Google + Revealed.

Whereas I initially planned to write an extensive,multi-part blog post on Facebook,and how to enforce your privacy on it,but the very next day I finally got into Google Plus (It took me a lot of effort by the way,had to ask multiple people over multiple forums for invites) and this social service really seems to be everything Facebook is not.I shall be going over what Google plus is and how it fares against Facebook.

Google Plus has ditched the traditional concept of friend list’s in favor of “Circles”.In terms of social networking wars,this is Google’s Nuke against Facebook. Why I say this,is because with “Circles” Google plus gives you full control over what information you share,and who you share it with. Basically Circles are groups your peers belong in,You would definitely not be comfortable sharing sensitive information with some people you met on the net for example so you simply block all photos from that circle,and enable it for the rest.All your peers are different,and all of them dont care about each and every status you post. Say something related to Gaming,it would be better if you simply share gaming related content with people who do care about stuff like this,so you make a circle consisting of your gaming buddies and share the status update with just them,this goes both ways too you can select what content to appear from different circles  in your “Stream” (Similar to Facebooks news feed)and you can also mute the posts that you dont care about so that they dont bother you with notifications.

Take a look at my circles:

My circle list

As you can see this is where I can select what stream I want,by default you get all streams to your news feed but you can click on a circle to get status’es from a particular circle.By default Google has Friends,Family,Acquaintances and following circles but you can add more. Interestingly Google incorporates twitter into it by this method.I share all my info with my friends,some pictures with my family and No sensitive data with others.In Facebook that’s not possible.

Unlike Facebook where you have to “Approve” a friend request here you have something called incoming which will notify you when someone adds you to their circles,and shares a post with you,here for the first time you can add random strangers to your circles anyway but make sure you have all your sensitive information blocked to that circle.

This simplistic approach to networking by Google Plus really wipes the floor of Facebook’s counterpart.

 Recently,Facebook introduced,along with skype its own video calling service.This was intended to answer the “Hangout” feature by Google. However aside from the fact that both involve Webcams and internet there is nothing more common between them. Hangout allows you to have conversation with multiple people (upto 10) Google has been pretty clever about this the system uses the audio stream to figure out who is speaking  and brings him to the main screen,while the other stay at the bottom in thumb sized videos. As of now however expect Facebook to have a more stable service since its going with Skype,however Google will definitely Match that.

This is one feature that I haven’t understood till now,or is poorly implemented. The essence of this Feature is basically you can subscribe to your “intrests” your favourite brands like playstation etc.It uses Googles search engine to give you this but it is not really as effective as Facebook “Pages”,this Feature actually appears half baked.

Where the interface is concerned the stream appears much cleaner,and you can filter them according to circles which is quite handy.I also like the fact that you can post animated GIFS on your home page something I always wish I could do on Facebook.I also like the way photographs are displayed in a more tile like fashion in thumb size,however Facebook theatre mode is much better than Google’s own counterpart of it.

Mobile Features

Mobile is an integral part of Google plus. The app is available right now in Android,and soon to come for iOS. It does everything you can do from desktop,but apart from that it also has features which set itself apart.

Think of this as a text based version of video chat,Google plus is apparently all about multiple people as with Huddle you can text chat over Wi-Fi and Edge with multiple people.Think of it as an advanced version of BBM. However as of yet there is no picture/music transfer option.

Aside from this,Google plus also makes sharing photos an easy job by instant upload,which instantly uploads the photos you have clicked to a private album on google plus. You can share them later on.

Also,in mobile their is a specific tab called “Nearby” with which you get public posts from people near you the mobile uses in built GPS for this,sharing your own location is optional of course but I really find this feature potentially useful to know people around me.

Conclusion:

Google plus can really potentially replace Facebook. indeed it is a strong competition to Facebook whether it fails or not  and it would be interesting to see how Google and Facebook fare in this new “Social Networking Wars’ I am even eager to see some “Fb fanboys,and G+ fanboys” like we have on many such competitions today.

If you want an invite go to my Official Facebook Page here and post your email on my wall