Why Google Plus Might Be Better Than Facebook

Ken AshfordSocial Media & Networking2 Comments

I was burned by Google Buzz, Google's previous attempt at social networking.  The main problem with it… it didn't work.

Google+ is Google's next attempt at social networking, and although my invite hasn't arrived yet, everything I read about seems promising.  It has a cleverer, and to my mind, better approach…. than Facebook.  Here's a short list of factors that excite me:

(1)  If you're already a Google person, it is integrated well with what you have.  I have a Gmail account, Google calendar, use Google's Picasa for photo sharing, and I even have a Google voice number.  Google Plus integrates all this stuff.

(2)  Facebook's approach to the people in your social life is too digital — they either ARE your friends, or they're not.  Google’s Circles concept takes this into account.  With Google Plus, you have concentric circles of "friends" — some who have with whom you are willing to "share" more than others.  This is a huge advantage over the Facebook approach where (it seems) every one of your friends (no matter how remote) has access to everything you do.  But the Google Circles concept is also (if you think about it) more like life.

(3)  Facebook is, and has always been, JUST Facebook, but Google is closely tied to Android.  What does that mean — better apps.  That means Google Plus is likely to look and feel better at the cell phone level.

(4)  Google is, of course, the search engine king, and the Google Spark concept is the search feature of Google Plus.  Basically, it will help you find things to share better than Facebook, which doesn't "do" searches very well.

(5)  Your personal data might be safer with Google Plus.  Facebook is a young, fast moving company that has proved it to be cavalier in its movements, lacking in respect for user data privacy. Google on the other hand, is a far more mature company that is, I would argue, more trustworthy than Facebook. 

(6) There is a privacy level in each piece of content of Google Plus. For example; when we create a photo album, or write an article, Google+ give us a choice to that send that content only for our choice people. Facebook does not do this.

(7)  Facebook just announced a deal with Skype where they are bringing video chat to Facebook.  Nice, but Google is ahead of Facebook on that front.  Ad hoc group chatting is available.  

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The obvious advantage to Facebook over Google Plus is that EVERYONE is on Facebook, and it is a true social network.  Right now, Google Plus isn't much of a network at all.  But if they play their cards right, you might see (in a year or two) a huge migration to Google Plus — thus making Facebook a high-end MySpace.  Wouldn't that be weird?