Google+ Gets More Visits as Facebook Becomes ‘Social Newspaper’
Social network members previously loyal to Facebook have gone to visit or revisit Google+ since the former introduced a series of changes in its interface, making some users wonder if Google+ is as simple and neat as Facebook used to be when it was "new."
A couple of days before Facebook's much anticipated f8 convergence in San Francisco, California, Facebook users have spotted numerous changes in the social network, which now has a 'ticker' in addition to 'subscriptions' and 'top stories,' which is basically about making a social newspaper out of Facebook.
In a blog post Facebook engineering manager Mark Tonkelowitz explains: "Now, News Feed will act more like your own personal newspaper. You won't have to worry about missing important stuff. All your news will be in a single stream with the most important stories featured at the top.
"If you haven't visited Facebook for a while, the first things you'll see are top photos and statuses posted while you've been away. They're marked with an easy-to-spot blue corner."
While there are others who welcomed the changes, being comfortable with whatever they see on screen, there are some others who are having quite a challenge in adjusting to Facebook's new environment. A number of users have been circulating an image with the message, "Dear Facebook, If it ain't broken, don't fix it."
Users posting status updates that says they are ready to try Google+ is now a frequent sight on Facebook newsfeeds.
Meanwhile, Google+ has been pleased to take in new members now that it is open for public registration.
"For the past 12 weeks we've been in field trial, and during that time we've listened and learned a great deal," Google senior vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra said in a blog post.
Google+ was launched in an invitation-only test format on June 28.
"We're nowhere near done, but with the improvements we've made so far we're ready to move from field trial to beta... Anyone can visit google.com/+, join the project and connect with the people they care about."
"Google+ is still in its infancy, of course, but we're more excited than ever to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software," Gundotra said.
Google+ has already surpassed 25 million members and is expected to reach 100 million members by the end of 2011. In 2004, Facebook celebrated having 1 million users after about 10 months since public launch.