Google Plus is Much Better Than Facebook

Google + A Faster, Leaner, and Better Facebook

You all know that I am not the biggest fan of Facebook. Their system was good but I am not an apps guy so that whole system is a waste of time. I don't really need the e-mails for games like Farmville and Mafia wars. I know you can turn them off but in the user face is always asking for new request and I just can't stand that. Half the time the invites are from people I really don't know very well.

Will Google Plus Catch on? It Already Has

I can see this spreading like wild fire, All they need to do is put a message across the top everyone's Gmail account and they will have millions of users overnight. That plan worked well for Hotmail. Then the next step would be to add sponsored messages to the right like Gmail and allow companies to advertise on either search results, content network, or social network. G+ would be an immediate money maker for Google. I wouldn't mind the intrusion of ads, you don't even notice them on your Gmail.

I have been playing around with Google + for two or three days and I can tell you I really like over Facebook. For one you can add people to circles, and only send messages to those people on your wall or as Google calls it your stream. I have set up different circles for family members, press, birdwatching, Atlanta Falcons fans, SEO, and affiliate marketers.

What I really like about Google +1 is the photo section. The photos are much larger and they have the person's name who took the photo and they are all right in your face when you open up the photo section. The photo section can make you a better photographer. I haven't played with the video section yet but I'm sure it will be just as fast as the rest of Google +1.

The one thing I wish Google +1 had was a Google -1 button. This way you can give a negative vote to something you didn't like. This would balance out the so-called social media gurus who have disciples clicking on everything they do thinking it's the gospel. I know some people won't like that but that's the way I think.

The Google + Android App

So following the best things about Google +1 is the android app. It is by far the fastest app I have on my phone. What I like and what I don't like at the same time is the photo upload. When you upload a photo you have a chance of geo-targeting it. You can tell everybody where you are when you take the photo. Of course all of this information will be shared across Google's servers.

On the app you have five places you can go stream, photos, circles, huddle, and your profile. I'm not exactly sure what huddle will be used for right now but it looks like you can get some friends and put them all in a huddle and it could be used if you were going to meet at a certain place. If  plans changed you would be able to shoot everybody in your huddle a quick message letting them know what the new plans are. At least that's what I picked up from the YouTube video.

Will this be the Facebook killer, I don't think so some people still like to play Farmville, and Mafia wars. Will this be the twitter killer, I don't think so.  Will this put the final nail in MYSpace, I think so. What I do see it killing is daily booth. With faster and better resolution photos, I see no need for daily booth to exist. Of course that's only my opinion. I do see Google +1 as something that will definitely make its mark on social media and the way we communicate with each other. Of course it's all too new to speculate, but when I see Chris Brogan and all the points that he made in his post about Google +1 I think it has a very good chance.

I have been nothing but impressed with Google +1 so far. The only thing I don't like is the nested comments on a post. I would rather see every comment that is made than having to click a button to open up the thread when it has more than three comments. I am also sad that I had to use an older Gmail account to sign up with because I have a Google business's account that is my main account. Hopefully Google will let us switch that at a later date when they let business apps in. Right now there are a lot of smart people sitting on the sidelines because their main account is a Google business account. I have been told by some people that they are working on this right now, I just hope they let us switch.

Google Hangouts Can Become All The Rage

One cool feature that I like is the Google hangouts, you can do a 10 person video chat all at the same time. This will come in handy for me, as I can have 10 people and teach them common sense SEO all at the same time. I will probably set something up like Tuesday night hangout club or something like that. It is much easier to explain stuff when you are all looking at the person or they are seeing you. We'll Google hangouts kill Skype video chats, I don't think so. It's just something cool and I'm sure some businesses will use it once they get in. Parents will have to keep an eye on their kids as this will be a time suck and take away from homework time. At the same time it could also be used for parent teacher meetings.

You can immediately have a family reunion, using Google hangouts. You can also set up a hangout every Sunday at one o'clock during the football season and talk to your buddies all around the country all at the same time we watch the game. Doesn't that sound cool!

Thanks for reading my little wrap up I hope to see you on Google +1 when they open it from the beta.