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Google will not run Circles around Facebook, but it gets a +1

While there are already countless articles about Google+ and many more sharing up-to-the-minute statistics to emerge from the burgeoning network, I reserved my thoughts until now. I needed time to think about it.

Part FriendFeed, part Google Buzz, part Facebook, part Google.com and all of its properties, Google Plus represents a fresh approach to social engagement not seen at this level since the early days of Twitter. In the U.S., we have only a few top traditional TV networks, CBS, ABC, and NBC. In social networking, we now have a top three to compete for the online attention of not only Americans, but also the world–Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

The new Google is already gaining momentum. For instance, Google’s +1 button is reportedly being served 2.3 billion times a day. More than 1 billion items are shared and received per day in Google+ (or Google Plus). And, Google+ has also earned over 10 million active in a short time. While that number may seem trifling when compared to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, 10 million is nothing to wince at. In fact, in just 16 days, Google surpassed a milestone that took FourSquare two years to reach. As you can see in the image below courtesy of Leon Haland, Twitter took 780 days and Facebook 852 days to reach 10 million users. In only three weeks, Google+ hit 20 million. Adoption only continues to soar despite its exclusivity.

The only way these 10 million people joined the network was because a select few were given the privilege to invite a small set of friends. This tactic only spurs the sharing of invitations like a secret password into a deliciously trendy speakeasy. With every gushing experience shared, demand mounts. During the weekend of its debut, over one-third of all Tweets were related to Google Plus. In fact, some predict that Google Plus will become the fastest of all social networks to hit 100 million users, a new metric that appears to represent the equivalent of 0 to 60 mph (or 0 to 100 kph) in the automotive industry.

Exclusivity only goes so far however. At someone point, Google either thrives on the experience it creates or it succumbs to an all too familiar outcome, abandonment.

Google’s Concentric Circles

For years it seemed that Google couldn’t grasp the human laws that govern social networking. The intentional and unintentional spectacles of exhilaration that launched Wave, Buzz and +1 showed the world that a culture of engineering is only part of the formula required for social networking. It would take a culture of sociology, ethnography and psychology to understand the dynamics of human behavior and package them into a meaningful service that real people would embrace. It would take a team of great minds such as Chris Messina and Paul Adams, a former user experience expert at Google to realize that to +1 Facebook or Twitter, would take a novel and human approach.

Adams’ presented a very basic yet powerful explanation for how human beings connect and share with one another using Facebook as an example of the limitations that exist today. In this case, Facebook, the most popular social network with 750 million users worldwide, encourages people to build one social graph with up to 5,000 friends. In turn, Facebook offers various levers and switches to divide the social graph into a series of dedicated communities through its Lists and Groups and products.

Here, technology does not imitate life. But, you probably don’t need a social scientist to tell you that this functionality does not mirror how you connect and communicate in the real world. To Facebook’s credit though, how people connect, discover, share and talk to one another helped people evolve as digital natives and will continue to do so.

In his presentation, Adams visualized exactly what any anthropologist or sociologist might tell you, people don’t build just one social graph in real life. They cultivate a core group of 4-to-6 communities (or interest graphs) where each is focused on an aspect of one’s life, from work to BFF’s to other specific interests. Some of these communities stand the test of time, some expand and contract as people come and go, and many are merely temporary, usually based on short-term projects or curiosity.

In a study of 3,000 randomly chosen Americans, most participants maintained a strong network of only four ties. The example Adams shared on Facebook was telling and representative of the challenge many face when “networking” online today.

One user, “Debbie” demonstrated the opportunity for a more seamless form of networking. As Paul would demonstrate, the benefit of circles was evident.

1. Debbie moved from Los Angeles to San Diego.

2. Debbie was still connected to a group of friends she made when she lived in Los Angeles.

3. Some of those friends worked as bartenders in a gay bar.

4. She now also maintains a network of new friends in San Diego, where she currently lives, in the same social graph.

5. Of course, she is still in contact with her family.

6. Debbie is also an active swimmer and trains ten-year-old kids in competitive swimming. She has friended other trainers and some of the kids in her class.

In this portrait, it’s immediately clear that Debbie maintains, at least conceptually, four distinct groups. What Debbie shares on Facebook, unless she’s carefully mixed her settings, will most likely reach everyone with whom she’s connected. In Adams’ example, picture of late night fun at the gay bar where she used to work were visible to her ten-year-old students simply because Debbie would Like or comment on them. As is, it’s too confusing. At the same time, consumers aren’t necessarily thinking about segmenting their online engagement. Users want control at their fingertips, not in the settings window, to share with the groups of people contextually linked to each update. This is where Facebook Groups and Lists can improve and also where Google Plus shines right out of the gate.

Seemingly scripted for TV, but very much rooted in reality, Paul, the would be father of Google Circles, has since left Google and moved to Facebook. This is an interesting move considering his research and methodology around digital networking. His book, Social Circles, is awaiting publishing while Google decides whether or not he is permitted to release it to the public.

Google Circles its Play

Google has done something that Facebook and Twitter have failed to do, make creating groups of friends visually pleasing and also fun. In the first few hours of logging in, I immediately started creating circles related to family, friends, work, and other top and temporary interests.

People are gushing at the ability to create Circles. Time will tell if people change their behavior enough that the Google differntiator truly becomes a value proposition. Even Google Circles do not carry out Paul’s original research. While Circles distinguish networks from nicheworks, they do not account for the separation between strong, weak, and temporary ties within  each group. There are still subgroups within every group that require distinction.

For example, in each group, we maintain tiers of contacts, those we trust, those we know, and those with whom we may or may not be acquainted. What we share in these nicheworks is different in the real world than it is online. To borrow Adams’ image from his Google presentation, some may not broadcast their address or phone number across an entire group, but they might for some. As is, Google Circles still assumes top line engagement even if it’s within a focused community.

Moving forward, Google Circles will need sub-circles if it is to mimic how we engage in the real world. The question is, will people embrace it or is it simply too much work? I often think about and study how online behavior affects offline self esteem and character. Even though we maintain circles in real life, we’ve been conditioned to seek simplicity in online engagement. Remember, many of the groups we create in real life are often temporary. To mimic this behavior online introduces complexity I’m not sure people are actively seeking. There may be greater value in mass peer-to-peer engagement for a majority of social updates. Having the ability to share exclusive content with a fixed subset of any community is helpful, but most likely representative of a minority of overall engagement. That’s just a hypothesis however. Again, time will tell.

What’s clear is that the elegance and ease of creating Circles is enough to get people talking. It may prove beneficial enough to generate demand for similar functionality within Facebook and perhaps Twitter. Keep in mind that Facebook employees are an elite squad of developers and thinkers. It acquired FriendFeed and also Beluga among many other services to improve, I assume, how people communicate with one another within their social and interest graphs. There is more to see from Facebook on this front.

The Human Algorithm

I’ve always believed that the social Web will give way to a socioeconomic hierarchy of sorts which I dubbed PeopleRank or People Rank (sorry TechCrunch, that was me.) The idea is that everyday people would complement the digital algorithms of the web to amplify content they find interesting or useful related to the context of their search or discovery. Even though Twitter offers its Retweet button and Facebook users can Like content to boost visibility within the network’s social stream, Google’s +1 introduces everyday people to the idea of flagging great content across the entire Web.

If you’re logged into Google, the results are curated based on the activity of your friends. At some point, +1 will apply a layer of PeopleRank to content and destinations similar to the way it does so today with PageRank. It represents a natural fusion of SEO and SMO. To counter this, Facebook must boost the discoverability of content without upsetting its delicate privacy balance.

Data Portability

Who owns your personal data in your social network today? The answer most of the time is the network. For years people and businesses have invested time, resources, and also money into cultivating the right network, curating valuable content, organizing special events, and bookmarking interesting commentary and destinations. At the moment, much of this content is locked away never to see the light of any other system. Google is taking a somewhat open approach allowing users to export their contacts and data. Today, Google is experimenting with a service called Google Takeout. This handy feature allows people to export a list of sites that they’ve +1’d.

Of course this is something that’s developing over time, but it is important. My friends over at DataPortability.org have been fighting this fight for quite some time. I believe that in the evolution of Google+ and Facebook, data portability will become paramount. It will take a concentration of user demand to move networks toward a more proactive and open approach.

Google Brand Pages

Due to overwhelming demand from businesses, Google+ will introduce an early version of its Brand Pages. Initially, Google removed business-related pages only to invite them into a test phase that will officially welcome a manageable stable of companies to test and help to improve the experience. Brands see this as a tremendous opportunity for direct-to-consumer engagement. On Facebook, some brands have earned more than 30 million Likes creating a dedicated brand network not yet seen in previous media.

For example, the Top 20 brands by the numbers on Facebook boast impressive audiences:

1. Coca Cola (31,762,653)
2. Disney (26,613,752)
3. Starbucks (23,574,606)
4. Oreo (21,864,091)
5. Red Bull (21,220,373)
6. Converse All Star (19,880,308)
7. Converse (18,977,840)
8. Skittles (18,386,827)
9. Playstation (16,245,633)
10. iTunes (15,862,234)
11. Pringles (14,765,300)
12. Victoria’s Secret(14,384,903)
13. Window’s Live Messenger (13,926,945)
14. Ferrero Rocher (11,676,898)
15. Monster Energy (11,492,620)
16. Nutella (10,696,260)
17. iPod (10,530,905)
18. Adidas Originals (10,433,947)
19. Xbox (10,388,218)
20. Dr Pepper (9,927,828)

Ford Motor Company was one of the first companies to build a page and in an impressive move, asked people what they expected from the company. Ford’s Scott Monty and team will then build a dedicated engagement strategy for Google+ that I would hope differs from its approach on Facebook and Twitter. Dell is working on expanding its renown social service model by bringing its team to where a customer’s attention is focused.  Google+ seems like a natural extension given its early momentum. When in doubt, ask. That’s just what Michael Dell did recently. And, over 800 people seemed to genuinely support the idea.

Brands must realize that the culture within each network and the corresponding expectations of its denizens are unique to the network as well as to the nature of their connections. Far too many brands have already lost sight of this important pillar of engagement contributing to either social blindness or an intentional unlike or unfollow. Perhaps Google+ will serve as a reminder that brands must embrace a philosophy of networking with purpose. What’s key to any consumer engagement strategy in Google+ is to recognize that brands aren’t generally categorized with all of the other Liked pages as in Facebook. In Google+, brands will require a social vs. anti-social approach. Why? Because consumers will categorize brands by various circles based on the nature of the relationship as well as the level of expected communication and value. Brands on Facebook and Twitter should also take note. Eventually, consumers will stop following brands that do not consistently deliver some form of tangible or even intangible value.

Culture and Flow

Speaking of culture, the sensation of engagement in Google+ is vibrant. Buzz is in the air and much of it is warranted. Many of my friends on Google+ are those I view as my inner circle. Google+ is a wonderful way to stay current with their work and observations. But with Circles, I’m also able to tune my stream based on the relevance of context at the moment. The real-time flow of Google+ is also dynamic. It keeps me engaged to the point where I find myself consuming or curating information at much greater ratios than creating original content.

Is it densely populated with the usual suspects? Of course it is. But, keep in mind that these early champions have helped make Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and all of the other emerging “social” technologies what they are today. Their public observations, reviews, and recommendations contribute to the expansion and improvement of each network.

The ability to reply to individual comments is more than missing. I believe it’s a missed opportunity. But still, threaded conversations, like in Facebook, are appreciated over the continuous, but still addictive flow of Twitter. That’s what Google+ is about, continuous engagement and sharing that hums at a different, not necessarily better, frequency than Facebook. For posts that will yield higher-than-average engagement, I also appreciate the ability to mute only that particular stream when I’ve moved on to other discussions. It’s a nice touch.

Rich conversations can move from the stream and into a 10-person Hangout, a video chat that brings the conversation alive in a fulfilling way not seen in other social networks to date. Notably missing is the incorporation of hashtags. Although Chris Messina, largely recognized of the father of Twitter hashtags, is leading development on the Google+ project, he does acknowledge its importance in Google+. He is also currently looking into integration strategies.

This is after all a very public field test. And, Google is listening to improve the experience.

Social Networks: Your Social OS

Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about the idea of social networks as hubs for the digital version of “you.” The idea was that Facebook, Twitter, and now Google+, become your attention dashboard. And through the cultivation of your social and interest graphs, the apps that further personalize the experience, and those that plug into other applications such as Web sites, documents, collaboration tools or those that translate into the real world, essentially create a social OS. Ideally, this platform eventually connects the online with the offline, creating a complete experience drive though one integrated dashboard.

With the rise of Facebook, users have been introduced to the idea of networking and also the potential for personal and professional collaboration. I wondered when Google might respond with a complete social platform and it appears that Google+ is officially its answer.

Google+ and the ability to become the only place you need to communicate, collaborate, share, discover, and work, creates a social OS that is promising to the say the least. I believe that in the long run, Facebook and Google will compete as a Social OS for all you do online. Think about it. From sharing and collaborating on documents, grouping and coordinating work or activity steams, housing email, hosting phone or video chats, managing geo location, to search, Google and Facebook are already on a significant collision course.

Communication:

– Gmail vs. Facebook.com email

– Google Voice vs. Facebook/Skype

– Google Huddle vs. Facebook/Skype

Sharing:

– Like vs. +1

– Digital memories such as photos, events, and videos

Collaboration:

– Google Docs vs. Facebook/Microsoft 365Live

Location:

– Google Lattitude vs. Facebook Places

Search/Discovery

– Google.com vs. Facebook/Microsoft Search

Social Commerce:

– Google Deals vs. Facebook Deals

– Google Wallet vs. Facebook Credits

Mobile

– Android, iPhone (Smartphones), iPad (Tablets)

Entertainment

– Gamification

– Apps

This is an area of particular interest to me. Our attention dashboards will offer a much more integrated experience where collaboration and productivity increase as the vision of each network crystallizes. I’m sure your management team or IT department will appreciate hearing this news.

This is Just the Beginning

As the headline reads, I don’t believe Google Plus is a Facebook killer. While the audience has set the stage for a great duel between the Internet’s Goliath and the social web’s Goliath–I’m not sure Facebook could be viewed as David any longer–there will be no fight today. That doesn’t mean however that we won’t see the pair in a Roman coliseum battling to become the social OS for humanity. But for the near future, Google and Facebook are together helping the world socialize outside of the inbox. Competition, or the semblance of it, is healthy for everyone, especially us.

The key difference is that Facebook is operating under a mission to improve how the world connects and communicates. Mark Zuckerberg is steering his ship in a particular direction. Myspace co-founder Tom Anderson humbly wondered aloud whether or not “social” is in Google’s DNA or in Google+ for that matter. I’m not sure I get a clear idea of Google’s vision for social yet or if it even exists. Vision, mission, direction, these are powerful beacons to lead any industry, and besides this official memo and an attractive bonus structure, Google may need to circle its leadership team to think through human algorithms.

Nonetheless, Google Plus is inviting. It’s intriguing. It is promising. What it is not, is the end game. Google is however pressuring the hyper-connected us, to spread ourselves all the thinner to learn where and how to spend our time within the mix of all the other networks.

We’re learning.

We’re adapting.

Evolution is perpetual.

Social networks will continually iterate and innovate. That’s part of what makes this so exciting. The question remains however, is social in Google’s DNA or culture? Without it, Google might have +1’d for now, but without social studies, the new social darling might become unliked by the masses. In the end, you are the best judge of what works for you. The answer may be for the time being, that many networks prove their value in different ways. Google+ certainly offers early advantages, but this is a long journey. Much of the success of any network will be linked to any team that listens and adapts. Therefore, your experience is more important to the future of networking than you may think.

UPDATE 1: Google+ for iPhone is now available.

UPDATE 2: REPORT: How Google Plus Stacks Up Against Facebook – Interesting statistics

UPDATE 3: Google+ acquires Fridge. A clue from founder Austin Chang…”Right now, Google+ is asymmetric, we’re going to help them create shared spaces.”

UPDATE 4: Google+mishandled business accounts in the beginning and will now expedite business pages

UPDATE 5: Google+ Social Gaming Network confirmed and is on the way

UPDATE 6: Google+ pulls in 20 million in 3 weeks

UPDATE 7: Google’s stock has now gone up 27.85% since the launch of Google+ via @emilychangtv

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+


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110 COMMENTS ON THIS POST To “Google will not run Circles around Facebook, but it gets a +1”

  1. is it really “adoption” with Google+ or people like us simply checking it out?    while circles is a good idea…it’s still difficult for anyone to spend the time to setup the hundreds of people and maintain.   I tried it…just too much effort. there’s just nothing compelling about Google+ that makes me want to engage…

  2. Chaim Haas says:

    I’m still not fully convinced that the design and user flow in Google+ is intuitive enough for the mainstream consumer, so I would not be surprised to see the adoption rate grind to a halt after all the “early adopter” uptake has panned out. IMO, this is an area where Facebook still has a huge edge.

  3. Dustin Henderson says:

    Great write up!! The following got me to thinking:

    “Moving forward, Google Circles will need sub-circles if it is to mimic how we engage in the real world”
    Circles should not become walls. They need to be “sub-divided” and porous like my real-life circles are. They should ask questions of  the patterns and provide suggestions. With an awareness of the greater web and the way I seeded my circles – Google could ultimately rock at this. And that is something FaceBook could not touch for a while. 

  4. Excellent write up Brian.
    I’d add one point to your diagram about Debbie tho – it shouldn’t be shaped like a fan with distinct circles.  I’d be willing to bet that a few “swimming kids” overlap with “San Diego friends” or similar.
    My big Kvetch at the moment is that G+ doesn’t work well for overlapping venn-diagram friends.  If I’m Debbie & I forget to add someone to a circle because I created that circle *after* I added him/her to other circles? Suddenly, I’m posting to “swimming kids” but meant to have Timmy who is in “San Diego friends” and forgot to add him. 
    We are not nice neat circles socially – we are amorphus, overlapping, venn diagrams with some people moving about our circles freely.
    If I quit working with you, do you remember to take me out of your work friends group? Why do you have to manually update all of the circles on G+ all of the time? Google, the masters of weighted search, should be working on weighted social graphs *now* – because the constant curation needs of G+ are reliant upon me to manually update circles when someone else’s situation changes. 
    At the moment, in Facebook, if I have a Group that has “Colorado blogger meetup folks” in it and someone moves to Maine? She can remove herself since it’s not really relevant to her anymore. In G+ if I have a Circle that has “Colorado Blogger meetup folks” in it, if she moves to Maine, I have to remember to change her status there.
    Additionally, in FB Groups – she can see who the other members are. In Circles? She can’t see who it is I’ve posted to unless I opt to make my circles publicly viewable. Nor can she post to those people separately to say “goodbye Colorado peeps!” Unless she was maintaining her own duplicate circle.
      
    For the moment, Groups are more useful to me than Circles. Until the heavy manual administration goes away, it becomes a time-suck that requires more effort to provide less affinity.

    • Yokhen says:

      Facebook Groups and G+ Circles are two different things -so far-
      I do not mean to call you stupid, but it truly is not very smart to compare the both of them at this moment.
      So far G+ is very incomplete. I myself find countless flaws in a single day, so don’t feel that G+ is a bad product, because, like it’s been said, it just started.

    • Oh well then… thank you so much for *not* calling me stupid. I will endeavor to do a better job of *not* calling you any of the countless things that come to mind in response. I may actually swing it, who knows?

      But let’s get something clear here before I refrain from calling you those shall we?
      Brian’s post says (and I’m copying and pasting here) :”I believe that in the long run, Facebook and Google will compete as a
      Social OS for all you do online. Think about it. From sharing and
      collaborating on documents, grouping and coordinating work or activity
      steams, housing email, hosting phone or video chats, managing geo
      location, to search, Google and Facebook are already on a significant
      collision course.”  Then proceeds to list out a number of ways that Google+ and Facebook are comparable in a nifty “vs.” format.

      Perhaps you can see why it’s appropriate to compare the two in that context? Then again, perhaps not. But don’t feel too badly – because you clearly couldn’t figure out that my saying “For the moment, Groups are more useful to me than Circles” is not the same as “feel(ing) that G+ is a bad product.”

    • Doug Ridley says:

      Lucreita, I see your point about Google needing to look at the interface and how it relates to how we group people together in the real world. I think Brian also made a similar comment. It will be interesting to see what Google comes up with.

  5. Excellent write up Brian.
    I’d add one point to your diagram about Debbie tho – it shouldn’t be shaped like a fan with distinct circles.  I’d be willing to bet that a few “swimming kids” overlap with “San Diego friends” or similar.
    My big Kvetch at the moment is that G+ doesn’t work well for overlapping venn-diagram friends.  If I’m Debbie & I forget to add someone to a circle because I created that circle *after* I added him/her to other circles? Suddenly, I’m posting to “swimming kids” but meant to have Timmy who is in “San Diego friends” and forgot to add him. 
    We are not nice neat circles socially – we are amorphus, overlapping, venn diagrams with some people moving about our circles freely.
    If I quit working with you, do you remember to take me out of your work friends group? Why do you have to manually update all of the circles on G+ all of the time? Google, the masters of weighted search, should be working on weighted social graphs *now* – because the constant curation needs of G+ are reliant upon me to manually update circles when someone else’s situation changes. 
    At the moment, in Facebook, if I have a Group that has “Colorado blogger meetup folks” in it and someone moves to Maine? She can remove herself since it’s not really relevant to her anymore. In G+ if I have a Circle that has “Colorado Blogger meetup folks” in it, if she moves to Maine, I have to remember to change her status there.
    Additionally, in FB Groups – she can see who the other members are. In Circles? She can’t see who it is I’ve posted to unless I opt to make my circles publicly viewable. Nor can she post to those people separately to say “goodbye Colorado peeps!” Unless she was maintaining her own duplicate circle.
      
    For the moment, Groups are more useful to me than Circles. Until the heavy manual administration goes away, it becomes a time-suck that requires more effort to provide less affinity.

  6. Excellent write up Brian.
    I’d add one point to your diagram about Debbie tho – it shouldn’t be shaped like a fan with distinct circles.  I’d be willing to bet that a few “swimming kids” overlap with “San Diego friends” or similar.
    My big Kvetch at the moment is that G+ doesn’t work well for overlapping venn-diagram friends.  If I’m Debbie & I forget to add someone to a circle because I created that circle *after* I added him/her to other circles? Suddenly, I’m posting to “swimming kids” but meant to have Timmy who is in “San Diego friends” and forgot to add him. 
    We are not nice neat circles socially – we are amorphus, overlapping, venn diagrams with some people moving about our circles freely.
    If I quit working with you, do you remember to take me out of your work friends group? Why do you have to manually update all of the circles on G+ all of the time? Google, the masters of weighted search, should be working on weighted social graphs *now* – because the constant curation needs of G+ are reliant upon me to manually update circles when someone else’s situation changes. 
    At the moment, in Facebook, if I have a Group that has “Colorado blogger meetup folks” in it and someone moves to Maine? She can remove herself since it’s not really relevant to her anymore. In G+ if I have a Circle that has “Colorado Blogger meetup folks” in it, if she moves to Maine, I have to remember to change her status there.
    Additionally, in FB Groups – she can see who the other members are. In Circles? She can’t see who it is I’ve posted to unless I opt to make my circles publicly viewable. Nor can she post to those people separately to say “goodbye Colorado peeps!” Unless she was maintaining her own duplicate circle.
      
    For the moment, Groups are more useful to me than Circles. Until the heavy manual administration goes away, it becomes a time-suck that requires more effort to provide less affinity.

  7. Anonymous says:

    I agree with you that Google Plus is not a Facebook killer but I think Google realized what it really means to be “SOCIAL” . The Big G has struggled for a long time in this field (remember Google Wave and Google Buzz) and it seems that they are being very deliberate in the development of Google+ by accepting feedbacks from people who are invited in the field testing phase.

    Hopefully Google will not mess it up by violating our privacy and by putting too much advertising on it, overall its a great start!

    But then again, it’s too early to draw a conclusion. Let’s see how things are in a few months

  8. Anonymous says:

    I agree with you that Google Plus is not a Facebook killer but I think Google realized what it really means to be “SOCIAL” . The Big G has struggled for a long time in this field (remember Google Wave and Google Buzz) and it seems that they are being very deliberate in the development of Google+ by accepting feedbacks from people who are invited in the field testing phase.

    Hopefully Google will not mess it up by violating our privacy and by putting too much advertising on it, overall its a great start!

    But then again, it’s too early to draw a conclusion. Let’s see how things are in a few months

  9. neoseo says:

    On the other hand, it’s Google stupid.

    They figured out how to do a social network without trying to reinvent the social network. They simply cloned the best of what was available with minor tweaks. It’s Google stupid.

  10. neoseo says:

    On the other hand, it’s Google stupid.

    They figured out how to do a social network without trying to reinvent the social network. They simply cloned the best of what was available with minor tweaks. It’s Google stupid.

  11. Pat says:

    I have two twitter accounts and two facebook accounts to keep separate lives separate. Google+ allows me to bring everything together without multiple logins to see and talk within circles. That alone is worth the switch. Once google allows one to have multiple YouTube channels, I can keep everything in one place with one email account. That will be a real pleasure.

    Will I keep using the other networks? Maybe. Google circles is just so easy.It’s like linkedin discussions, facebook groups, twitter lists all in one place. It all depends on the next version of plus.

  12. David Hayes says:

     Excellent post Brian

  13. mark ivey says:

    Great analysis and thinking here, as always. Fascinating battle of the giants now. With Google+, the game shifts in G’s favor- they just reshuffled the deck. I’d put my $ on Google quickly becoming the #1 social business platform. They’re going to integrate all of this – browser, G+, Gmail, productivity tools- into one powerful platform and system, putting them in the middle of your work flow…meanwhile providing a seamless integration of social into their search engines…I’m less sure about the consumer side, and of course no one knows how it’ll play out-we’re in the early minutes of a social media Super Bowl. But companies and marketers better pay attention-this is a big wakeup call by Google (my ideas posted today on Social Media Explorer-What G+ Means for Marketers http://bit.ly/n76tF2)

  14. Scott Frangos says:

    Hey Brian… maybe Google+ WILL run circles around Facebook for all the reasons you list in your excellent detailed post (referenced it here:  http://www.webfadds.com/2011/07/is-google-the-next-big-thing/).  When I think of just some of the features waiting in the wings, already tested in WAVE and BUZZ, like real-time translations and connections with people globally the potential is staggering.  I think just on the engagement factor in general, and the fact it is an open network while Facebook is not, it will make a big zoom over the next year.  — Cheers

  15. very insightful. I loved the thought on ‘social OS’ 

  16. tiagom says:

    Your headline and your story don’t mesh. You’ve clearly proven that at every turn, Google+ wins over Facebook. All you forgot was G+’s cool feedback system and, most importantly, its free and open developer framework, which allows for browser extensions/apps such as Facebook+Google and Twitter+Google.

    • briansolis says:

      Thanks for reading. I actually don’t get that after writing and re-reading the post. The part that says Facebook has a social vision and Google does not might help clear things up. However, I’ll continue to watch and study with an open mind.

  17. Great thoughts on using circles. But I wnder if using “vs” so often is not at odds with the value of these circles? I network with people, ot a site. I won’t drop Facebook, email, phone calls or in person visits for a new tech unless/until it serves me to stay connected with the people I care about. Since I have tech pundits as friends, I’ll be on g+ as soon as Google let’s business accounts have profiles.. But won’t give up the dozen other technologies I use to keep up with clients, family, and friends

  18. Great thoughts on using circles. But I wnder if using “vs” so often is not at odds with the value of these circles? I network with people, ot a site. I won’t drop Facebook, email, phone calls or in person visits for a new tech unless/until it serves me to stay connected with the people I care about. Since I have tech pundits as friends, I’ll be on g+ as soon as Google let’s business accounts have profiles.. But won’t give up the dozen other technologies I use to keep up with clients, family, and friends

  19. Carri Bugbee says:

    Brian, that was a stunningly comprehensive analysis. I like
    Google+ more and more all the time, but I don’t think it’s user-friendly for
    folks who aren’t early adopters and aren’t used to setting up a profile on some
    new service every week, if not every day. The photo bucketing system is
    unwieldy and confusing. There’s little explanation up front about why and how
    you might use circles. At this point, it’s a service by geeks and for geeks.

     

    What has made Facebook a juggernaut is mass adoption by
    people who are otherwise tech luddites. For them, Facebook IS the web, just as
    AOL was. Those folks can’t (and won’t) manage more than one network. Most of
    them think Twitter is complicated and confusing, and compared to getting
    started on G+, setting up a Twitter profile and tweeting is mere child’s play.

     

    I like Circles because I’ve ALWAYS segmented my friends.
    Every single friend I have on Facebook goes into a friend list. Nearly everyone
    I follow on Twitter goes on a list. But that is far from the norm. Most people
    don’t have the time, interest or wherewithal to do this. Granted, I have no data about the usage of Twitter lists or Facebook
    friend lists, but I’ve done enough speaking and teaching on these topics to guess that less than 5% of people use them in any regular,
    systematic way. Given that, I don’t see that Circles has much to offer the
    general public.

     

    That said, I DO hope Circles prompts Facebook to make friend
    lists user-friendly. Those are possibly
    the most unwieldy thing about the platform. They’re hard to find and alter
    (unless you know the tricks, which are always changing along with FB’s navigation).
    I don’t see Facebook Groups ever gaining momentum as long as they remain the
    most egregious spam loophole on the platform. I would NEVER set up a group
    these days because people hate being added to something without being asked. Even
    more, they hate the default notifications. That’s the fastest way to lose
    friends that I know of. FB groups are in no way similar to or in competition
    with Facebook Circles at this point; they’re a completely different animal.

    • Doug Ridley says:

      Carri, Facebook does have a lot to learn from Google+. I think that if they can see what people like about G+ and innovate their platform to beat it, they will come out on top, and keep their user base. 

  20. Google and Facebook will be competing for years, in the end, I think it will come down to figure out what people really want and spend most of their time on doing

  21. Liz Pullen says:

    I love your detailed and multi-dimensional analysis, Brian. I would expect nothing less from you!

    I’ve had access to Google+ for two weeks but have just found myself playing with it. Like Carri, I put a lot of time into creating Facebook groups of friends and even more time creating 20 Twitter lists (and I’d have more if it were possible!) and the prospect of recreating these with Google Circles is just an exhausting thought. Plus, as Lucretia mentions, Circles are a form that will need continually pruning and adding as more people come and go from Google+. It’s not a once and forever activity because, as you mention, our social networks are fluid and change.

    But the bottom line with all social networks are that features and convenience are nice but people go to the places where there friends are at. Older folks got on Facebook, in part, because that was where their grandkids hung out, kids who would never write them a letter would post a status update to say hi. Businesses go where their customers are at. While there is a tendency for early adopter enthusiasm, there is a contrary tendency for inertia. 

    Unless Facebook has some major privacy screwup or suddenly buries its head in the sand like MySpace (which isn’t in their character), it’s unlikely there will be a mass exodus to Google+. There might be certain social segments (tech community, today’s teenagers, brand communities, interest groups, etc.) that will really take to what Google+ has to offer. There are plenty of people who dislike Facebook (the product or the company) and Google+ provides a real alternative. But I question how many social networks people will be able to maintain. This is ready-made territory for some startup that will cross-post stories or updates to several platforms but this risks spamming your friends and also defeats the purpose of the nuances of having distinct circles which would receive different types of updates/messages from the user. So, automation isn’t really the answer either.

    As always, I appreciate you bringing in sociological considerations which helps us see the bigger picture and framework of the social dynamic of what is occurring instead of getting bogged down with all of the details of how Google+ works.

  22. John Shaterian says:

    for me the difference between G+ and FB, is that G+ is behavior based. FB is based upon what effort I put into it. At the moment, due to many of the offerings of google (gmail, voice, docs, youtube, etc), much of my online presence is wrapped up in google. Perhaps google is on to something, in the sense that as the social portion of the web and technology seem to be on a convergence course, the web will become more of a societal part of the fabric of society. As generations go, the number of people who don’t know life without the internet is increasing. A social network that is also your life network will be an important factor in the evolution of G+ and sooner rather than later you’ll be writing about the next thing that’s gonna kill G+, the chip in your head aka iPal.

  23. John Shaterian says:

    BTW… I’ve got a circle named “jerk”.  Anybody want an invite?

  24. Anonymous says:

    Exclusivity sells like pancakes with Google+, no doubt.  I think that their circles is a close mimic to how we put people in our ‘circle of trust’ in real life and this is why we see a lot of people raving about it, other than offering a clean format that’s like a breath of fresh air.  The question now is:  Will Google+ be close to humanizing ( for real ) our experience on the Social Web?  Let’s wait and see ( what Microsoft has to come up with..? )

  25. The most Comprehensive Google vs Facebook battle anaylis, I ever red. Brilliant as well 🙂 

  26. It’s amazing the passion that Google+ has prompted in people. It has good points and bad points, like every other thing. I think some are unrealistic about the chances of people migrating from Facebook–people will move to whatever is best. We don’t use records anymore, we use ipods (or equivalent). It just takes time. It may be Facebook, it may be Google+, or it may be something totally different.

  27. Renee says:

    Great article, that was the most comprehensive analysis on Google+ I’ve read or even seen so far. You make so many great points. As far as the circles aspect of Google+ goes, while it’s seemingly great, they are a time consuming aspect now that more and more people are joining. I wonder if Google+ will do anything to streamline this process. Hangouts seems like a much more compelling reason to go to Google+. Regardless great analysis, and it will be interesting to watch how this plays out.

  28. Doug Ridley says:

    Brian, Thanks for the article and insight. The battle between Facebook and G+ will be epic, and a lot of fun to follow on Twitter. 

    I think the biggest challenge G+ has is convincing the general public it’s worth leaving their current networks on Facebook and rebuilding them on G+, or try to juggle both of them.

  29. Will Marlow says:

    I think G+ is a great tool, but as an asynchronous social network, I think it is fundamentally in a different space than Facebook, and LinkedIn.  I think that G+ has the potential to continue to transform the social networking landscape, but only among the segment of users who want to expand their influence, or to enhance their collaboration.  In doing so, G+ could be a tremendous source of quality signals for the Google search engine, but I don’t see it gaining mass adoption among the later adopters of Facebook, as well as anyone who merely wants to replicate their personal network in an online place. 

    And as for Twitter vs. G+, I think that if Osama bin Laden’s death had been mentioned on G+, it could easily have been mentioned in a “second-tier chat,” which means it would have been much less likely to have surfaced and circulated to greater circles of people.  Whereas on Twitter, every comment is a “top level comment” (as it is often criticized for having no functionality to have conversations).  The fact that every post on Twitter is given equal weight as any other post in the timeline gives Twitter its “real time” power.

  30. Interesting information. Google + is coming with very advanced features. Google+ and the ability to become the only place you need to
    communicate, collaborate, share, discover, and work, creates a social
    OS that is promising to the say the least. I believe that in the long
    run, Facebook and Google will compete as a Social OS for all you do
    online. Thanks for posting this article. Great knowledge.

  31. Notnigella says:

    I think the thing to do is resist the urge to make multiple micro-circles on Google +.  Keeping circles fairly broad-based has allowed me to easily add dozens of people as they join.  I can create a micro-circle on as-needed basis, and pruning them is equally easy.  If you have more than 10 circles, I think you have too many (imho, etc etc)

  32. Comprehensive article.  Google+ looks promising as it is and might be a step further to enhance social networking.  Circles as a way for people to “segregate” people and the level of interaction happening on those circles and inside those circles would be a good starting point to develop a seamless real social interaction experience.

    I think the use of groups, lists, niche communities and circles, etc. makes it easier to communicate specific information otherwise irrelevant to other blocs.

  33. Ann says:

    Great and comprehensive analysis, my initial reaction to Google+ is positive but I’ll reserve judgment and comment on it once I’ve been playing with it for a couple of more months. One thing no one is talking about is how its going to impact on LinkedIn….I think that could be significant. But there again social networks are just as subjective as life!!

  34. SEO News says:

    Nobody
    can say now if people will like Google Plus. But there are some extended
    features which people really will like in Google Plus like Hangout and
    Circles. But facebook is most trusted Social Media platform   today.

  35. Lizzy Scully says:

    Someone asked me just yesterday if I was going to start using Google+. After reading this article, my answer is a big yes. I’m curious.

  36. Mauricio says:

    The information is very interesting. Your analysis was very good. It made me understand something about google+, and it is that I never knew before.

  37. So what your saying is… 

    3 weeks of revenue = 20 million or 6.67 million per week

    52 weeks X 6.67 million = $347 million / year

    Can’t wait to see the numbers when this baby opens to the public… tic, tic, BOOM

    BRB, I’m going to actually read your article.

  38. Cheethambell JWT says:

    Once having a Google Plus account has a major effect on SEO, every company will get an account. Also, rel=Author will become another factor. As bloggers will rank better for using this methos, we’ll find that everyone will start making the move.

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