What Does Google+ Bring to the Social Media Table?
In the latter half of 2011, Google rolled out its own social network. Dubbed Google+, the service is Google's second attempt at a social network. With many similarities to Facebook, Google+ feels familiar and fresh at the same time. Delving deeper into the service, there are a few sharp differences between the two competitors. The competition between the two has already been fierce, with more sure to follow. Some of the immediate similarities that one notices when comparing the two services are:
- Similarly formatted profile pages and news feeds
- Ability to add friends and share status updates
- Option to follow celebrities and common interests
Similarities to Facebook
Much of the basic functionality in Google+ mirrors what's found in Facebook. Navigation is handled through a bar towards the top of the screen, and the main content on a page is found in the middle. On both services, the information in the center is consistently flanked by secondary information on either side. Google+ goes so far in mimicking Facebook as to use the right-hand side of the main page for friend suggestions. Also in the same vein as Facebook is the fact that Google+ lets users comment on stories in the Google+ version of the News Feed, known as the Stream. Overall, Google+ is going to feel familiar to anyone that's been on Facebook for more than a few days. The quality of each network, specifically with regards to the user interface, comes down to personal preference. Google+ has a very minimalist layout, being mostly gray and white with dabs of red and blue scattered throughout. At the same time, some people might view the layout and color scheme of Google+ as drab when compared to Facebook's classic blue color scheme.
How Google Goes Above and Beyond
Google+ does do quite a bit to differentiate itself from Facebook, though. One feature where Google+ does this is in the Stream. With Facebook, users have one large News Feed consisting of posts from everyone they are friends with or fans of. The only way to filter what's in the News Feed is to unsubscribe from an individual entirely. On Google+, users have a set of options on the left to filter their Stream. Users can view a Stream of everyone they're friends with or fans of, but they can also set it to only view updates from friends, family or other circles. This same trend of differentiation extends to other aspects of Google+. In many areas, Google+ takes a feature of Facebook and somehow improves on it. This has led to a number of innovations to be found in Google's social network, such as:
- Automatic photo syncing from mobile
- Video chatting with multiple people simultaneously
- Circles
Totally New Features
Of these, Circles might be the most unique feature of Google+. Rather than sharing everything with every person, the Circles feature allows Google+ users to share certain things with certain people - just like in real life. This is something that Facebook has begun catching up to by allowing its users to manage their subscriptions to individual people, but it's still not quite as robust as Circles. Google has pushed their Circles feature extensively in their television advertising campaign. Seeing college classmates together in one circle, weight training friends populating another, and family acquaintances neatly assembled together in another may be the simplest and yet most revolutionary improvement to Facebook's organization yet and one that Google+ hopes to cash in on. Among the most understated benefits of Google+ is its ability to automatically sync photos from a user's smartphone. All that a person needs to do is download the Google+ app for their Android phone, and photos will automatically upload. This brings users of Google+ further into the cloud, without the need for multiple third-party apps like automatic Facebook syncing currently requires. In addition to these improvements, Google+ makes a number of small improvements over Facebook.
These are minor aspects such as offering the ability to import Gmail contacts and assisting first-time users in finding content to subscribe to. Still, these minor benefits are a welcome plus. Even though Google+ doesn't completely reshape social media, it does up the bar for Facebook. Google+ brings superior functionality and hints of innovation that make it a superior experience to Facebook. That doesn't necessarily make it better, though - Facebook still has more users, and with the upcoming Timeline feature being rolled out, Facebook will have another selling point over Google+. Regardless of which social network comes out on top, the users will be the real winners in the end.
Author Bio: McKinley H. is a web marketing adviser and freelance writer. When not pursuing his passions of blogging, social-networking, and snow-skiing, he uses a car insurance comparison tool to help people save money.