4 ms·

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

by techiferous 15y ago

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.

> 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.