Internet is not what it used to be. It no longer is just about displaying information on any given topic.
Now it is about connecting people, and this renewed purpose of “The Net” is not a trend or “In-phase”which is likely to phase-out.
This is a big concern to Google’s advertising business. With so many successful SNS sites available on the web(Facebook alone has 750million users and 175 Million on Twitter)Social Networking Sites could become a major threat to the Search Engine Giant.
Google attempted to overcome this issue by creating a number of SNS of its own, like Buzz, Wave&Orkut, and all failed repeatedly… till now.
Google’s latest bash at the SNS, called Google+ (plus), looks to be heading towards the major success!
Some even say that Facebook will soon be thing of the past.
Within the first 3weeks of its “Beta Launch” over 10million people joined Google+, and the number is increasing!
Of course, we at Storm-Partners have joined this“Currently by Invitation only” SNS and given it a test run.
In a nut shell, think that Google+ is a lot like Facebook, but with functionalities of Twitter.
And it seems G+ was intentionally created that way.
Google identified thatwe, the SNS users, faceof having too many avenues in sharing on the net, and they aren’t coherent. Naturally, Google attempts to fix that once and for all.
As you know on Twitter, you follow and can be followed by total strangers without their real names, all without an approval of either parties.
Although”technically” it is not an accurate description, some say that Twitter is a “Micro-Blogging” system. You publish what you have to say, and hopefully people find it interesting enough to read it.
The advantage of Twitter are its simple interface, and that itoffers a potential of your short messages reaching 100s or even 1,000s of people.
On the other hand, Facebook is all about personal connections.
You are required to open your FB account with your real name (though many use fake names), and each connection must be mutually approved.
It is much more personal than Twitter, and information found on FB would be more credible since you know where it comes from.
However, FB has many functionalities that are rather hard to figure out.
It takes some getting used to using FB and you need to find your ways around it to take the full advantage of what it has to offer.
Now onto Google+!
Google says that unlike many of SNS, it provides more subtle way of connecting with other people, just like your relationships in the daily (off line) life.
“For example, you might post an announcement about your engagement and show it only to people in your friends and family circles, or maybe you see a post from the circle you created for your book club that there’s a recent article on your favourite author.” – Quote from Official Google+ site.
The “Wall”(not sure if that is the official name for it on G+, but…) of Google+ is a lot like that of Facebook. Your friend’s posts appear as “Timeline” and you can leave comments to it, or click on “+1” which is equivalent of “Like” button on FB.
What’s different is that Google+ makes you to sort out all your contacts into different groups called “Circles”.
The process of creating your “Circles” are much smarter that than “Listing” your friends on FB.
And each time you post something onto your “Wall” you have to choose who (which circle) sees it.
You can also set the visibility of each post to “Public”meaningthat anyone can view that particular message, which makes it act like Twitter.
You can choose to add someone to your “Circle” without their approval, and they don’t have to add you back in return.
As result, you are “Following” their posts much like you do on Twitter.
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But by no meansis this where it ends. Google+ offers many more cool features that we can’t possibly list all here in one article.
So keep your eyes out for our future reviews here at Apptivo.
Now, The Big Question!
Is Google+ gonna make FB and Twitter join the list of “Has-been” sites?
Find out what we think at http://storm-partners.com/google/google-plus-circles/
