Can Google compete in social?

Google has a pretty large task in creating a successful social network. This isn't the first time the company has tried to do this either, but early buzz about Google+ has been fairly positive, though there is certainly some negative out there too.

Does Google + have the staying power to make an impact in the social media world or will it go the way of Google Wave? 

Google has its work cut out for it competing with the monster that is Facebook in the social networking space, even though Google says it's not really a Facebook competitor. Right.

Google has plenty of obstacles to overcome if this is going to be a huge success. Here are some of them.

1. Most people don't want to leave Facebook. 

Sure there are plenty of people out there looking for a good alternative to Facebook. Some of them have found it with Twitter. Some want something better. That said, it is highly doubtful that the majority of Facebook users are looking for something else. They like Facebook just fine, and aren't looking for a reason to leave.

Sure, it's possible to use both, but as long as people still have the majority of their friends on Facebook, and not so many on Google+ this is going to be a hard nut to crack. Not an impossible nut, but a hard one.

2. People are already gravitating more toward Twitter. 

Speaking of Twitter, it is growing pretty well. It's also about to be integrated into the hugely popular iOS. Many of the users will also be using Facebook. Google+ is simply another thing to add to the list, and could be deemed an added burden.

3. Google's previous attempts at social

Google doesn't have the best track record or reputation when it comes to social. Some of this is simply perception, because YouTube is social and it's obviously a huge success, but it was acquired by Google - not created by Google, and one could argue that it's not the social aspect of YouTube that is its main driving force, but the simple fact that it has tons and tons of stuff to watch.

4. Google's reputation for privacy

When Google launched Google Buzz, it was a huge privacy fiasco, and one that is still in the news. Google greatly damaged its reputation in the area of privacy with this. It's not hard to find commentary throughout the web indicating growing distrust of the company in general, whether justified or not. Reputation can go a long way.

5. People largely still think about Google as search

One of Google's biggest challenges is its existing success. Google has become synonymous with search. Google is a verb, that means to search for something on Google. People don't think to go to Google to share things necessarily. They think to go to Google to search.

Yes, Google has many products that do many different things outside of the realm of search, but first and foremost to most people, Google is still search, and Facebook is friends. That's another hard nut to crack.

6. The Like Button

Speaking of Facebook being friends, that "like" button that is everywhere on the Internet, has been quite powerful, and is the premier way that people share content now, I believe. Google has the +1 Button. Not so much. At this point (disregarding the Buzz button for a moment, which doesn't have much to do with Google+ at the moment), publishers are asking people to either "like" this and share with your friends, or "+1" this so that other people that you may or may not know may be able to find it in search results for some query that may or may not be searched for. Which one is going to get clicked more?

7. The Retweet button

See numbers 2 and 6.

8. Bing

Back to number 5 for a moment. Google is synonymous with search, but it is still the key ingredient to keeping people using Google+. Meanwhile, Bing is just going to continue to gain market share. The more people using Bing as their default search engine, means the less people using Google, which will likely mean less using Google+.

Realistically, Bing currently doesn't come close to Google in market share at this point. Whether it ever will remains to be seen, but so far it's been growing fairly steadily, and now Google faces FTC scrutiny over its competitive practices. When Microsoft was in a similar situation, it greatly set the company back in innovation for years, many people say. Depending on the outcome of that, it's hard to say what Google's future will hold.

9. Yahoo

Yahoo still makes up another significant segment of search market share, and maybe even more importantly, It still has a very strong presence in other key areas like email,finance, news, etc.

Part of the Google+ strategy is that it extends across Google products. Some of these products compete directly with some of Yahoo's strong points. Let's not forget that Yahoo is also in the connected TV space, where Google is still trying to gain more significant market share.

10. Complexity

The sheer complexity of Google+ may also work against it, particularly when you pair it with number one. You're trying to get people to use your service instead of Facebook's, while trying to sell an overly-complicated concept (mainly with Circles. .).

In the end, it might not really be as complex as it seems, but again, perception goes a long way. If it even seems complicated at a glance, and all of your friends are already doing just fine on Facebook, how big is the incentive?

To be clear, I'm not saying any of these things mean that Google+ won't succeed. It's entirely possible that it could become a huge hit. It wouldn't even have to dethrone Facebook to be a big hit. I think we can consider Twitter a hit, and it doesn't even come close to Facebook in terms of users.

Suffice it to say, Google has its work cut out for it. 

If Google can put these obstacles behind them, what's to stop Google + from overtaking Facebook as the social media platform of choice?

Google+ With Facebook Theme

The social network war is on fire, as google has come up with its gaint social network, Google Plus. It is still in testing phase (people can only join through invitation, get one here), and in return of this, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg has announced a big surprise for the facebook users in this week, Can you guess it? The early response of G+ has been good, and the result is coming out to be positive by the users. Well, i think G+ will leave behind Facebook soon, rest the time will tell.

G+ also offer a interface look like facebook, it is a good reason for the users who like facebook but want to switch to G+ for better social experience. You can your G+ looks to facebook by the use of this awesome widget: Google + : Facebook, Stylish Extension or with this CSS Code

I am sure you gonna love it :)

Import Facebook Contacts To Google+ via Yahoo

Most of people must be waiting for the chance to use Google+ as a new social network, but finding all your friends from facebook and add them you Google+ would be a hectic. Though there is not a direct way to import your facebook contact to Google+, and i dont think so facebook will provide this feature :P, but still you can manage to import facebook contact to Google+, It can be done with the help of facebook connect, its a little lengthy process, but it actually works.

To start this process, log in to your yahoo account, link your facebook account in yahoo through facebook connect, then goto contact and import all your facebook friends, If you find it difficult, Check this simple guide for this step.

When done importing, log into your Google+ account and from Find and Invite page you can import all your yahoo contacts including facebook contact... its not a direct method, but doing this much is worthy at least :)

Facebook Inspired from Google+ Circle

Few months back, it was being said that Google Orkut is coping stuff from Facebook, now guess what? its time for facebook to get inspired (or say to copy) from the Google+ Circle. The Facebook engineers worked on the circle hack, though it doesn't have advanced design and features like Google+.

Making friend list on Facebook is little messy, i thing most of people doesn't have noticed this feature on Facebook. If you want to make a list, first go to 'friends page', than 'edit friends', 'create list' and something more.... its crucial to get that same thing like Google+ on Facebook.


Well on Google+ this all mess can be done on a single page just with little drag and drop, i know you people are champ in that.

Beware of Fake Google+ Invites

Its hardly a week google+ released, and a group of hackers had targeted it for a scam, If you receive any email invitation from an unknown person to join Google+, beware it can be this scam. The emails look very much similar to the invites sent by google, if you click on the link in the message(which we don't recommend), it will redirect you to a penis enlargement products website.

Scam for such a big release is very common, as some time back at the launch of Google Music, same kind of phishing was seen, You should always be careful if you receive any mail from a third party or any unknown person.

The Social War - Facebook vs Google+

In today's world of WWW, where social network has become a big thing, people are so addicted to social networking sites, and where Facebook is ruling above all, but now what? Google+ has been launched, Google+ is the biggest competitor of Facebook, though currently Google+ is in its test phaze, but it has enough potential to hit the web and become the king of all social networks, and it would be a big blow to Facebook.

Google+ is a well advanced version of Facebook, which people would obviously like to use, Google had called it as a "Real Life Sharing" network, as it is in its testing phaze, most of people are just waiting to have a first look of Google+. Even its testing phaze has fired enough alarm in the Facebook factory, resulting Mr. Mark Zuckerberg announced a surprise for Facebook users in this week.

This social war is going to be on fire as soon Google+ is open for all.

Will all people migrate to Google+ to enjoy advanced features leaving Facebook dead or Facebook will rule in future also, please share your views in comments.

'Mark Zuckerberg' Profile Appears On Google+

 

 

A mysterious profile has appeared on Google's new social network, and it may belong to none other than Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg's profile photo (if this is indeed him) is a grainy, somber-faced closeup. He looks none too pleased about this new service, which many are calling Facebook’s most serious rival thus far.
So far, over 14,000 people have added this "Mark Zuckerberg" profile to their Google+ Circles, a feature that lets you separate your contacts into groups.
The supposed Zuckerberg profile has only 38 people in its circles. One of these friends bears the name "Dustin Moskovitz." Could this be the same Moskovitz who attended Harvard with Zuckerberg and helped found Facebook?
As with the Moskovitz page, Zuckerberg's "About" page is practically empty. His location is listed as Palo Alto, CA, and his introduction reads, "I make things."
PCMag reports that other, less genuine-looking Zuckerberg profiles may also be found on Google+. Until Google+ comes up with a Twitter-like method of verifying accounts, there's no real way to tell which are legitimate, if any.
Take a look at what appears to be Mark Zuckerberg's Google+ profile. Do you think it's real? Weigh in via our Quick Poll (below).
LOOK:

Google+ (Google Plus) for Android Hands-on

So Google+ has arrived on Android, but what exactly is it? You've probably heard that it's not Facebook, but it's like Facebook, so what's the difference? Google's attempt at social networking reaches for the sweet spot between oversharing in Facebook and undersharing in Twitter through one key concept – Circles. Unlike Facebook, everything in Google+ is organized around this circular concept, forcing you out of the paradox of having 500+ “friends” you barely know. In Google Plus you classify friends, acquaintances and co-workers until everyone gets the place they deserve.

But to get into that magical space you have to... be invited, of course. Google+ is yet another invite-only beta service by the search giant. After the initial excitement of conquering the new lands of the web, you realize that a trip to the Android Market will prove beneficial as that's where the free Android application for the new social network resides.

It greets you with five icons – Stream, Huddle, Photos, Profile and Circles. You already know about the Circles, while the Stream presents you with a unified view of all the updates from all of your circles. Next on the list is Photos, accumulating a lot of pictures. Actually, every single picture you take on your cell phone can be instantly uploaded to the web. You shouldn't worry about privacy, though, as it's stored safely in a private album, so if you want to share it with the world, you just change the picture to public availability... et voila. There's one downside to this otherwise excellent idea – all images are downsized to save you some traffic. In Google Plus you only get to see 720 x 540 pixels worth of an image. 

The profile icon takes you straight to your profile where you can edit all of your personal information. We should add, that just like Facebook, Google Plus is helping you to discover what you're interested in through the Sparks feature and with it you can add even more information about yourself.

You might have noticed that we missed Huddle and for a reason. The feature isexclusive to the mobile application and allows you to easily create group chats with all people in a circle or just handpicked individuals. Now, while that's truly an outstanding feature (just think how much easier it makes organizing a get-together), Huddle puzzled us with being available only in the Android Google+ app. You can't continue your conversation on a desktop, nor through the mobile website, and it's not integrated with Google Chat.

That rounds up the functionality of the Android app, but you won't know all about it, unless we say what Google+ and the application miss. First of all, the new social network has this creepy yet cool Hangout feature, which is basically a group video chat. Perfect opportunity to use that front facing camera on your cell phone? Think again, as it's not supported in the mobile application, and we'd love to see the engineers at Google add this in next versions of the app. 

The app also doesn't support multiple accounts (that's supposed to be fixed in Version 1.0.2, which wasn't available at the time of writing this), but even more importantly – there is no private messaging. At least in the way we are used, you can still send IMs or emails to people in your circles, but the lack of dedicated private messaging was a disappointment for us.

To conclude, we have to admit that Google Plus for Android does one thing brilliantly – push notifications. You'll be thrilled with joy seeing how seamlessly Google has implemented push notifications appearing in your dropdown. Those of you used to the Facebook mobile app will find many similarities, while notifications seem to be even better implemented in the new social network. We're sure that Google and Vic Gundotra, the main person behind G+, will put a lot of efforts into this, but even though it's still in its early phases, the network's mobile application look more like a hit than a miss.

Highlights:

+ Excellent push notifications

+ Privacy taken care of elegantly through circles

+ Instant Uploads of pictures puts images in the cloud instantly

+ Huddle exclusive to the mobile app

- The current version does not support multiple accounts (Version 1.0.2 should fix this.)

- No private messages as a dedicated feature.

- G+ is not allowed for people under 18.

Download Google+ for Android (Market link)

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WHAT IS GOOGLE PLUS?

• It is a social networking service in beta phase, in which users can join by invitation only
• Social circles allow selective interaction; the number is unlimited
• Web conferencing option for up to 10 participants
• Instant upload of photos, pictures on Google+
• ‘Huddle’ turns different chats into a group chat
• Google Plus would soon release mobile applications for Android and iPhones

Google targets Facebook with new social service

San Francisco: Google Inc, frustrated by a string of failed attempts to crack social networking, is taking another stab at fending off Facebook and other hot social sites with a new service called Google Plus.Google designed the service, unveiled on Tuesday, to tie together all of its online properties, laying the foundation for a full-fledged social network. It is the company's biggest foray into

Google Plus Demo

Google just threw down the digital gauntlet, right in front of Facebook's feet, with the announcement of a new social sharing site called Google+.
The site is invite-only at the moment (cue hundreds of "Can anyone spare me a Plus invite?"requests on Twitter), so for those who can't get inside, the basic premise is this: Plus lets you create groups of people called "Circles", and you can share stuff among those groups in a more focused way than you might using Facebook.
So while you might share the news that you've got engaged with everyone in all your Circles, the other news - about how your engagement party ended up with three hospitalized casualties, your car painted bright pink, and your purchase of 20 square miles of prime Los Angeles real estate for just $20 and a can of Coke - might just be shared with your BFFs. Or maybe the subset of your BFFs who were invited to the party.

There are also "Hangouts", in which Google appears to have invented the chatroom. You can create one, or join one created by a friend, at any time. Participants are connected viavideo chat and can, you know, hang out. Another feature, Huddle, is much the same but for text chat between groups of people. Sorry, Circles.
There's also instant photo sharing and a feature called Sparks, which offers something new: auto-generated content feeds based on your chosen topics. It's like blogging never happened. You tell sparks what you're interested in, and it scoots around the web finding stuff it thinks you'll find interesting.
Google's created a Google Maps-style demo you can play with to get to know Plus a little better.
So will Plus out-Facebook Facebook? Will people care enough to sign up, assign buddies to Circles, join Hangouts, and browse Sparks? Or will they all be too busy on Facebook to notice?

Google+ Invite Mechanism – Shut Down Due To Insane Public Demand

The new social network by Google, Google+, made a beta launch last Wednesday evening. The launch was said to have been so successful that Google needed to shut down the invite program.

Google Plus An Invite Only Platform

Google’s new social network is an exclusive site that not many have access to yet. Since it is made and designed by Google, people expect for it to be nothing short of spectacular. But the sad part is, not everyone can actually use Google+. Google has made it a point to limit the amount of people who have access to join Google+; just like an exclusive party, you’ll need to have an invite first before obtaining access to get in.

Google Plus Beta Launch Has Shocking Results

Last Wednesday night, Google allowed current users of Google+ to invite whomever they wish. This is where all the mayhem began. Upon broadcasting this over the Internet, many people started coming to the site in hoards. A few hours later, Google shut off the invite program due to the onslaught. Vic Gundotra, social media head of Google, was the one who shut down the invite mechanism. He said, via his plus profile, that the demand for people trying to get in Google+ was insane. He also said that the  Google social media team would need to do this kind of invite program again, but more carefully than of the beta launch.

Fans Of Google Plus Search For Loopholes

Just like any other site, there will be usually some loopholes. This is also what people are expecting from Google+. There are many websites posting different ways to get into the site; some are successful and some aren’t. One way to get into Google+ is a procedure wherein an existing Google+ user will share a photo, link, message and etc. to a non-Google+ user by entering the email address. The non-Google+ user will receive a notification and can get in Google+ by clicking the link below the said notification. There is also a waiting list that Google has established for people who want to get in Google+. For people who don’t want to get in using loopholes, this could be the one for you. Don’t expect to get in right away, there may be thousands or maybe millions already listed before you.

In this article, readers learned that the invite program of Google+ was shut off just hours after it was introduced to people. According to reports, it was because of the large amounts of people coming to the site. After the said event happened, people are still trying to get in Google+ via loopholes; and these loopholes can be found in different website postings online.

Google Plus Preparing To Take Off

Google Plus Soon To Launch

Bradley Horowitz, a Vice President of Product Management said in a statement to the New York Times, “In real life, we have walls and windows and I can speak to you knowing who’s in the room, but in the online world, you get a ‘Share’ box and you share with the whole world.”  The privacy challenges that users face on social media platforms like Facebook seem like they are about to be answered with a real solution in Google Plus.  Both media and potential Google Plus users are clamoring for more information.  This morning, Google Plus was among the top discussions on Twitter.  For a time, it was the top discussion.  Google has a Twitter account devoted solely to Google Plus.

Google’s new social network, Google Plus, is about to launch.  The open date has not yet been made official, but the search engine giant claims it can provide answers for social media users’ security concerns.  The name of the new product is Google+ or Google Plus.  Search enthusiasts may be both tickled and aggravated to notice that, in the Google Adwords keyword tool, one cannot search on symbols as a part of one search term like “Google+” yet one can search for something like “$5 gifts.”  As is par for the course, Google is keeping certain things under wraps.  Instead, if one searches for Google Plus, there will be results.  That interesting bit aside, Google Plus stands to capture a large share of the social media market if it is able to do what it claims to do, and that is to allow users to compartmentalize their online presences the same way they do in real life.

Google Plus Is Not Facebook

Mashable.com more succinctly describes Google Plus’s capabilities here:  “The search giant’s new social project will be omnipresent on every Google product, thanks to a complete redesign of the Google navigation bar. The familiar gray bar at the top of every Google page will turn black, and come with several new options for accessing your Google+ profile, viewing notifications and instantly sharing content at any time. The notification system is similar to how Facebook handles notifications, complete with a red number that increases with each additional notice.”  This is reminiscent of Facebook’s user interface, but here is where the likeness ends.  The differences are found in the details.  One feature is called Circles: users can have circles for professional life, personal life, and for every area in-between.  They’ll be able to share videos, pictures, etc. inside of another feature called Sparks.  And with a feature called Hangouts, users can share their locations and meet with people face to face.  Google says Hangouts is the “next best thing” to teleportation.  Business owners may also find that they have a robust and secure social and professional solution.  Many hope Google Plus is able to live up to Google’s confident claims.

In today’s article, the reader learned that Google has created a social media platform that claims to be intuitive to how people actually live.  Readers also learned that Facebook users complain of security issues and being unable to compartmentalize portions of their social media experience.  Google Plus has the potential to handle those concerns and offer a more customizable and secure environment for both social users and for business users.  Finally the reader learned that while Google Plus is not yet completely open, the release date is close enough that they are building significant buzz about the impending launch.

Google Plus Circles Feature Could Change The Way We Network

Google Plus Circles Feature Is Appealing To Users

Google Plus may very well find that its Circle’s feature is the most interesting part of the entire platform. Google Plus will be the new social media platform that attempts to fill in the gaps that other social media platforms have either left out or have not created very well.  Those who participate actively in social media have long complained that they need a way to segment their family relationships from their business relationships, and they also want to segment both of those relationships from close platonic relationships and romantic relationships.  With frequent media spotlights on employees who have made errors in judgment that have cost them their jobs, people may have become more apt to not connect to others on Facebook.  Google Plus and the Circles feature may just be the solution that social media users have been wanting.

Google Plus Facilitates All Types Of Relationships With The Circles Feature

What seems to be very attractive to potential new users of the Google Plus platform is that the Circles feature does not penalize individuals for reaching out to strangers, yet it still protects users from spam-like introductions.  The same way that people in real life can choose when and how to interact, the Circles feature of Google Plus allows for the same kind of normal, compartmentalized interactions.  A separate feature that is of great interest is Hangout, where strangers can safely meet and plan interactions both virtually and offline.  It is assumed that a natural progression from Hangouts could be the Circles Feature.  Hangouts can also be used with existing friends to create face to face video chats or to plan live meetings if users happen to be “hanging out” someplace where others might want to join them, like a bookstore or coffee shop.  By promoting real, social activity, the applications seem endless.

Google Plus Demo Includes the Circles Feature

For those who are interested in Google Plus, there is a demo of the new platform that includes a brief demo of the Circles feature.  There are other demos as well.  What is not clear is exactly how all of the sharing takes place in the closed-environment groups that users can pre-determine.  Will only the people in a user’s hypothetical “Family Circle” be allowed permissions in a user-defined Spark?  What if a user wants to only tell their “Bookstore Circle” that there is a Huddle at their local bookstore?  The demo does not show clearly how that will happen, but all bets are for Google Plus.  Most believe that Google, the search engine giant and creator of the platform has it all figured out and that the Circles feature – which seems to be the core of the entire Google Plus experience at the moment – will easily interact with all the other features.

In this article, the reader learned that the part of Google Plus that is generating a frenzy of media and user attention is the Circles feature.  Potential users hope that the relationship segmenting will be an intuitive part of the platform.  Readers have also learned that, while there is a lot of buzz about Google Plus, there are not many definitive or official answers yet.  Google is testing Google Plus with a limited number of early users who are helping to create a better experience through good feedback.

Google+ – Google Plus Made More Popular By Lack Of Hype

Google Plus Soon To Launch

Google Plus is in the middle of what Google is calling a “limited Field Trial.” They’re currently testing out the reception of their latest social-networking gambit on a select group of people. However, the testing period is due to end soon, leaving us all wondering if the company that is semi-famous for attempts at social networking has finally gotten it right.

Google Generates Hype By Producing None

It’s possible that one of the most interesting parts of Google Plus so far is the amount of hype surrounding it, strictly because it has flown so low under the radar. At the end of last year, when news of Google’s “Emerald Sea” was leaked, not much information was given then, either. Is this Google’s way of building suspense, or do they really enjoy delivering surprises?

Google Refuses To Give Up Information

In December of 2010, information concerning the main features of Google Plus was leaked to the public. First came “Sparks,” or “Loops,” and then came the mini-release of the +1 button at the start of June. The concept of “Hangouts” was dropped in December too, but Google refused to make a big deal out of any progress they’d made, or even bring any attention to it at all. Only once did they actually take an active position in all the buzz: when rumors started over “Circles,” Chris Messina stepped in to deter the public from thinking Google was developing a social network. And yet, months later, here we are.

Is Google Plus Being Deliberately Kept Under Wraps?

No one knows just why Google has strayed so far from publicizing its own creations. Critics (yes, they are already out there) think it would have made sense to at least do a little marketing, especially as according to reports, 25% of yearly bonuses for Google employees depend on the success of this project. But others have referred to two thing. The first is that sometimes, the most suspenseful things for us are what we never see. The second is that it’s hard to be disappointed by something you weren’t all that excited for.

In this article, readers learned about the lack of hype surrounding new social network, Google Plus. There has been a lack of information about this service until recently, leading many to wonder just what the purpose was in Google keeping people in the dark. However, Google is just about ready to unveil their latest creation; we’ll soon see if the lack of information served a purpose or not.