Facebook has met its first serious contender: Google’s new social networking site, Google Plus. With Google’s mammoth search engine and array of sites such as Google Mail, Google Docs, Google Calendar and Google Maps, some theorize that Google Plus could knock Facebook off its social networking throne.
Since its release in February 2004, Facebook has increased to 800 million users as of July 2011. While Google Plus has far fewer users, it is growing much faster than Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, according to an analysis done by comScore, an Internet marketing research company. Google Plus launched June 28, 2011, as an invite-only site and boasted 25 million users after four weeks, according to the comScore.
As of Sept. 20, 2011, however, Google Plus went public; now anyone can join. But while Google Plus may boast 25 million users, Harding students are not taking the bait.
“Well I stopped using Google Plus, because there is nobody on it,” senior Caitlin Sober said. “All my friends are on Facebook, and I don’t want to have two sites. It didn’t take off the way I thought it would. I didn’t delete [my Google Plus account], but I never use it.”
While both Google Plus and Facebook are social networking sites that offer similar communication avenues, both sites do offer different services. Google Plus’ main appeal is that it offers the user more control and privacy.
For example, a Google Plus feature called circles allows users to separate contacts into circles, or groups, such as acquaintances, family, co-workers and friends. These circles, just like daily life, allow people to be in more than one circle: This feature allows users to post content that only certain circles may see. Users may also dictate which circles see which photographs.
“There aren’t any other problems with [Google Plus] except for the lack of people,” freshman Victoria Metts said. “I really like how you can filter your news feed. I like the cleanness of [Google Plus]. It’s just concise. I think more people will switch to Google Plus, especially if Facebook keeps changing its look.”
Other students said they are attracted to the site because of Google Plus’ alternative features, such as the circle groups and hangouts, which are a Skype-like option that allows up to 10 people to video chat simultaneously.
Some students said they are getting fed up with the constant changes occurring on Facebook, such as the news ticker placed at the top right of the Facebook home page and the new timeline option.
“Since there have been massive amounts of changes on Facebook, I would be very interested in trying out Google Plus due to the abrasive nature of Facebook changes,” senior Rob Drake said.
