I consider myself quite an active social media person. I have my blog, a youtube channel, twitter account and facebook. All of which I use regularly.
In addition, I have signed up to Google+, but am a bit underwhelmed by it all, so haven’t really used it much. Until yesterday where Bob nudged me to say I’m not active enough on Google+.
So I asked him to give me 5 reasons why I should use it. In turn I would debate his points and then we’d publish our debate on the blog to see what the opinions of others are.. feel free to add your 2 <insert local currency here>
Rob’s comments are in bold.
1) G+ allows for videos to be played directly from the stream (FB does too, but Twitter does not)
Leave twitter out of this man. This fight is between Facebook and G+. Facebook allows you to play directly from the stream AND you can upload your videos to Facebook so you don’t have to first upload to YouTube or Vimeo or some other place and then share.
Actually, thinking about twitter, if you use a client like TweetDeck (or The Deck as I like to call it), it actually opens a little box in the Deck and plays the video.
My stance: Unswayed. Solid as a rock.
2) “Hangouts” are awesome (and vastly mis-understood/underused)
When I was 16 hangouts were where other 16 year olds would go to smoke weed and brag to each other about their non-existent run-ins with the five-O.
I didn’t even know G+ had any hangouts, which goes to show not only how little I’ve used G+, but how poor the interface is. It’s not the prettiest thing to look at, and it’s not really all that intuitive.
The only feature I really like and find easy to use are the circles. I’ve named mine Square, Life and Crop, so when I look at all my contacts I know who are Square Circles, Life Circles and Crop Circles.
My stance: Agree I probably misunderstand hangouts, but that’s G+’s fault for not marketing it right.
3) G+ isn’t limited to 140 characters like Twitter (but I’d still use both)
Please refer to point 1 above – this ain’t about Twitter. Twitter services a different type of social media person and compliments a Social Media channel.
My Stance: I agree with you. But still doesn’t get me any closer to G+
4) G+’s mechanism for controlling posts is much easier than FB’s (what Twitter has controls?)
Yes, the circles are great and provide some good ways to control posts… but is a post on the net really ever under control? Or much like an exit door procedure at 30,000 ft on an aeroplane, does it simply provide the illusion of safety?
My grandma used to say, if you haven’t got anything nice to say don’t say it at all. I’m pretty sure my grand-daughter will tell her grandchildren “If you don’t want anyone to read it, don’t type it. Even if it’s a personal message encrypted at the data and transport layer ‘cos data on computers will generate more gossip than the iPhone 24”
My stance: I’ll give you this one, easier to understand and control posting options.
5) Google understands business and geek MUCH more than FB does
Have you been smoking weed in a hangout? What does this even mean? If I want a social media platform to understand business, I’d go to Linkedin. But that point aside, I think Google understands a bit too much about users these days. It already knows what I search for, it reads my emails and which videos I watch & upload. Do I really want Google knowing about all of my friends and how I interact with them.
Think about it. You break up with a girl and G+ will know about it. It will know about the emails you sent her begging her to come back. It will know she hooked up with someone else and you spent your time watching youtube videos of Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on”. It will also know if you both work or live in the same area. So when she becomes single again, and possibly in her emails she mentions to her friends that it was a mistake breaking up with you; you’ll get a message from a Google bot telling you that she is single and whether you’d like for it to add her to your circle of Love.
It’s rise of the machines I tell you. Google is the new Skynet.
My stance: Nope.
5.5) brands are coming to G+ soon, and yours should probably be in early (because it’s good)
Ah flattery, my achilles heel. Is it much different from facebook pages, or having your own website, or a Wikipedia entry?
Final Verdict: I’m not saying G+ is a bad service. There’s just no compelling reason for me to move away from Facebook.
Anyone wishing to chip in please leave comments below? You can also comment using a facebook account. Does G+ offer such services?
Thanks Bob! 🙂
Javvad Malik 