Google+: Facebook and Twitter be warned?
Twitter and Facebook may have to prepare themselves for some new competition in the form of Google’s new social media offering Google+, an industry expert has warned.
“Facebook and Twitter need to be a bit worried. I didn’t hold out much hope for Google+ to begin with, but after having had a play I can see it will have a genuine use for people,” Cathie McGinn, strategy director of Mindshare, told Mumbrella.
Selected as part of a group who were given access to trial the platform, McGinn said it has a good balance of Twitter and Facebook functions.
“They may have just about got this right. There’ a good balance between the functionality that replicates the stuff we do in real life. For example catching up with a group of friends which you can do on the group webcam or group text messaging where everyone can be a part of the conversation,” she said.
Today from “The Conversation”: http://theconversation.edu.au/.....ebook-2073
Google has finally nailed it. All it needs to do now is incentivise loyalists to spread the word.
it’s a carbon copy of facebook. so yeah, maybe they have nailed it.
For the moment, Google+ seems too similiar to Facebook. A user wouldn’t want to maintain two of these services, for one to succeed the other will need to lose users. Facebook and Twitter are different enough that it provides value for people to use both, but it doesn’t look the case with Google+
I don’t see any killer features that would make people leave Facebook en masse to Google+.
Also, the name Google+ makes it really awkward to use any punctuation after writing it!
I’ve got access, like Buzz and Wave can’t find almost any mates who are on it.
It doesn’t seem a lot different from Buzz with more privacy settings – I’m not sure really what it does that is better than Facebook, except lock privacy down better. And let’s be honest, in spite of what we say, the lack of privacy on FB is what we like about it – lock your privacy down, and stalk those who don’t….
And +1 to the awkward name.
It will need momentum, and critical mass. I’ve signed up, and invited a few mates, but I’d still struggle to justify *why* they should sign up? Are people outside the curious industry people going to be clamouring for invites to this?
Do we really need another social network? I struggle to see this one taking off. Greedy Google. Greedy.
I vote we go back to socialising in the real world!
Based on the amount of conversation on Twitter today and the number of people clamouring for invitations, I think there will be quicker uptake on a much wider scale than Wave etc. (plus Facebook at its inception). And the utility is clear.
I think Sparks offers a huge opportunity for brands right now, and perhaps we’ll see branded profiles and inclusion in Circles later on.
Sparks, which is a feed of content related to topics of your choice, will be a really sophisticated feed of stuff people like you, and the people you like, like. A great opportunity for brands creating interesting, engaging and valuable content to reach the most targeted audience.
I think it will succeed because it has that element of serendipity that Facebook can’t offer. Because Google, after all, has the whole web to select from, as well as years of deep data about its users, and in that respect at least Facebook is on the back foot.
I’m looking forward to watching this play out…
Interesting but I wonder how many users will actually ‘group’ their contacts? If you don’t do that you’re pretty much using a Facebook alternative, in which case why change?
I have been testing Google+ for the last 24 hours, I was lucky enough to send out invites to alot of mates.
Now I have a lot of people on my account I can see the benefit of Google+, I think features like Hangout and Circles are things that Facebook has no similar product too.
Hangout will be very interesting from a skype angle, yet also integration of all Google products into the one service. Also I find the Android App to be quite cool.
I have thrown together some images and info here about Google+
http://jamesnorquay.com/a-look.....l-network/
I hate how people are relating it to Google Wave and saying Google will fail, it is evident they have invested millions of hours into it and they will make it a success.