Google+

[LogGrad98]

Yeah Facebook has the option to create a friends list, I know about that. It isn't the same thing, and doesn't work the same. All I can tell you is to try it out and you will experience how different it is. And then you'll understand why so many people are switching to Google +.

Frankly, unless you met your entire circle of friends online, and they are all on Google+, and online very frequently, I see no real benefit over FB or just email. I use email and my actual phone to keep up with the people I care about most, the rest are acquaintances and more of a novelty to see what is going on in their lives than anything else.

As far as circles go, I am not that much of an international super-spy to have things I will only share with my "Went to college with this guy 15 year ago" circle, and I don't put any personal info out there that I would constrain entirely to my "Can trust with my deepest darkest secrets" circle. I only add people on FB and Google+ that I care about seeing what is going on with them, or that I have no problem with them seeing what I am willing to share. I guess if your entire life revolves around virtual social communities, and you share enough information that you have some need to constrain who sees what, then Google+ is probably better. For most people I don't think they will see any real difference or benefit from FB.

(I have been on Google+ since the first week, having a friend who works with Google as a project manager)

 

[Beantown]

Not anytime soon.

Facebook has 750M users. 2.5 x's the population the US.

On July 14, 2011, Google announced that Google+ had reached 10 million users just two weeks after when it was launched in a "limited" trial phase

Yea but Facebook has already died down, so many I know dont even use it anymore. Its not like facebook will get anymore popular. It will be all down hill for them.

As for the Google thing, they just want your personal information so they can charge more for advertising. Seems lame. They should pay you all money since they are making money off your accounts and information.

 

[SaltyDawg]

Frankly, unless you met your entire circle of friends online, and they are all on Google+, and online very frequently, I see no real benefit over FB or just email. I use email and my actual phone to keep up with the people I care about most, the rest are acquaintances and more of a novelty to see what is going on in their lives than anything else.

As far as circles go, I am not that much of an international super-spy to have things I will only share with my "Went to college with this guy 15 year ago" circle, and I don't put any personal info out there that I would constrain entirely to my "Can trust with my deepest darkest secrets" circle. I only add people on FB and Google+ that I care about seeing what is going on with them, or that I have no problem with them seeing what I am willing to share. I guess if your entire life revolves around virtual social communities, and you share enough information that you have some need to constrain who sees what, then Google+ is probably better. For most people I don't think they will see any real difference or benefit from FB.

(I have been on Google+ since the first week, having a friend who works with Google as a project manager)

My family and friends are all scattered across the country. So we use Facebook as a means of staying in touch.

I certainly don't want my boss, or some future potential employer, reading about how drunk I was or something like that. I'm not an international spy either. But everyone on my Facebook and my Google + are people I actually know in real life. So I absolutely do care what they read and see, and don't want everyone reading and seeing everything that gets posted to my wall.

 

[LogGrad98]

I guess it doesn't matter much to me whether I use FB or G+ since I filter my posts BEFORE posting it. That seems to make more sense than to hope I only send a particular message to my "Wanna hear my drunken rant" circle and not my "Kiss up to my boss" circle. I also do not add people from work on FB or Google+. If it is truly a friend then maybe, but I see them at work, they don't need to see what I did on the weekend, and for the most part I don't care what they did. I would never add a boss or a subordinate and I do NOT list my place of employment by name, and I do not name co-workers in my posts. That is just begging for litigation. We fired a guy last week because of his Facebook posts, degrading co-workers and his bosses by name and copping to all kinds of things about work, naming names of both the company and specific employees. He posted that he was surprised he passed his drug screen. Also, I am not so narcissistic that I need any of my profiles to be public, so I just make it all private so only my friends can see it. This way I can easily say what I choose to, and keep in touch with my family and friends, without worry of offending anyone or someone snooping and getting information out of my profile. Circles or Friends Lists don't do anything to help me with that, I filter it myself.

The biggest problem with all this is privacy and protection of identity and I protect that by controlling who I add and what I post...period.

 

[Qman]

I guess it doesn't matter much to me whether I use FB or G+ since I filter my posts BEFORE posting it. That seems to make more sense than to hope I only send a particular message to my "Wanna hear my drunken rant" circle and not my "Kiss up to my boss" circle. I also do not add people from work on FB or Google+. If it is truly a friend then maybe, but I see them at work, they don't need to see what I did on the weekend, and for the most part I don't care what they did. I would never add a boss or a subordinate and I do NOT list my place of employment by name, and I do not name co-workers in my posts. That is just begging for litigation. We fired a guy last week because of his Facebook posts, degrading co-workers and his bosses by name and copping to all kinds of things about work, naming names of both the company and specific employees. He posted that he was surprised he passed his drug screen. Also, I am not so narcissistic that I need any of my profiles to be public, so I just make it all private so only my friends can see it. This way I can easily say what I choose to, and keep in touch with my family and friends, without worry of offending anyone or someone snooping and getting information out of my profile. Circles or Friends Lists don't do anything to help me with that, I filter it myself.

The biggest problem with all this is privacy and protection of identity and I protect that by controlling who I add and what I post...period.

The principle to keep in mind is that once something is in the internet it will always be cached somewhere on some server. Once it has been posted it can never be undone. The privacy settings are well and good but they don't stop anyone who has some technical skill or is determined. For example say your background is being checked as part of the interview process. The private investigator isn't going be worried about your circles on Google+ or your privacy settings on Facebook. They are going to find all the information that you have put online.

 

[SaltyDawg]

I guess it doesn't matter much to me whether I use FB or G+ since I filter my posts BEFORE posting it. That seems to make more sense than to hope I only send a particular message to my "Wanna hear my drunken rant" circle and not my "Kiss up to my boss" circle. I also do not add people from work on FB or Google+. If it is truly a friend then maybe, but I see them at work, they don't need to see what I did on the weekend, and for the most part I don't care what they did. I would never add a boss or a subordinate and I do NOT list my place of employment by name, and I do not name co-workers in my posts. That is just begging for litigation. We fired a guy last week because of his Facebook posts, degrading co-workers and his bosses by name and copping to all kinds of things about work, naming names of both the company and specific employees. He posted that he was surprised he passed his drug screen. Also, I am not so narcissistic that I need any of my profiles to be public, so I just make it all private so only my friends can see it. This way I can easily say what I choose to, and keep in touch with my family and friends, without worry of offending anyone or someone snooping and getting information out of my profile. Circles or Friends Lists don't do anything to help me with that, I filter it myself.

The biggest problem with all this is privacy and protection of identity and I protect that by controlling who I add and what I post...period.

I bet that guy who got fired wishes he had Google + instead of Facebook, lol. That's a prime example of why Google + is better than Facebook. I can post that kind of stuff on Google + and know that it will only be seen by the people who were meant to see it.

I would rather not have to worry about filtering what I post. And I don't want to worry about being rude and blocking my boss either. Google + is the best of both worlds.

 

[TroutBum]

I bet that guy who got fired wishes he had Google + instead of Facebook, lol. That's a prime example of why Google + is better than Facebook. I can post that kind of stuff on Google + and know that it will only be seen by the people who were meant to see it.

I would rather not have to worry about filtering what I post. And I don't want to worry about being rude and blocking my boss either. Google + is the best of both worlds.

Let me see if I have this right:

Utah is going to beat BYU. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.
Cell phones are going to replace laptops and desktops within a few years. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.
Google + is better than Facebook. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.
Clearly, your opinion > science.


Count me in as one of the morons.

 

[SaltyDawg]

Let me see if I have this right:

Utah is going to beat BYU. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.
Cell phones are going to replace laptops and desktops within a few years. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.
Google + is better than Facebook. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a moron.
Clearly, your opinion > science.


Count me in as one of the morons.

Yeah, if you disagree with any of that, then you are a moron. lol

 

[LogGrad98]

I bet that guy who got fired wishes he had Google + instead of Facebook, lol. That's a prime example of why Google + is better than Facebook. I can post that kind of stuff on Google + and know that it will only be seen by the people who were meant to see it.

I would rather not have to worry about filtering what I post. And I don't want to worry about being rude and blocking my boss either. Google + is the best of both worlds.

If you seriously do not filter what you post you are woefully unprepared for the internet world. Identity theft is on a steep rise fueled by, in part, social websites such as FB. There are "creative" ways to find out what people post in places they may think it is protected. Sometimes it is just dumb bad luck. The guy we fired had like 12 friends total on FB (guess he was new to it) but one of them quoted him and someone else from work who was their friend saw it and reported it (actually they showed it to someone else who reported it). Privacy is a rapidly diminishing resource. Just about the only way to ensure something you say does not get out to the people you don't want it to, is not to say it.

 

[SaltyDawg]

If you seriously do not filter what you post you are woefully unprepared for the internet world. Identity theft is on a steep rise fueled by, in part, social websites such as FB. There are "creative" ways to find out what people post in places they may think it is protected. Sometimes it is just dumb bad luck. The guy we fired had like 12 friends total on FB (guess he was new to it) but one of them quoted him and someone else from work who was their friend saw it and reported it (actually they showed it to someone else who reported it). Privacy is a rapidly diminishing resource. Just about the only way to ensure something you say does not get out to the people you don't want it to, is not to say it.

And that is the beauty of Google +. If someone "quotes" it, then they are either reposting it as themselves with no ties to you, or nobody will see it except for who you allowed. The only people who see what you post, are people you have given access to see it, even if someone else responds to it, quotes it, or whatever.

So if I post something that offends my boss, and it gets back to my boss (by someone else telling my boss about it), then I would edit the post before my boss ever saw it (which Google + also allows you to do).

Trust me, I am more than ready for the internet, lol. I know someone could subpoena the records and see your post. But they can't "accidentally" stumble upon a post that gets you fired the way they can with Facebook.

 

[NUMBERICA]

And then you'll understand why so many people are switching to Google +.

I'm not buying it. I'm still baffled why everyone ditched myspace (which happened before it got bogged down with facebook-ware).

And yes, I know how lame that sounds. But I can't think of one thing facebook did or does better, or one thing I prefer. I suppose for people that like a generic layout, myspace was too much. And for people that like their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and bosses to know everything going on in their life, I'm sure facebook was an improvement.

This Google+ crap is just another thing in a long line of things that people who think they're too cool do out of principle and for their self-perceived cool image.

 

[Mustang84]

The only odd thing about Google+ is that there's no real obvious equivalent to the Facebook wall where you can post something. It's all about "sharing" something and then specifying what circle or person you will share it with. So it can be done, but it's a different way of going about it. I don't think many people will get used to this implementation. It's an ingrained behavior that to interact with someone you message them by going to their wall and posting.

I think a lot of people will get on Google+ and wonder how they send messages to their friends.

 

[moevillini]

I'll try to explain this a little for the people who aren't on Goole + yet.

On Facebook you have a "Friends" list. Google + is not like that. Instead, you put everyone into a "Circle." You can create more circles, and name them whatever you want. And you can put people into as many different circles as you want.

With everything you do, you can choose which circles can view it. And you can view your profile as anyone you want, and see exactly what they would see when they view it.

It's way better than Facebook.

It's just another example of "circles take the squares" - eh, Salty?

(LOL, looks like circle is caught between a rock and a hard place here, doesn't it?)