A plus for social networking

When Google+, the latest social networking site from Google, opened for a limited field test 10 days ago, popular blogger Gina Trapani gave the company a simple piece of advice via a tweet: “Google!! Field test the CRAP out of G+ before public release. #rememberbuzz”.

Trapani was referring to Buzz, a social networking tool launched by Google last year to take on Twitter. It was criticised by users for being too intrusive. The failure of Buzz came after Wave, a social network launched by Google in 2009, was panned as being too complex even by tech enthusiasts. Now will Google+ or G+ be a third duck in as many years for the search engine giant?

Circle of trust
If initial reaction is anything to go by, the answer is no. Most people who have used the service have found G+ simple to use, with a cool user interface, and well integrated with other Google products like Gmail, Gtalk, and Picasa. Moreover, the G+ mobile app may turn into Android’s “killer app” with even the iPhone version being well-received. This is important because mobile devices are the drivers of social networking these days.

But Google will have to do more than just build a great product if it wants to take on Facebook. It has to offer something that is attractive enough for users who have already invested time and effort in building and maintaining relations on Facebook. As Preetham Venkky, business head, KRDS, a Facebook marketing agency and preferred development consultant, points out: “You have Facebook to share data with a select group of contacts. You have Twitter to share data publicly. What problem is G+ solving?”

While G+ seems to serve both the functions that Preetham is referring to, its main draw is a concept called Circles. Instead of treating all contacts in one amorphous manner, G+ wants users to segregate them in different Circles — friends, family, professional acquaintances, etc. Before posting an update, G+ asks users to select one or more Circles. So if you choose to post an update to your ‘Friends’ Circle, all those in your ‘Family’ circle will not be able to see it; nor will they see comments made by others on that post. At each stage G+ asks its users to consider who they are divulging their information to.

Facebook users will immediately appreciate the value of Circles. Stories abound of users whose party photos have been viewed by parents or relatives, for instance. It isn’t as though Facebook does not allow you to choose who sees your updates. But these settings are not as upfront and simple as they are in G+. Users could also choose to make their updates ‘Public’, in which case G+ morphs into a Twitter, minus the 140-character limit.

Two other features stand out. The first is Huddle that allows up to 10 people to have a video chat together. The other is Sparks, which helps you discover information through your interest areas and recommendations of people you follow. “I would love to see something like Sparks and Huddle in Facebook. Still, I don’t think these are game-changing features,” says Preetham.

Facebook’s ‘launching season’
What Preetham doesn’t deny is that in G+, Facebook finally has met a genuine competitor. Word is that Facebook is holding meetings in its offices across the world to assess the threat posed by G+. The company last week announced a partnership with Skype to introduce video chatting on Facebook.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also indicated that video chat is just the first of a host of new features to be added in the coming months. “We’ve been busy building stuff for the past six months or so, and today marks the beginning of what we’ll call Launching Season 2011,” Zuckerberg said. Then there’s the hush-hush Project Spartan, a brand new mobile application platform developed by Facebook. If reports are to be believed, the apps are slick and will feature tons of games.  

That, in short, will be Facebook’s strategy — giving its 750 million subscribers more and more reasons to stay on.

An uphill battle
Google will have to act quickly to make the best of the positive feedback their service is getting — G+ is still not available to people at large. “To attract mainstream users, G+ will need three things: celebrities, games that go viral and a simplification of the on-boarding process,” says Mahendra Palsule, editor, Techmeme. “Google needs to do a better job of explaining Circles and Sparks to people,” he adds. 

G+’s success hinges on how many mainstream users it can convince to sign on. This is not going to be easy. Blogger Robert Scoble notes, “Most ‘average users’ are locked into Facebook and aren’t willing to consider a new social tool until they hear about it from their friends. Since most of the people who are on Google+ so far are geeks, insiders, social media stars, and journalists, the chances that normal people (metaphorically speaking, your mom) won’t hear about Google+ from normal users for quite a while. By then I’m sure Facebook will react (ie, copy) Google+’s best features. This will mean that normal users, who aren’t really going to get involved at this point in Google+’s life, won’t feel the need to switch.”

So is G+ doomed to fail? Even Facebook enthusiasts say that there is no wishing away G+. Moreover, Google has an ace up its sleeve — fabulous products such as Gmail, Google Reader, or YouTube. The Google Nav Bar which now appears across all its products is an easy way to notify users about activity on G+, inducing them to spend more time on it. Also, with such a wide product portfolio, rolling out new products will be easier for Google, at least in theory. Facebook on the other hand will need to build partnerships with other companies, as it has with Skype and Microsoft.

Facebook’s brand image is another thing Google will target, dented as it is by privacy concerns (see box). “In a recent survey in the US, Facebook was among the top 10 hated brands. If there ever is a big swing in public perception, Facebook could be in trouble,” says Palsule.

For now, it looks like the two social networks are going to co-exist. For a user, that may be a good thing. As Facebook and Google try to outdo each other, expect a slew of innovations to come your way.