It started with MySpace, moved on to Orkut and now the world cannot live without “face booking” every 5 minutes. Writing on walls and “liking” comments is the new rage. Face book has changed the face of social media forever. Not just individuals, but corporate, NGO`s, Broadway etc have their pages and groups on face book as part of their online marketing efforts. Face book has entered every household, every organization and every famous personality`s life.
The beauty of social media and over the entire internet itself is that it is a growing tremendously by the minute. Every day, something new is coming up. Google recently launched Google Plus in direct competition and head on with Face book. It works on the same principle of connecting with friends, sharing photos, comments etc. but unlike face book, Google plus is built from the concept of sharing with people based on “circles”. The idea is that you can easily drag and drop people into different circle – school friends circle, cousins’ circle, salsa class circle etc. this enables you to segregate people and share specific things with specific people. Like, if you want to communicate salsa class schedule or share pictures of your performance with that group and do not really want the whole world to see that, you can just do it circle wise. This concept has become a big hit with everyone. Well, you definitely do not want your parents to know about your girls’ night out other than those girl friends only!
Well, most of things between other social network sites and Google plus are same like sharing albums, comments, thoughts etc. main difference is of circle. You can put as many people in a circle as you want. Good thing is, just because someone has put you in a circle, does not mean you need to put them in your circle. Just like twitter, you can be followed by someone but you do not need to necessarily follow that person back! Another good things is the security of Google plus. Personal information can be displayed or not displayed. That is left to your discretion.
Google plus today has nearly 10 million people and the members are growing. The question is the pace of growth? People are so used to face book and its ways, the question is will people shift and adapt to more or less the same thing? It is a wait game. Face book has evolved with time. Businesses’ have practically grown due to face book and twitter marketing strategies. Google plus, till date has not come up with business functionalities. That is a major drawback. People are now used to “liking” something. In Google plus, if you are interested in something, you create “sparks”. These terms have not really gone down with many people.
It is early to say whether Google plus will eventually be the popular one or not, but it has started creating little waves. Face book and twitter will definitely give it tough competition and will keep innovating themselves. Till the time the game goes on, people are on the benefiting side. We will keep getting better products. Why complain?!
