If you subscribe to any technology-related blogs or website updates, chances are you’ve been getting some buzz about the Google+ Project. Some criticize the name, others wonder why it’s labeled as a project, and those worthy of an invite to the limited field trial are discussing some of the new features it has to offer. And of course, there is the ultimate question – is this Google’s attempt to compete with Facebook? Whether you think it will fail miserably or it is the future of social networking, there is unarguably a wave of curiosity from the digital world. After Google stopped the invitation process some users even put their invites up for auction on eBay! Here’s what we’ve been able to gather from the dozens of articles and reviews that are already out on the web before Google+ has even launched.
First features include:
Circles – easy way to organize your contacts into social groups. This feature is dubbed superior to Facebook’s groups. It simply helps you keep work contacts, family members and friends separate and allows you to segment your social contacts even further.
Hangouts – video chat for groups which is also considered a major benefit over Facebook. However, Mark Zukerburg was quick to respond with a new video chat feature announcement.
Instant Upload – quick way to upload your phone pictures to a private, centralized album. It is currently compatible with Android phones but Google plans to bring it to other phones as well.
Sparks – suggests content based on your preferences and interests. You can share this content with certain Circles instead of all of your Google+ contacts at once.
Huddle – group text chat. This feature would come in handy when deciding on a restaurant or a movie with a group of people.
With these fairly simple to use applications, Google+ managed to incorporate some of the key social features of Twitter, Facebook, and Skype. It has Twitter’s “asymmetric follow” model where you can follow someone on Google+ without them following you back and vice versa. Google’s stream is very familiar to Facebook’s News Feed. And since Skype’s group chat is not included for their free accounts, Google + members can use Hangouts to video chat with up to 10 participants at once.
Search Engine Land’s Greg Sterling suggests that many of the Facebook and Twitter users will see no need for Plus. However, he speculates that over time selected features such as Huddle, Hangout, and Instant Upload, could draw users in. Even if users are interested in joining Google+, there is the question of uploading your contacts. You can’t import your friends directly from Facebook to Google+ but one can easily go through Yahoo to work around this restriction.
Google+ is not live yet, but those who got an invite are able to invite their friends. Google warns that it will close and reopen the invitation process periodically until official public release which has not been announced. Could this slow rollout be a marketing calculation to stimulate demand? Not sure, but it seems to be working fairly well to spark some interest around Google+.
Circles, Sparks, Huddles, Hangouts are semi-slick social apps of akin to Facebook and Twitter capability, so that carrot won’t compel either audience to move to G+ in droves.
What “could” be the incentive to gain mind share of the masses is the G+ Business Page, so long as this digital asset comes with SEO/SEM connects and ties in once Google Places listing, and the other entities one can leverage directly within their Google profile page?