When I finally got the invitation to Google+, I was excited. A few days later I could no longer ignore the feeling that Google+ provides the functionality of... Twitter and LinkedIn. Another thing worth noticing - during that whole period facebook's tab was proudly open in my browser next to the Google+'s one.
How's Google+ threatening facebook?
Google+ put in the front lines two features aimed to overcome facebook's user experience problems: Circles and Hangouts. Google assumes that the users are seriously concerned for their privacy in facebook, so it offers a solution, which is a very cool and modern design for the facebook groups feature. It is called "Circles". According to the survey made in 2010, 77% of facebook members already use privacy tools that facebook provides. The privacy buzz reached the peek a year ago and people have already adjusted the social networks usage to their needs. Now they have an opportunity to do it in a cooler way. Will it be enough to get them to migrate to Google+?
Another major feature introduced by Google+ is "Hangouts", video conferencing for up to 10 participants. Video calls have been around for a long time, but they haven't managed yet to replace the regular calls. There is one simple reason for it and the first thing you see after clicking on the "Hangouts" button addresses it: "Check your hair and make sure your mic works!". In order to start your video conversation you need to check your appearance. It is the reason why Apple felt free to release iPhone with the back camera only. People use video conversations for showing things happening around them, not to show themselves. There are, of course, video chats happening all around the world, but they can't be the killer application that will bring facebook down. The fact that facebook already has some nice and cool video applications such as Tinychat with more than 2.8M active users and the slightly different, but still very fun, Rounds with close to 800K active users, leaves "Hangouts" as just another well designed capability of Google+.
The biggest surprise is the lack of a Google+ API. How can Google+ compete with facebook, if it isn't a platform? The most fun we get from facebook is related to its applications and facebook users install 20M of those every day.
So, there are a few major reasons not to be worried about facebook. But...
What about Twitter and LinkedIn?
People connect in Google+ through the Circles mechanism. You put your friend in the circle and he puts you in his. In other words, you follow your friend and he follows you. Also, you can mention people in your posts by adding @ before their name. Sounds familiar? I have to admit that Twitter isn't my cup of tea. It's too short for me, too messy and I've never invested a serious effort to expand my presence there, but in Google+ everything seems to be more clear. Another victory for the Google design team.
In my first week of using Google+, I've found myself reading statuses and posts made mostly by my business connections. It is certainly related to the fact that I am part of an industry full of early adopters and my personal friends are less excited to try something experimental. The Google+ functionality doesn't cover the majority of LinkedIn's features, but it does give a simple and clean stage for professionals to promote themselves. Add to this the short browsing distance from gmail and other Google services and you may start to think about Google+ as a potential alternative or at least a complement to LinkedIn.
With Google+ I feel much more comfortable to communicate with my followers and read the updates from those I'm following. I'll still visit LinkedIn to find information about new business connections, but I'll try to connect to them in Google+ for future communication.
Google+, success or failure?
In my opinion, it doesn't really matter. Google+ has already achieved a lot. It servers to mark both the potential and the real problems of the social networks world and offers a few excellent solutions. Whether it succeeds or fails, the users will enjoy the progress of all social network platforms, initiated by a serious investment by such a big player, as Google is, in this area. Facebook has already announced the deeper Skype integration with video abilities and even released one-on-one video chat to the limited group of users. It is only the beginning. In the near future, I expect to see a lot of new developments by everybody, facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, especially in the mobile environment, where Google has a potential advantage over the rest of the competitors.
The intensity of the reactions to Google+ expresses the need for a refreshment of the social networks and that need just got an answer. We, the users, are going to have a lot of fun.
Mentioned:
Privacy survey
Advanced Google+ usage
Rounds Video Chat
Tinychat
Facebook and Skype
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