Through email marketing I am always receiving the latest updates from the Internet industry, and lately I’ve been hearing a lot about the impressive growth of the newest social media competitor: Google+. There’s been a lot of speculation going around that Google+ is going to overtake Facebook, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Facebook beats out Google+ in a number of areas, and unless Google+ addresses these issues, then Facebook will likely continue to be King of the social media world. Granted Google+ is still in testing mode, but here are several key features that are lacking with the newcomer:
Photo tagging
While photo tagging has raised privacy concerns, it is nonetheless the most effective way to let friends know when they appear in photos via Facebook. The interface to download and organize photos in Google+ seems simple enough, but the lack of tagging capability is definitely a glaring omission.
Search
It’s ironic that Google is lacking in an area related to search, but when it comes to Google+, it is. So far, only users themselves are searchable within the site, unlike Facebook where all public content is searchable. Say you want to look up reactions to a recent breaking news story; you can do that on Facebook, but not on Google+.
Events/Birthdays
The ability to organize events is a major pro for Facebook, and one that is lacking with Google+. Featuring friends’ birthdays on the home page is definitely another advantage for Facebook, and another major omission from G+. The newcomer doesn’t even feature birthdays on users’ profiles, so if you’re looking for that reminder on upcoming birthdays, then it looks like you’ll need to continue checking your Facebook page.
While Google+ is likely to fix these glaring omissions, it won’t fix the fact that the new site is nothing more than a Facebook imitation. Except for a few improvements, G+ doesn’t add anything groundbreaking to the world of social media. Almost every feature, from “Circles” to “Streams,” has a counterpart in Facebook. Google+ even looks like Facebook, only with a whiter background. This isn’t to say that Google+ is a bad product; it just doesn’t have any factors that would lead me to believe it will overtake Facebook anytime soon.
Richard is a father and an awesome chef. (At least in his own mind.) He writes about business and technology in his own time while attending school.
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Andy,
great break down with the similarities of Google+ and Facebook. That took allot of research and well done.
I think that Google+ is wonderful for people who have a business. The functions in the gmail account work and merge information that Facebook can’t. I for one spend less hours working my business with this added feature. More exposure and better time management. They have not even rolled out the business platform yet.
If you take a better look at the gmail mix, You can not even compare Facebook with Google+. This is just the beginning of what is going to be launched with the business platform.
If your a younger person who has nothing to do except plaster your personal useless activities all over your wall on Facebook. Then that is key for you to continue playing the games and leaving activities I find should stay quite and between yourself and the one person involved. Not the world for anyone to see and judge your activities.
However, if your in business like most of us are and have been for over 27 years and counting. I believe in Fan page is fantastic for just leveraging exposure for my business. Yet, Google+ even without the business side issued yet. Has more of what I need and mixes with all my information in gmail. All my documents in Google Docs. So I see it for more business people than personal. It seems more geared to generating revenue in all areas and building real solid relationships for business connection more than anything else.
There is no write or wrong. Just a matter of what tool and platform your utilizing for personal v.s. business usage.
Andy, this is a great article and brilliant piece of research. Your inspirational and I look forward in monitoring your growth in our industry.
William,
Definitely agree with you that Google is a lot more business friendly than Facebook. The challenge with having a 19 year create the largest social network in the world is that he will not understand how the rest of the world operates. That is good for changing the world, but he needs some perspective on other entrepreneurs looking to build something great.
Google just gets it in that respect.
I think in 5 years we are going to see businesses splitting their time between Facebook and Google.
Time will tell however!
Andy
Good Morning!
I just woke up and saw your article and wants to join in.
About Google+, if it aims to compete with Facebook, it would take a great feat to beat this “king of social media” site. Am not bias but FB ( facebook) have dominated the people in social media and people tend to stick to it. It would take time for G+ to be able to manage the competition level. If ever G+ would beat FB, then FB will likely be like Friendster who was way left behind. I wonder what Friendster is doing…
I do appreciate your article here Andy, would love to see more info on this G+ and FB feud.
Good Morning!
Felisse
Felisse,
I just sent you an invite!
Just a quick note: Friendster was bought out by I believe Facebook a year or so ago.
Andy
Hi Andy,
It’s still early to know what will happen with Google+ and although it doesn’t look like it is about to catapult its way to overtaking Facebook just yet, there’s nothing wrong with some healthy competition! I’m waiting for something magical to appear in the Google+ platform and I really do hope it does!
Loren,
I think that it will take a few years, but Google+ definitely has the ability to become a staunch competitor with Facebook. They need to have all of their software and products finished to know how much of a success this network will be.
Andy
I’ve only used Google+ a little bit, but so far I have to say that I like facebook a lot better… Sounds like I’m not alone! 😉
~Laurie
Laurie,
Facebook has a lot more functionality to it than Google+ at this time, but they also have a 7 year lead in development. I am sure Google+ will catch up.
Andy
Hi Andy,
This article points out some of the advantages Facebook has over Google+. Some of the issues you pointed out are not obvious at first, and they are definitely valid such as tagging and birthdays. Who knows how big Google + will get, but I also see it as leaning more towards business application. That is not a bad thing. It will be very interesting to witness the progress which will take place with this platform.
Recently I watched an interview about the future of Google +, the bottom line is we all have to wait and see.
Raena Lynn
Raena,
It is way too early to foretell the future of Google+. At the same time, I agree with you that Google+ will be a lot more business focused than Facebook. For entrepreneurs, such as ourself that is a great thing!
Andy
Actually, I haven’t really tried that google+ that you mean so I am kind of wondering how it works. I might give that a try to use it later. But actually, I am a facebook avid user and really, I couldn’t take not to check my facebook account in a day. But we’ll see what happen if I did try google+
Tony,
Please let me know if you need an invite to Google+. Thanks!
Andy
Hi Andy,
Interesting to see what happens with Google+. I am there but frankly just don’t have the time to keep up with this one too. Thanks for the valid comparisons. I personally love LinkedIn and I do see many of the top players on LI talking about google+ but I think it is still early. that means there is an opportunity for early adopters.
thanks
Clare
I have probably received more business in the last year from LinkedIn than I have from Facebook, but over the long run I would say that Facebook has been a larger referral source.
Andy,
Personally, I prefer Google +, especially for content sharing. Facebook is great for catching up with old friends and playing games but that’s about it. I’m not gonna deny it’s ability to drive traffic either but I just prefer Google + *shrugs*