The Internet is all a “Buzz” Having Been Swept up in the Google+ “Wave”
The Internet is all a “Buzz” having been swept up in the Google+ “Wave”.
That’s it, no more mentions for Google’s previous forays into the social network sphere.
Speaking of spheres, Google+ Circles is actually quite cool. The concept itself is not rocket science. You can split your contacts into groups of friends, family, colleagues etc much like Facebook’s friends’ lists. I’ve read a few other online “reviews” of Google+ that supposedly suggest that Google+’s circles are more secure than Facebook’s lists. They reviews also suggest you have more control over who sees what content or status you share with Google. I’d like to categorically say this is not true. You can control who sees what in Facebook to the same level as Google+. And just to clarify this post from me is not a review, it’s just an opinion.
What’s cooler about Circles is the delivery. Its looks so much better and is so much easier whom you add to a circle or list. Controlling who sees your status update on Facebook is, quite frankly a pain in the @#*%. Facebook’s privacy settings are so confusing you are never 100% sure if your status update is hidden from your boss who is on your “work friends” list. You can hide your status update to photos from whomever you want to on Facebook, its just not easy! The user experience for Circles on the other hand is a pleasure and effortless. It’s almost like in the Google+ sprints they deliberately focused on Facebook’s weaknesses. Adding a contact to a circle or creating a circle is simplicity itself, whereas on Facebook I still get confused on where to click to add or modify a list or add someone new to a list.
The other cool form factor on Google+ is “Hangouts”. You can bring in up to ten contacts into a video conference. I haven’t managed to get it to work properly yet [it keeps crashing, probably because there are lots of people trying it out at the same time and the servers cant handle the load!], but the concept is very clever. The potential uses for enterprise are clear to see. Forget trying to book the already oversubscribed company video conferencing system, let’s just “Hangout” on Google+. Its quicker and easier. The folks over at “A Software Insiders Point of View” blog have done a very interesting article on Google+ for enterprise and use in social business.
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