privacy missteps and stupid interface changes over and over and over. But everyone keeps using it because that's where everyone else is. Somehow you have to break that cycle. If anyone can do it though, it's probably Google. They effectively broke the back of the fat-and-lazy AOL Instant Messenger (at least in my experience) when they built chat into Gmail. Once they did that, AIM went from a "must-have" on most of my friends' computers to something they barely remember their login information to anymore. Here's hoping they can find some leverage to get a critical mass of users over from Facebook.

zppx 15y ago
Facebook's interface is much better than Orkut's interface, Orkut is a social network that was acquired by Google some years ago, and it does have the broadcast feature that made twitter popular, so Brazilians, were Orkut was really popular, loves Facebook. I think that Google can leverage adoption by targeting android users and creating a good application for them. EDIT: Orkut still is really popular here in Brazil but the majority of my friends migrated to Facebook and do not login in Orkut anymore.
- gfodor 15y ago
  Orkut afaik was a 10% project, and named after its author.
scottkduncan 15y ago
Facebook certainly benefits from network effects, but it will be interesting to see if Google can benefit from the potential of complementarity between its products that Facebook doesn't have. In my mind, two of Google's most valuable assets are Chrome and its affiliation with Android, both of which have been gaining marketshare. If they get a non-invasive Chrome toolbar and a sleek Android app out, you could get Google+ in front of a whole lot of users pretty quickly and make it a natural extension of people's mobile and browsing activity. Also, Circles might help mitigate the network effect advantage of Facebook. Even if only one of your real-life circles (say your early adopting tech nerd friends) sign up at first, it can provide some functionality while it is still being more widely adopted by other groups.
Canopy 15y ago
I'm not sure the network effect of FB will be so hard to turn over. The point is there are a lot of people (or people aspects) not on Facebook. Most engineers I know aren't on Facebook and none of them would use Facebook for work practices. If Google+ is good enough for distributed workgroups, it could be a hit.

razor 15y ago

You should give circleriot.com a try. They pretty have much the same concept.

scorpion032 15y ago

Facebook would go any length to not let off their social graph to be consumed by Google.