It’s been a while since I’ve written about the big elephant in Tech World: Google + vs Facebook. In fact, it’s been a while since I’ve written an entry on this blog for that matter. But over the course of the last article, what have we learned as social networkers? You can always make the leader follow you and turn things around in the blink of an eye.
Facebook was getting a fat belly sitting on its throne for a while now. There was no social network out there that could even make it stand up and do a little work out. Now it seems breaking a sweat doesn’t even begin to describe this situation. Let’s look at some fact before and after G+ made its “plus” sign the scarlett letter on Facebook’s forehead.
Before
Facebook did a few changes on its network: First apps came pouring like a hurricane. People started complaining and so the network cut back on spammy apps. Only Zynga came across as a worthy side kick to a lot of people. (Who could forget all those Farmville invites?).
One of the most talked about issues was security and privacy policies. Although people were endlessly complaining, Facebook didn’t really do much about it but band-aid the situation. Truth be told, even if you restricted you profile so that only certain people could see things, the process was too complicated and sometimes unreliable.
After
Since G+ came into the scene, it has been nothing but a ghost chase for Zuckerberg’s network. Privacy settings were remastered by G+, in fact, presented in an entirely different model. Simple and easy as to placing people in different, drag and drop circles. More importantly, it’s effective.
G+’s interface is cleaner, more understandable and can be integrated with other Google family products like YouTube. You can simultaneously watch a video with dozens of people over the Hangouts feature.
What’s Facebook reaction? Exactly that, a reaction. Instead of innovating on their own, trying to come up with new, different and improved features, Facebook has done nothing but imitate G+ in any way possible. The interphase has changed, privacy settings can be chosen from the publication box and other things.
But here’s the interesting part: not only is Facebook falling behind and following G+ like a lost puppy, it’s making its own network a lot more confusing and cluttered. There are so many mixed features, it’s hard for the public to keep up with them and to even notice that they can do something useful for them.
So there it is. It’s not quite the David vs Goliath situation, is more like a Godzilla vs King Kong deal. We can all figure out who’s who in that scene. Let’s see if in truth those 700 million users can get a change of hearts.