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freudling · Jul 12, 2011, 08:00 PM

Obviously, you can disagree. But testing Google+... I think it's going to crush FaceBook. How's that for a prediction?

I makes FaceBook look like a droopy eyed armless child. Couple the nice interface with things like Google Talk, Spark, and other Google services... not to mention that a zillion people have a gmail account... I think this thing could catch.

But who knows...

Athens · Jul 12, 2011, 08:13 PM

I dont think its going to crush Facebook but i think its going to grow fast and a lot of people are going to maintain accounts on both for years but I see over time facebook losing a few hundred million regulars and the 2 services being close in size. Many people will hold out for years until enough of there friends force them over.

Phileas · Jul 12, 2011, 08:45 PM

What will stop Facebook from copying the best features of google+? Nothing, so I would not write them off just yet.

As it stands right now, I much prefer google+, but who knows what the next couple of months will bring? Facebook is a well run company with a strong vision, they won't just roll over and play dead.

Big Mac · Jul 12, 2011, 08:54 PM

I wouldn't count Facebook out for quite a while, but I think there's certainly the potential for Google to do to Facebook what Facebook did to myspace.

Honestly, I'm not interested in either right now. Twitter gives me my fill of social networking.

Brien · Jul 12, 2011, 09:03 PM

And I wouldn't be surprised if Twitter kills 'em both. That is, if someone doesn't buy up Twitter first.

Phileas · Jul 12, 2011, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

I wouldn't count Facebook out for quite a while, but I think there's certainly the potential for Google to do to Facebook what Facebook did to myspace.

Myspace and Facebook have very little in common, apart from both operating in the social media space. From the very beginning, myspace suffered from lack of vision and weak management, which ultimately led to its downfall.

imitchellg5 · Jul 12, 2011, 09:28 PM

I don't think it will "crush" Facebook, because a lot of the core functionality is still there. But I would love it to, and I think it will be huge eventually.

mduell · Jul 12, 2011, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by Phileas

What will stop Facebook from copying the best features of google+?

A willingness to do so. Ego.

Doofy · Jul 12, 2011, 11:51 PM

I think Google are headed for being reamed by the monopolies commission.

Wiskedjak · Jul 12, 2011, 11:55 PM

G+ is nice. Might even replace some Facebook use for some people. But, I don't see the non-geek crowd migrating over anytime soon. I suspect we'll see a demographic usage breakdown similar to Gmail use vs. Yahoo Mail use.

Wiskedjak · Jul 13, 2011, 12:02 AM

Side note: it's interesting that lately everything needs to be an [insert product name here] killer.
Was Coke a Pepsi killer?
Was GM a Ford killer?

Athens · Jul 13, 2011, 12:24 AM

Originally Posted by Brien

And I wouldn't be surprised if Twitter kills 'em both. That is, if someone doesn't buy up Twitter first.

Twitter is a different beast. Only thing I see offering any competition to it is Google Buzz

Originally Posted by Phileas

Myspace and Facebook have very little in common, apart from both operating in the social media space. From the very beginning, myspace suffered from lack of vision and weak management, which ultimately led to its downfall.

Current myspace, a couple years ago myspace had a lot in common with Facebook.

freudling · Jul 13, 2011, 02:27 AM

The one thing about Google+... it's... well... Google. Not some no-name basement nerds trying to make it rich off software that allows people to send cartoon heads to one another's smartphones.

It's all the services and integration on the backend that I think is going to push Google+ into some serious traction on the market.

I was never a fan of FaceBook and am happy this came along. I tolerate LinkedIn but Google+ makes them all look antiquated, even if it's doing essentially the same things. It just seems to do it better.

Phileas · Jul 13, 2011, 05:22 AM

Originally Posted by Athens

Current myspace, a couple years ago myspace had a lot in common with Facebook.

That's incorrect. If you read up on the history of myspace and Facebook, you'll see that the two companies had a very different vision, very different leadership and a very different vision when it came to raising money.

In a nutshell, the founders of myspace were interested in building personal wealth as soon as possible, Zuckerberg, whatever people might think of him, is interested in building a great company that is changing the world.

Phileas · Jul 13, 2011, 05:24 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

I think Google are headed for being reamed by the monopolies commission.

Because they are introducing competition into the market?

Phileas · Jul 13, 2011, 05:25 AM

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

G+ is nice. Might even replace some Facebook use for some people. But, I don't see the non-geek crowd migrating over anytime soon. I suspect we'll see a demographic usage breakdown similar to Gmail use vs. Yahoo Mail use.

My thoughts as well.

Doofy · Jul 13, 2011, 05:56 AM

Originally Posted by Phileas

Because they are introducing competition into the market?

In the same way that the Borg introduce competition.

Phileas · Jul 13, 2011, 06:02 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

In the same way that the Borg introduce competition.

I had no idea Facebook and twitter were such pushovers. Seriously though, I too think there'll be a split along demographics.

Wiskedjak · Jul 13, 2011, 07:12 AM

For my part, I'll probably end up using G+ primarily and maintain a presence in FB, in order to continue to communicate with people who don't migrate over (ie: don't wanna learn something new)

Spheric Harlot · Jul 13, 2011, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by Doofy

In the same way that the Borg introduce competition.

Yeah, I remember how Buzz came along and killed Twitter. Those were the days...

Phileas · Jul 13, 2011, 08:14 AM

Or Google Wave. Wave killed everything.

freudling · Jul 13, 2011, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by Phileas

Or Google Wave. Wave killed everything.

You know, the problem here is, how can you reinvent Email? The answer is you don't have to. It's not really something that needs to be reinvented. It's like trying to spice up a rotary phone.

There're other ways that people are now communicating with that are replacing Email. I guess FaceBook, Google+, SMS/MMS... those are supplanting and replacing Email for people.

I think with Google+, we'll look back and say they just got lucky. The fact that they tried Wave shows how they just kinda throw whatever into the world to see what sticks.

But who knows, FaceBook could stay put and Google+ could go nowhere.

Athens · Jul 13, 2011, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by Phileas

That's incorrect. If you read up on the history of myspace and Facebook, you'll see that the two companies had a very different vision, very different leadership and a very different vision when it came to raising money.

In a nutshell, the founders of myspace were interested in building personal wealth as soon as possible, Zuckerberg, whatever people might think of him, is interested in building a great company that is changing the world.

Ok, let me restate this, from a users point of view, from posting updates, adding friends and the front end side of things they where very much the same. A large group of people like to move from the "old" to the new and they tend to bring people with them and once critical mass hits the service grows quickly. Facebook was the new boy in town and people migrated to it from hi5, nexopia, myspace in slow numbers at first then critical mass took effect and a real fast migration took place. I can see the same thing occurring to facebook. A lot of us early adopters move over. Over the next year we early adopters get some of our facebook friends to move over. As more people move over the faster the migration will occur.

Atheist · Jul 13, 2011, 12:09 PM

Besides being the next new thing, what does Google+ really offer the average user. What would compel my friends and family to switch? Just seems like one more thing to waste time with.

Athens · Jul 13, 2011, 12:16 PM

Better integration with the google eco system.

Think about it
Push Mail for phones
Gmail
Calendar
Contacts
Google Docs
Buzz
Blog
Picasa
Youtube

All those tools many people already use, so a social network site that links up with all those makes sense. Uploading photos to Facebook locks them away in facebook. Google+ uses Picasa.

Interaction with people via email with out even using G+ since its setup so any one can get updates and respond in or out of the program. Stuff like video and photos are app hacks added onto facebook not separate independent services which Google's stuff is. Having one place to access all your stuff is useful. And many of the tools Google has are mature tools as well. It just brings all of it together in one place. Most people who are on facebook already have google accounts as well. Even if your not a gmail user chances are your a picasa user or a youtube user.

freudling · Jul 13, 2011, 12:30 PM

Originally Posted by Athens

Better integration with the google eco system.

Think about it
Push Mail for phones
Gmail
Calendar
Contacts
Google Docs
Buzz
Blog
Picasa
Youtube

All those tools many people already use, so a social network site that links up with all those makes sense. Uploading photos to Facebook locks them away in facebook. Google+ uses Picasa.

Interaction with people via email with out even using G+ since its setup so any one can get updates and respond in or out of the program. Stuff like video and photos are app hacks added onto facebook not separate independent services which Google's stuff is. Having one place to access all your stuff is useful. And many of the tools Google has are mature tools as well. It just brings all of it together in one place. Most people who are on facebook already have google accounts as well. Even if your not a gmail user chances are your a picasa user or a youtube user.

That's exactly what I was saying. It's how integrated it is to the rest of Google's products and services. It's already got over 4 million users... even though FaceBook has gazillions... for something that basically just launched a few days ago, that's incredible.

Phileas · Jul 13, 2011, 01:07 PM

10 million users, as of today, no?

Athens · Jul 13, 2011, 01:15 PM

Was breaking the 10 million user mark last night

CharlesS · Jul 13, 2011, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by freudling

There're other ways that people are now communicating with that are replacing Email. I guess FaceBook, Google+, SMS/MMS... those are supplanting and replacing Email for people.

But the thing is, if someone sends you a message via Facebook (or, I presume, Google+), how do you find out that they sent you the message?

Via e-mail.

I don't see how something can be "replaced" by something that depends on that very thing for its most basic functionality.

Waragainstsleep · Jul 13, 2011, 02:51 PM

Facebook and twitter will both alert you on your iOS device. No email required.

Question: Will G+ or Facebook offer iMessage integration? Should they?

freudling · Jul 13, 2011, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

But the thing is, if someone sends you a message via Facebook (or, I presume, Google+), how do you find out that they sent you the message?

Via e-mail.

I don't see how something can be "replaced" by something that depends on that very thing for its most basic functionality.

CharlesS where have you been? I hardly see you around anymore? Anyway, have you heard of notifications and Apps before?

Phileas · Jul 13, 2011, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Via e-mail.

Nope. Via alert, which is soon to become a lot more functional. Email hasn't been needed for quite some time.

freudling · Jul 13, 2011, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Phileas

Nope. Via alert, which is soon to become a lot more functional. Email hasn't been needed for quite some time.

The transition away from Email is making more sense now. We want live, contextual updates and information about the stuff that matters to us. It's more about information coming in when we need it without having to go searching for it.

Email is old school... it's still good, and especially for business... but the paint has definitely faded.

CharlesS · Jul 13, 2011, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Phileas

Nope. Via alert, which is soon to become a lot more functional. Email hasn't been needed for quite some time.

But you have to leave a browser window open to Facebook to get the alerts. Web browser windows are huge, and if you hide/minimize them, you don't get a nice update via the Dock icon. Alerts are only secondarily useful if you happen to already be on the site. The rest of the time, they don't do much for you.

It's also not possible to send attachments via Facebook messages (at least, as far as I can tell). Without that, there's no real way to replicate the simplicity of e-mailing a document to a friend, or to oneself when one is doing homework on a public computer, and these are things that people do every day.

Spheric Harlot · Jul 13, 2011, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

But you have to leave a browser window open to Facebook to get the alerts

On a computer, that's true.

On iOS, you get push messages.

CharlesS · Jul 13, 2011, 04:29 PM

Is the iOS version of the Facebook that much different from the Android one? On Android I do get notifications — via e-mail.

I should probably also point out the obvious fact that you need an e-mail address to even sign up for a Facebook account, and that your e-mail address is thereafter your login name to get into the account.

Waragainstsleep · Jul 13, 2011, 05:35 PM

I've not seen the Android version but the iOS version allows live Facebook chat as well as audibly pinging up notifications and direct messages as and when they come in.

freudling · Jul 13, 2011, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

Is the iOS version of the Facebook that much different from the Android one? On Android I do get notifications — via e-mail.

I should probably also point out the obvious fact that you need an e-mail address to even sign up for a Facebook account, and that your e-mail address is thereafter your login name to get into the account.

Nobody said Email is going away completely! It's just rusted out.

imitchellg5 · Jul 13, 2011, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Waragainstsleep

I've not seen the Android version but the iOS version allows live Facebook chat as well as audibly pinging up notifications and direct messages as and when they come in.

Android does as well. They both have pretty much the exact same feature set.

Waragainstsleep · Jul 13, 2011, 07:04 PM

The Current Social Landscape - Failbook - Funny Facebook Status Messages ( Failbooking )

Doofy · Jul 13, 2011, 07:12 PM

Email vs Facebook...

Is everyone missing the fact that Facebook now puts every single message from the same person in the same fsking thread? Useless, unless you're a 12-year-old girl with ADHD.

CharlesS · Jul 13, 2011, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

Android does as well. They both have pretty much the exact same feature set.

I never get notifications on mine (except for via e-mail), so either the Android version doesn't support this, or it doesn't work right.

imitchellg5 · Jul 13, 2011, 07:34 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

I never get notifications on mine (except for via e-mail), so either the Android version doesn't support this, or it doesn't work right.

I get notifications all the time. Must not be working properly for you then. I have all email notifications turned off.

freudling · Jul 13, 2011, 11:54 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

I never get notifications on mine (except for via e-mail), so either the Android version doesn't support this, or it doesn't work right.

Somebody forgot to read the manual. And Android? Really CharlesS? I memba you back in the early days after Jobs got back... around here. Memba those days of PDAs and Ebay?

CharlesS · Jul 14, 2011, 01:06 AM

Originally Posted by freudling

Somebody forgot to read the manual. And Android? Really CharlesS? I memba you back in the early days after Jobs got back... around here. Memba those days of PDAs and Ebay?