BBJ: A Verdict On Google+ Vs. Facebook
BOSTON (CBS) - The technology world has been atwitter, if not Tweeting, of late over whether Google Inc., with its new social media tool Google+, would offer a viable alternative to Facebook.
On one hand, Google's technological dominance would lead one to expect a great offering. Who doesn't love Gmail? On the other hand, Google brought the world Wave. (Never heard of Google Wave? Neither did a lot of people. It was cool and it flopped. And Wave, unlike Google+, tried to carve out a new niche rather than take on a powerhouse like Facebook.)
I've spent some time recently with a test version of Google+ exploring a basic question: Does Google+ have what it takes to lure users away from Facebook?
While Facebook has expanded significantly over the years, the service's basic and most important features remain connecting users with each other in controlled environments and helping users find other people. These are Google+'s core services, and it's in these areas that I'm comparing the two.
Facebook's biggest advantage is its ubiquity. Asking people of a certain age if they have a Facebook account borders on the absurd. Of course they do. And many a friendship has been rekindled via the service.
But that strength is also Facebook's greatest weakness. If lore is correct, numerous careers have sputtered after postings meant for friends were seen by bosses. Who doesn't have an embarrassing photo from a college party that no doubt would have drawn howls from friends who long forgot the soiree, but scorn in certain professional circles?
Enter Google+'s most significant feature: Circles.
The Boston Business Journal's Eric Convey reports
Circles lets users maintain distinct online identities. By allocating friends among different "circles," a user retains the ability to essentially live separate online lives. Material meant for friends can stay with friends. Material meant for professional contacts can stay among professional contacts. Ideally, never the twain shall meet.
Call it discretion or hypocrisy, but either way the feature works.
When it comes to finding people, Facebook has a huge advantage — one whose sustainability will be tested only over time. But with a drag-and-drop interface, Google+ makes adding people to circles easy. Nevertheless, Google+ starts hundreds of millions of users behind Facebook.
Google+ has a few other applications, but nowhere near as many as does Facebook.
Bottom line, though: Google+ wins. The ability to relegate certain contacts to one group and other contacts to another is valuable. In fact, one can imagine users being far more free online in a universe that is partitioned with reasonable boundaries. Now I'm going to go on Facebook and see what my friends have to say about Google+.
