Move Aside Facebook It’s Google+ Time

by MRamos on 05/07/11 at 2:10 pm

So what is “in” today may not be so much another day. It is
definitely the situation with social media sites. I mean, who doesn’t remember
the good old days of Myspace, who was trumped and replaced by big dog Facebook.
With over 500 million users worldwide, Facebook is the social media network
that has captivated the majority of the population and established a community
of profiles and pages. But that might soon change with the introduction of
Google+, Googles big next project.

Google+ is in the process of development with limited number of active
users, with the hope of improving before launching it. Google+, as Google puts
it, is the real-life sharing, rethought for the web. So what does
“rethought” imply? Could Google+ features be so awesome that it
actually replaces Facebook?

Let’s Explore Google⁺ Features

Google⁺ introduces 5 features, so far, with the purpose of user
friendly throughout.

Circles: Circles is what we
would compare to Groups on Facebook, but with an added spin. For now, Facebook
only allows users to create groups and notifies the person what group they are
in. On the other hand, Circles allows the user to put individuals in specific
groups and gives the ability to share information with that group only. Let’s
face it, we all have friends that aren’t as “close” so how about we omit them
from sharing pictures from last night or random thoughts that we might have.
Having the ability to share the right stuff with the right people is a huge big
+ in my opinion. A Circle allows you to put family, coworkers, boss, annoying
buddies, and so on into different circles. Circles will notify individuals when
they were added in a circle but not indicate the circle name.

Hangouts: Hangouts will allow
chat conversation to initiate through invitation or if a URL link is sent to
the person. It will initiate conversation among users and create a face-to-face
conversation for up to 10 participants. Hangouts for the mean time, will only
allow 90 minute check in conversations, which might be bad for those who would
use this site as a conference meetup. Hangouts is intended to initiate
conversation among different users and have a conversation throughout the web
no matter the distance.

Instant Upload: This will upload videos and photos automatically from your
mobile device into a private album in Google+, of course with authorization.
The only thing the user will have to do is decide who to share the pictures or
videos with. Google+ makes it user friendly to use the feature since it’s
private and the user has the ultimate right and responsibility to whom to share
with.

Sparks: Sparks will operate as a reader feeder available upon your personal interests. Keep all your personal
interests available when you want them in your portal. No longer will you have
to go search what interests you, but pages will find you and be available at
your convenience. Sparks is a good way to keep up with the trends that interest
you and share them with your circles of friends.

Huddle: We all come across,
tough decisions to simply plan a time where we can meet with friends.  We’ll wait no longer, this is the solution
for that, or so it claims. Huddle will take the conversation among your circle
of friends and upload it to a chat conversation where all members can see it
and be on the same page, to save you time deciding and instead hanging out.

For starters, the 5 features mentioned above seem great already! With some
improvement and customization, I’m sure it will sure be a delight for users. It
is not certain when Google+ will be available for the rest of the public, but
I’m sure it will spark reaction from social media sites.

Do you think Google+ stands a chance to compete with Facebook, or is it
too early to know?