Monday, July 18, 2011

Google+ Review








So I know I usually review movies but a lot of people have been asking about Google+, and being a social networking nerd I'd figure I'd give a quick positive/negative list.




Positives:

- It's Simple. Like Facebook used to be...
- No Farmville! No one sending you tomato plants and asking you to join their Mob.
- Circles! It's a big feature on Google+. It's nice you can decide who sees what you say. You can seperate what posts your co-workers see from what your close friends do. Oh, and people don't know what circle you have them in (Nice!). Now, you can do this on FB but it's kind of a pain and most people don't know how to. (It's a little weird categorizing people at first, but you get used to it)
- It's connected to your gmail. I know it sounds lazy.... but now you can log-in into one place to check your email and see if you have any notifications.
- Chat system is also nice. You can chat with people through gmail or through Google+. So if a friend has gmail but not plus you can still chat with them. They also have 'Huddle'
so you can chat in groups (Facebook is trying to do this now too).
- Video Chat. The 'Hangout' feature is a great idea; You can v-chat with multiple people at once, without paying Skpe monthly. (Also see negatives)
- It's new! It's still small. No ads covering the page. No companies saying "Like Us" (but still like mine! lol) You also don't have to read you friend's 14 year-old sister pathetic updates, because she hasn't joined yet.
- It's gotten to see FB become what it is and take advantage of it's faults.
- It's Google, a name we know and trust. We know they're gonna do some cool stuff.
- It's more about sharing with friends than having friends.
- Lastly, if Mark Zuckerberg is as douchey as Eisenberg played him it's time he got his. Although, I don't think Google+ will bring down FB.

Negatives:

- It's new. I know this was also a positive, but they are still working out a lot of hiccups.
* An example would be the "great idea" I said the 'hangout' v-chat feature is. I've tested out a few times and it doesn't work so well, you can hear but not see or see and not hear. Hopefully they'll get it to work.
- Even though it's in a bar right above your email they still email you notifications. You can turn this off, but I think it's a dumb that you have to.
- You don't have to accept people who want to follow you. Anyone can follow you, so you'll have to put them all in a special circle, hide, or block them. It's kind of annoying.
- The switch over is going to be hard. I have been on Facebook for years. I don't think the switch over will be as smooth as MySpace to Facebook was.... if it even happens.
- It's a little weird going for "The Man". Google is no college kid starting a website or Tom our Myspace friend in the white shirt. You'll now notice you can '+1'(there equivalent to fb's 'like') anything you google. It just reminds you that they are trying to take over, and they are no underdog.


Overall, I like it. It's nice to be on with just a few friends for now, and fun to play somewhere new. I don't know what's going to happen with it, but it's growing fast so ask someone to invite you in.

1 comment:

  1. The biggest plus, which you mentioned... no farmville.

    ReplyDelete