5 ms·

Flocking to Google+

21 points by felipemnoa 15y ago

techiferous 15y ago
> Google+, the Facebook clone Really? Just because a product is competing in the same space doesn't mean it's a clone.
- dr_ 15y ago
  No, but lets face it, there isn't a whole lot that differentiates google + from facebook at this time.
  - theBobMcCormick 15y ago
    Circles, Huddles, Hangouts: Those all seem pretty different from Facebook to me. The only part of + that seems similar to Facebook is the interface of streams (which admittedly, is very similar.)
    - 51Cards 15y ago
      I tend to think that the similarity of 'Streams' is mainly due to the fact that that is what a social information feed looks like. It's kinda of like saying "Those word processors all copying each other with their large text areas and blinking cursors and menus" That's just because that is what works for a word processor, as the 'Stream' feed works for social updates. Just my thoughts anyhow.
      - rfugger 15y ago
        I'm not sure this was obvious until Friendfeed became so popular that Facebook acquired and integrated them into their redesign in 2009. It seems like a pretty recent innovation to me.
        51Cards 15y ago
        The current 'mature' design may have been somewhat recent but that's the general distillation process of software evolution. I think in general all successful software products of similar intent migrate towards a fairly common UI layout which works best for interacting with that type of data. Not too often we see paradigm shifts in software UI's for established tasks.
  - bermanoid 15y ago
    Sure there is: it's Not Facebook. That means a lot, really: No Aunt Martha seeing those pics from Atlantic City that you might otherwise like to post for your real friends to see. No friend requests from that asshole in high school that used to beat you up and now wants to pretend that everything's copacetic. No Farmville spam. No six-times-a-day status updates from that one person in your circle that just loves to "hear" themselves "speak" No profit for Zuck. You get the picture: there are a lot of reasons that people have left Facebook lately. It no longer has the exclusivity that drew the early adopters originally, and as we're getting older and realizing more and more that we want some privacy, Facebook has resisted making it easy to come by. Even better, beyond just being pre-Eternal September (and let's face it, once Aunt Martha is on Facebook, it's that time...), G+ has mechanisms in place that seem likely to keep the S/N ratio that I see high for a good long while. Sure, plenty of people don't care, and they'll keep using Facebook, and that's fine. But right now, the most important thing that differentiates G+ to me is that the people I care about interacting with are actually using it, even though many of them haven't been active on Facebook for months, if not years.
    - dr_ 15y ago
      But Aunt Martha joining facebook in the first place is the reason it has been succesful, and differentiated itself from the likes of myspace. One day you may be an Uncle, if you aren't already, and may want to stay connected to your nieces and nephews, see what they are up to, even if you don't see or speak with them as much. That will matter a lot to you then, even if it doesn't now. Facebook is evolving into a globally connected network of people. Google + is a toy for the technorati.
cesar 15y ago
I agree on the backlash against facebook, I think this would be understandable user behavior. The problems I still have with Google+ are two: 1. the name, there is not a simple way to make it a verb, would you say you are "plusing" or how would you say that you want to plus me? 2. it would be difficult for it to become as popular as facebook because there are alreasy lots of social graphs in facebook already established. The argument that users would change because of the privacy TOS is flawed, because many users don't care about the privacy stuff.
- knieveltech 15y ago
  "2. it would be difficult for it to become as popular as facebook because there are alreasy [sic] lots of social graphs in facebook already established." A few points to consider: 1. I'm not an early adopter, of anything, ever. 2. I've managed to mirror 100% of the Facebook contacts I give a shit about in Google+ in less than 24 hours, with substantially improved organization & compartmentalization, not to mention a noticeable lack of ads or Zynga spam. 3. A full third of my FB contacts have requested a G+ invite as soon as they heard I was already in. 4. All of the people I've invited or otherwise added to my circles are active in their G+ accounts.
  - jamesbkel 15y ago
    Mostly agreed (just speaking for myself) on your #1. Could not agree more on #2-4. Still, I'm a bit uncertain how Circles will pan out once G+ gains traction, but it's without a doubt more manageable than FB.
  - cesar 15y ago
    Sorry for the typo. I like G+. And I agree with your #2 and #3. Maybe am seeing it the wrong way. Maybe there will be a time when there will be two or more big social networks. And you will have to use all of them. I can see how G+ could become part of the Google services. Enhancing what you already do with the google services. But still, I just don't see G+ being a Facebook killer.
    - 15y ago
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
stretchwithme 15y ago
This guy's was off. Who are these Scobalites he's talking about? Are there really people who just copy whatever he does? Doubtful.
theflyingswami 15y ago
Nothing like an article about Facebook written by someone who admits he hates seeing people, "waste time," on Facebook! Regardless, I Find using Google+ is just easier. For example, if I want to change my profile picture, all my Picassa albums are right there (as well as phone pics). I can choose any picture I want and edit it right there, in Google+, and poof! New profile pic. I rarely change my profile picture in FB because, frankly, it's a hassle. Maybe not a huge hassle, but the process involves logging into Flickr (or Picassa or whatever), or finding a file on a hard drive, then going back to FB to upload or link the photo, then cropping it from there, then posting. It's always seemed like too much of a bother. Same goes for Sparks. Rather than find an article on the Web, then copy the URL, go to FB, share it, yadda yadda... I just peruse Sparks (essentially Google News as far as I can tell), find something interesting and hit, "share." And, of course, there's the invaluable Circles. I can finally brag to a selected social circle that I logged forty hours playing Call of Duty without revealing to everyone else what a total slacker I am. Personally, I've never been a huge FB fan, but my move to Google+ has more to do with its superior design as opposed to rebelling against FB. So far, Google+ just seems more fun to me.
- pyman 15y ago
  I think all of the complaints about Facebook policies have finally caught up with the company. Respecting your privacy is not about allowing users to create private groups or circles. It's about respect. When you sign up to a service offered by a company and accept its terms and conditions, you expect that company to respect those terms and conditions, but if those terms and those conditions keep changing all the time, people are going to be pissed off. I noticed this with people who have looked at and reviewed Google+. They all make a comment about how the privacy settings are better or easier to access or less intrusive. This small factor is almost always mentioned, including in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-llwYjxv8Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-llwYjxv8Y

Flocking to Google+

21 points by felipemnoa 15y ago

techiferous 15y ago

> Google+, the Facebook clone Really? Just because a product is competing in the same space doesn't mean it's a clone.

dr_ 15y ago
No, but lets face it, there isn't a whole lot that differentiates google + from facebook at this time.
- theBobMcCormick 15y ago
  Circles, Huddles, Hangouts: Those all seem pretty different from Facebook to me. The only part of + that seems similar to Facebook is the interface of streams (which admittedly, is very similar.)
  - 51Cards 15y ago
    I tend to think that the similarity of 'Streams' is mainly due to the fact that that is what a social information feed looks like. It's kinda of like saying "Those word processors all copying each other with their large text areas and blinking cursors and menus" That's just because that is what works for a word processor, as the 'Stream' feed works for social updates. Just my thoughts anyhow.
    - rfugger 15y ago
      I'm not sure this was obvious until Friendfeed became so popular that Facebook acquired and integrated them into their redesign in 2009. It seems like a pretty recent innovation to me.
      - 51Cards 15y ago
        The current 'mature' design may have been somewhat recent but that's the general distillation process of software evolution. I think in general all successful software products of similar intent migrate towards a fairly common UI layout which works best for interacting with that type of data. Not too often we see paradigm shifts in software UI's for established tasks.
- bermanoid 15y ago
  Sure there is: it's Not Facebook. That means a lot, really: No Aunt Martha seeing those pics from Atlantic City that you might otherwise like to post for your real friends to see. No friend requests from that asshole in high school that used to beat you up and now wants to pretend that everything's copacetic. No Farmville spam. No six-times-a-day status updates from that one person in your circle that just loves to "hear" themselves "speak" No profit for Zuck. You get the picture: there are a lot of reasons that people have left Facebook lately. It no longer has the exclusivity that drew the early adopters originally, and as we're getting older and realizing more and more that we want some privacy, Facebook has resisted making it easy to come by. Even better, beyond just being pre-Eternal September (and let's face it, once Aunt Martha is on Facebook, it's that time...), G+ has mechanisms in place that seem likely to keep the S/N ratio that I see high for a good long while. Sure, plenty of people don't care, and they'll keep using Facebook, and that's fine. But right now, the most important thing that differentiates G+ to me is that the people I care about interacting with are actually using it, even though many of them haven't been active on Facebook for months, if not years.
  - dr_ 15y ago
    But Aunt Martha joining facebook in the first place is the reason it has been succesful, and differentiated itself from the likes of myspace. One day you may be an Uncle, if you aren't already, and may want to stay connected to your nieces and nephews, see what they are up to, even if you don't see or speak with them as much. That will matter a lot to you then, even if it doesn't now. Facebook is evolving into a globally connected network of people. Google + is a toy for the technorati.

cesar 15y ago

I agree on the backlash against facebook, I think this would be understandable user behavior. The problems I still have with Google+ are two: 1. the name, there is not a simple way to make it a verb, would you say you are "plusing" or how would you say that you want to plus me? 2. it would be difficult for it to become as popular as facebook because there are alreasy lots of social graphs in facebook already established. The argument that users would change because of the privacy TOS is flawed, because many users don't care about the privacy stuff.

knieveltech 15y ago
"2. it would be difficult for it to become as popular as facebook because there are alreasy [sic] lots of social graphs in facebook already established." A few points to consider: 1. I'm not an early adopter, of anything, ever. 2. I've managed to mirror 100% of the Facebook contacts I give a shit about in Google+ in less than 24 hours, with substantially improved organization & compartmentalization, not to mention a noticeable lack of ads or Zynga spam. 3. A full third of my FB contacts have requested a G+ invite as soon as they heard I was already in. 4. All of the people I've invited or otherwise added to my circles are active in their G+ accounts.
- jamesbkel 15y ago
  Mostly agreed (just speaking for myself) on your #1. Could not agree more on #2-4. Still, I'm a bit uncertain how Circles will pan out once G+ gains traction, but it's without a doubt more manageable than FB.
- cesar 15y ago
  Sorry for the typo. I like G+. And I agree with your #2 and #3. Maybe am seeing it the wrong way. Maybe there will be a time when there will be two or more big social networks. And you will have to use all of them. I can see how G+ could become part of the Google services. Enhancing what you already do with the google services. But still, I just don't see G+ being a Facebook killer.
  - 15y ago

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

stretchwithme 15y ago

This guy's was off. Who are these Scobalites he's talking about? Are there really people who just copy whatever he does? Doubtful.

theflyingswami 15y ago

Nothing like an article about Facebook written by someone who admits he hates seeing people, "waste time," on Facebook! Regardless, I Find using Google+ is just easier. For example, if I want to change my profile picture, all my Picassa albums are right there (as well as phone pics). I can choose any picture I want and edit it right there, in Google+, and poof! New profile pic. I rarely change my profile picture in FB because, frankly, it's a hassle. Maybe not a huge hassle, but the process involves logging into Flickr (or Picassa or whatever), or finding a file on a hard drive, then going back to FB to upload or link the photo, then cropping it from there, then posting. It's always seemed like too much of a bother. Same goes for Sparks. Rather than find an article on the Web, then copy the URL, go to FB, share it, yadda yadda... I just peruse Sparks (essentially Google News as far as I can tell), find something interesting and hit, "share." And, of course, there's the invaluable Circles. I can finally brag to a selected social circle that I logged forty hours playing Call of Duty without revealing to everyone else what a total slacker I am. Personally, I've never been a huge FB fan, but my move to Google+ has more to do with its superior design as opposed to rebelling against FB. So far, Google+ just seems more fun to me.

pyman 15y ago
I think all of the complaints about Facebook policies have finally caught up with the company. Respecting your privacy is not about allowing users to create private groups or circles. It's about respect. When you sign up to a service offered by a company and accept its terms and conditions, you expect that company to respect those terms and conditions, but if those terms and those conditions keep changing all the time, people are going to be pissed off. I noticed this with people who have looked at and reviewed Google+. They all make a comment about how the privacy settings are better or easier to access or less intrusive. This small factor is almost always mentioned, including in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-llwYjxv8Y http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-llwYjxv8Y