Google vs Facebook

The normal, lightning-fast, overwhelmingly-heavy rash of social media hubbub has dealt with extra fuel of late. A couple weeks ago, I couldn't resist and threw my hat into the ring with a post about Google +'s intriguing new approach to geo-tagging. After all the sharing was done it was one of the most popular post of the summer here for the 2-Pros team.

Inevitably, one of the resulting conversations had readers asking us about this whole Google vs Facebook idea. Being interested in the topic enough to stray from our normal topic already, we couldn't resist putting our two cents in on this subject.

 I'll admit that I probably use enough Google products to qualify as a fanboy. Its just that they make my life so darn easy. So, when Google says that they don't have designs on becoming the next big thing in social media and going after Facebook, I believe them.  I believe both that there are many other ways to be successful on a social internet than copying Facebook and that there's room for two giants in that arena anyway.

Here's what I think is interesting though. Google truly has built a different animal with G+. Certainly if you want to pull all of your friends from Facebook or wherever you can create your own Facebook clone on G+ using large circles and private status updates. But for people who do that you're only using a small fragment of what G+ truly offers.

Consider these:

1) One-way sharing - It brings the openness of other popular social sites like Twitter to the table and allows a user to acquire and spread news from chosen sources. One user this morning called G+ his morning newspaper, others have pointed out how much more open sharing is compared to other sites.

2) Sparks - Still a bit of a fail from the development end, Google can really flex it's search muscle here and integrate Reader and News into Sparks. This will go above and beyond the offerings from one-way sharing and bring even more content into the Circles.

3) Google Integration - Yes, Facebook does do some of this, but Facebook is very slanted towards holding information within the Facebook community. With G+, there are obvious paths to connecting calendars, email, chat, contacts, documents, and much more with a wider breath of personal digital services. And of course, to Android.

So do I feel that Google is a threat to Facebook? Yes. I don't think that it will beat Facebook from the standpoint of private circle sharing. I think G+ does a better job at that, but it will need a significant amount of time to reach the user-base needed to really win in that arena. Where Google will win is in two places.

1) Time. No matter how awesome each Google and Facebook are, they are still competing for the same hours in the day that each of us have already decided to dedicate to online activity. I really don't feel that very many people will drastically increase their time spent online to use both G+ and Facebook. In the end, one site will win over the other for each person with the biggest factor likely being network preference. Those trying to meet new people and network publicly will choose G+, those who prefer to only share privately will stick with Facebook. I feel that G+ wins this battle simply because they offer both, and users who pick G+ will help to migrate their friends to minimize time spent online.

2) Mobile. Its no secret that mobile units are flying off the shelves from every carrier under the sun. Those devices are only going to get faster, more efficient, and more integrated. And we'll keep carrying them with us wherever we go. Facebook seems to have released more updates in the last two months than in the two years prior, but I can't get past their sluggish attitude. Facebook's mobile apps seem to always be the most barebones version of the online experience and Google won't stop on that level. While the G+ app is still very young, it's already easier in a number of ways. If you're the type to go social on the fly I just don't see how you can choose the Facebook app over the G+ app.

For me personally right now I'm on both. I know that it will take a year or more to really draw enough of my inner circle from Facebook and get them to stay up to date with me over on G+ so I will invest the extra time. I have nothing against Facebook, but in having to pick one, I have found that G+ is much better integrated with everything I need to do. Check me out here and Circle me up.

Let's keep some of this conversation flowing. I would like to talk about advantages for businesses on G+ as those pages become available.