Google has unveiled Google+, its long-awaited social network designed to take back some of the swagger it has lost to Facebook online in the last few years.
Facebook has racked up some 700 million users in six-plus years, allowing them to post photos, videos and status updates to share with friends. The service began as a walled garden where little data got out once it was added, but the company has allowed third-party sites.
Facebook has endured a handful of privacy black eyes along the way, starting with the failed Beacon ad campaign in 2007 and most recently adding facial-recognition software and rolling it out in Europe without warning users that it was coming and would be on by default.
Seizing on the market leader’s seemingly cavalier attitude toward user privacy, Google envisions Google+ as a more nuanced approach to social networking that tries to give users complete control over what content they share online and with whom they share it.
Available to users by invitation only for now, Google+ comprises four major components: Circles, Sparks, Hangouts and mobile, which includes instant photo and video uploads and group messaging. Social Circles has been rumoured since March, and was at the centre of a clumsy smear campaign by Facebook which attempted to brand Google’s privacy as poor
“Not all relationships are created equal. So in life we share one thing with college buddies, another with parents, and almost nothing with our boss,” Vic Gundotra, Google senior vice president of engineering, explained in a blog post.
Gundotra, tapped by Google’s upper management to head Google+ when it became apparent Facebook was taking ownership of the social sector, added a thinly veiled swipe at cross-town rival Facebook. “The problem is that today’s online services turn friendship into fast food—wrapping everyone in ‘friend’ paper—and sharing really suffers.”
Facebook’s premise assumes that a user wants to share with all of their connections, but what’s good for friends to read or see may not be good for bosses to read or see. The company added Facebook Groups last year to address this issue.
Sparks enables users to start conversations online with other users around certain topics, such as restaurants, cooking or sports. Google+ users will add their interests to gain access to content regarding relevant topics in the future.
Google+ Hangouts enable users to connect from their computers via multiuser video. Users may simply click to join a Hangout.
Mobile may be the most crucial information-sharing aspect of Google+. The tool uses smartphone GPS, cameras and messaging to improve connections between users. Specifically, users may choose to include their location with any status updates.
Another feature that follows the Facebook pattern is Instant Upload. It apes existing mobile applications that push information quickly to Facebook, and lets Google+ users add pictures and videos they shoot from their smartphone to a private photo album in Google’s cloud.
Finally, Huddle is a group-messaging application that lets users make plans with everyone in their circle.
The Google+ mobile application is available on Android Market. eWEEK was able to install it to an Android smartphone. However, when eWEEK tried to access the application, we were told, “Google+ is still in active development and not yet available to everyone. You need an invitation to sign in. Please check back later.”
eWEEK did receive an application form to take the Google+ field test, which allows up to 15 participants. Please check back for this ongoing coverage.
Google is still well behind Facebook in social media, but it does have 1 billion regular searches, and if even a small proportion of these can be converted into users spending time sharing on Google+, the search engine may get access to social display advertising which it desires to pad its massive online-ad arsenal.
At worst, Google+ may join Google Buzz in its sea of social anonymity, relegated to Google fans and/or niche users.
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"Facebook’s premise assumes that a user wants to share with all of their connections, but what’s good for friends to read or see may not be good for bosses to read or see. "
Um, no. Facebook added features 2 years ago so users can choose who sees what: http://www.facebook.com/blog.php?post=98499677130
Huddle is the Google+ equivalent of Facebook's new Groups (2010).