Why Google+ will knock out (or be knocked-out by) Facebook
Mixed reactions from analysts
For more than 700 million people, the only constant in life are taxes, death and Facebook. Google, already earning billions with its search and e-mail service, has tried - but failed - several times to take Facebook's place in social networking.
Google has launched a social networking service called the Google+. Google+ contains the best of Facebook -- sharing and discussing status updates, photos and links -- but avoids the the worst of Facebook -- it allows you to send different updates to discrete groups, instead of worrying about sharing everything to your 10,000 contacts or everyone on the Web.
Here's a serious and humorous (and maybe stupid) look at the possible outcome of Google's new social network.
Why Google will overtake Facebook:
1. Circles gives you privacy. Circles is a way to segregate your friends into discrete groups. Users are given the option of which Circles of contacts to share a piece of content with, each and every time they post something. With Circles, you don't have to worry about getting fired when you shout out or "I hate my boss." Or a lady wouldn't want to share the same things to his guy friends and family when she's in the mood to say, "Alone at home. I'm cold, I need some company. Wink2x"
2. Living with the correct philosophy. You have cliques, not a giant congregation (unless you are a minister) reading everything you say. "As best I can tell, the underlying philosophy of Google+ seems to be that, in the real world, people don't keep one all-encompassing "social network" of the kind that Facebook calls on us to build. Instead, we all have various different kinds of relationships with people in small clusters, and we apply distinct levels of importance and intimacy to each of these clusters." says Farhad Manjoo, writing for Slate.com.
3. Has more to offer than Facebook. Jeffrey Van Campjune in his Digital Trends article Five reasons why Google+ will succeed, noted that while Facebook has opened "ways to communicate: groups, event invites, photos, photo tagging, the news feed, notes blogs), geotagging, interest tagging, games, Likes, " Google+ on the other hand "is launching with a locked-down, simple design and many of the features Facebook has made standard issue for a social network, but it's also launching with several new ones, all aimed at making communication easier, more fun, and more effective between friends." Jeffrey Van Camp at Digital Trends, notes of the Profile + Circles for easily grouping friends together, Hangouts + Huddle for video chats with one another and just hang out with one another; and a Picasa photo service integrated into Google+. Quentin Hardy at a blog post at Forbes.com said that Google+ could be a business tool -- among other things, "Circles" feature of grouped contacts could be used for both departments and collaborative workgroups.
4. Did it to Yahoo, Nokia; why not Facebook. Google has the brightest minds in the planet: it was able to challenge Yahoo!'s dominance in the search engine business; it was only planning a poor man's version of the iOS for mobile phones but has knocked out Nokia's Symbian and is now the top OS in the mobile market; and Google put many e-mail providers into extinction. If Google was lucky then, it would not be surprising if it could do it again.
5. Yeah, it's legit. Not a really a sign that Google+ has gained Facebook's respect, but Mark Zuckenberg, the Facebook founder, has an account in Google plus, according to MCMag.com. China, which has banned Facebook, has also banned Google+.
6. Selling like pancakes. Although Google has just released a beta version, and the not-yet-bug-free service is still by invitation and available to select users only, Google+ has generated thousands of reviews and articles and more demands for invites, just 24 hours after the beta release.
Why Google will falter again with its new take on the new social network:
1. New clothes won't make a loner popular. Google has found success with the search engine, but its past efforts with social networking were a dud. Remember Buzz, Orkut and Google Wave? Rich Harris, in his Social Business blog at ZDNet, "They're known for having some of the most intelligent brains behind what they do but their philosophy has always been "algorithm is king." This is why Google is amazing at search. Algorithms are in their DNA. The problem they face with social network customers is that while Facebook's backend might run on algorithms, its customers and the social media culture don't."
2. Jack of all trades. Google+ is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Skype and Yahoo Messenger all in one. "Google+ is several different social products rolled into one, an amalgam that currently lacks much coherence or any compelling reason for participation," says Farhad Manjoo, writing for Slate.com.
3. Too complicated. The Guardian's Charles Arthur noted that while Google's cash cow, its search product, is a classic of simple design, Google+ is too complicated. Peter Pachal, in a blog post at PCMag, says, "People want things easy, and Google Circles isn't easy. It puts the burden on users to take the time to think about each and every contact and put them in a specific bucket."
4. Recycled. Twitter (for your random thoughts) and LinkedIn (job-hunting) were able to co-exist with Facebook because the former cater to different needs. Steve Kovach, writing for Techometer, notes that just about everything on Google+ has been recycled from Facebook. "Everyone's already on Facebook, and most don't use Gmail," Kovach writes. Would anybody drink Pepsi after drinking Coca-Cola? MySpace, which is offering the same thing as Facebook, was only sold for $35 million, despite still having 120 million users. LinkedIn, which has the same number of active users, is worth $8.3 billion. See the difference?
5. Too late. Facebook is already king of the hill as Facebook already has 700 million users. "Had Google launched this strategy three years ago that may have been a good question. But the burning question now is whether or not Google is too late to the 'social Web' to ever catch up," TechCrunch.com said.
6. Not cool. The movie Social Network said that Mark Zuckenberg to get the hot chicks and to build your social network, which is kind of "cool", but Google is in the business to get a share of the advertising revenues. "Unlike Gmail's humble origins, Google+ feels like a corporate creation made to service Mother Google's main business: advertising." says Andrew Couts, in his Digital Trends article "five reasons why Google+ will fail."
Will Google find success? Or Will it fail again? Tell us what you think. We'd love to listen to your thoughts.