Google doesn’t have the best history when it comes to their attempts at social networking. There was Orkut, a social network that never took off, which actually predates Facebook, and was designed as a competitor to Friendster. Then, there was the disastrous launch of Buzz. I was never quite sure which was more fatal to this service, the massive breach of privacy on day 1 or the total lack of value beyond what people could already get from Twitter. And who could forget Wave, an ambitious attempt to redefine online communication hobbled by a tiny user base (seriously Google, this service needed to get added to Gmail the way Buzz was) and then destroyed by the fact that, cool as it was, users couldn’t figure out what it was for. Wave shuts down completely at the end of this year.
Apparently, Google is undeterred by past failures. Yesterday, the ever-expanding company announced the launch of their latest attempt, Google+. Invites are thin on the ground at the moment, but the announced features look like a decent attempt at Google’s long-rumored Facebook competitor. That’s exactly what this service is. Unlike Wave and Buzz, Google+ isn’t trying to do an end-run around Facebook. This time it’s a head-on, feature-for-feature confrontation, and Google is trying to win on quality.
Circles
Google believes people are looking to group their friends, rather than see them as a single large pool. A simple drag-and-drop interface lets you add friends to any custom circle you create, so that your grandparents’ family updates don’t get mixed up with your ski trip or surfing plans (check out the tour to see what I mean).
What distinguishes Circles from groups of Facebook Friends is that this is intended to be the main form of interaction. If I want to share something on Facebook with all my Friends on the Techcitement staff, it takes four clicks to get to a screen where I can type in the group name (select that lock icon under the share box, click customize, click the drop-down menu, and click Specific People). This is clearly not the intended use, and I’d venture to guess most people don’t make a lot of use of this function, which is why we so often hear stories of people sharing more than they want to on Facebook.
On Google+, sharing with a Circle is natural. Click share, and Google+ asks you which Circles you want to share with. I’m thinking Google learned from Buzz that people are starting to get wary of oversharing.
Hangouts
This was one of the more interesting elements to me, a sort of spontaneous group video chat. In my experience, video chat is usually something you plan ahead, such as when my brother calls my cellphone to ask if I want to Skype. I’ve never done a group video chat, because the coordination problem seems to grow exponentially with each new person. With Hangouts, video chat is based on who happens to be online at the time. Start a Hangout with anyone, and that Hangout shows up in your Stream (think News Feed on Facebook) for members of that Circle. Then, anyone in the same Circle can join the chat. This way, a conversation with one person can turn into a group chat with whatever mutual friends happen to show up.
I’m not sure how well the implementation of the various video windows is going to work out in practice. You’ll see a series of thumbnails along the bottom that show everyone in your Hangout, and your center screen will be filled with whoever is talking right then (or, Google admits, whoever is talking the loudest, which may make for some interesting competition among attention seekers).
Sparks
Sparks is a bit unusual for a social networking service. It’s semi-random content, added to your Stream not by your friends, but by Google+, selecting news items from around the web on subjects of your choice. The closest parallel I can think of is StumbleUpon, but instead of loading a new page every time you want to find something new, you just get a headline in your stream.
Sparks is clearly intended to generate more content shared with your Circles. It also gives a hint about where Google thinks Circles is going. It’s not just about where you know people from, but what your shared interests with them are. Their demo video ends with the words “For nerding out. Together.”
The video also finally points to a use for Google’s recently released “+1” button. It’s now an exact duplicate of Facebook’s “Like” button. It seems +1 was just released in advance of Google+ so there would actually be buttons out there when the social network launched. That makes the whole +1 idea a lot less vague.
Instant Upload
This is where Google+ starts going mobile. If you have the Google+ Android app (free and already in the Market, though you can’t make use of it without an invite to Google+) or the planned iOS app, photos you take on your smartphone or tablet can be automatically uploaded to your Google+ account. At your convenience, you can then share them with whatever Circles you choose. Google+ is attempting to create the convenience of automatic mobile sharing, without the privacy concerns. Everything’s online, and nothing’s shared until you say it is.
Huddle
Since iMessage was announced, rumors have been floating around about an Android-based Blackberry Messenger (BBM) competitor, and Huddle might just be it. The Google+ Android app lets you start a group chat with one of your circles. It’s a solid implementation of the group messaging trend that has been growing recently.
Personally, I was never sure why a chat program like Google Talk isn’t enough to compete with BBM. If you want to combine chat with social networking, this is a good way to go.
Mobile
The mobile version of Stream also has a Nearby View, which is a nice little twist that could make it more interesting. See what your friends who are already near you are up to, and you can see what you want to join.
Google+ is a solid competitor, but it’s entering a tough market. Facebook clearly dominates this field, and it’s not the only competition. In the end, success or failure of this service heavily depends on whether or not Google can generate the one thing that really matters in building a social network: body count.
You can check out all of Google+’s introductory videos here. For now, let’s all enjoy the real reason this service might succeed as explained by the webcomic xkcd.
As usual, the best part of that xkcd strip is the hover text.
“On one hand, you’ll never be able to convince your parents to switch. On the other hand, you’ll never be able to convince your parents to switch!”