The world of social networking is changing rapidly. Just recently Google unveiled its new social media site called Google + that is designed to make online connecting with family, friends, colleagues and other people of interest closer to real life by selective sharing. This is a direct challenge to Facebook, which has gained global popularity since it started much earlier. But Google + will be much different from Facebook.
For over a year the features of Google + were tried and tested. The main aim of all the features is to enable users to share their messages, photos, interests, personal information and other stuff with smaller groups of people called Circles. This means that one can now share things online with only one’s office mates or classmates, as the case may be, and not to all the people in his or her list of friends. All he has to do is create a Circle for each group and invite members.
Google + also allows users to use an online sharing engine called Sparks. This will make sharing of common interests and a broad range of content online much easier and fun. For example, if one is looking for yummy vegetable recipes to share with friends then Sparks will deliver. The results will come from the wide world of the Internet in several languages at that.
There are a couple more features of Google + that are offered to the more than one billion users of Google who want to hang out online with family or friends, upload pictures, and do video and mobile chatting. All these and some more will make Google + a popular social media like Facebook in a matter of time.
One reviewer of social networking sites says Google + could slow down the growth of Facebook as to the number of users, and that Google + might even decrease the power of Facebook, thus making Google advantageous in the long run.
Another reviewer says the launching of Google + signals the beginning of a fundamental change on the World Wide Web that would empower users and take to new levels the opportunities created for software development.
Google has carried over its clutter-free design to Google +, which appears to look better than the congested look of Facebook layouts. At first glance they may look similar but using the features of Google+ with its clean details really makes it better than the Facebook layout. Take for example the drag-and-drop feature of Google, while Facebook only uses a simple click-and-type. This drag-and-drop feature allows one to bring together a group of friends into a Circle in a convenient way.
There’s also a marked difference in the icons used by Google +, which are bold and attractive. Compare these with the blue style of Facebook. And if you’re tired of the background look of your Google+ page, you can change your Google Plus Backgrounds with a plugin that allows you to upload a custom-designed background. This can be integrated in the page layout. An alternative would be to pick your choice from publicly shared images on the Google Plus Themes site that you can use.
Accessing Google’s other services like Gmail and its search engine can be done directly. This is an exclusive service of Google +. Navigating within this setup is also easy without disturbing the other services.
As for chatting, Google +’s added feature of group video chat sets it apart from Facebook, which doesn’t have one. While the FB Chat has its followers, countless users of Google + Chat say this is much better, with even a great variety of emoticons.
The package of many differences seems to make Google + a better choice than Facebook. Critics and reviewers of the two sites abound online and one can read about their opinion and reviews. Discussions have been going on for more than a year now and still continue at this time. With a discerning mind one can easily assess the pros and cons of Google + vis-à-vis that of Facebook.
Choosing which of the two to use, of course, is your decision. As technology advances so does the way of doing social networking, making it easier and better. Switching from one to the other could be the best decision you’ll make as you make online sharing and connecting with people closer to real life. Are you going to make the change now?