Any Gmail users may have noticed the “+You” icon at the top of their toolbar, after investigation I discovered the new face in the social media realm, Google+. I began to question, what the hype was over the newly identified Google+? So after exploring with Google+ for a few days, I was able to get a gist of the tools that Google+ has to offer compared to Facebook. According to David Magee of International Business Times, “Facebook is the world’s largest social network, with a reported 750 million global users. But Google+ became the world’s fastest growing Internet site during its test phase, before opening to the public.” So what are the major differences?

  • Google+ has a video feature to enable users to host an online broadcast (you can also use the “hangout” feature to chat with friends in your “circles” using a webcam). Facebook also has a video chat feature, but currently does not allow you to chat with multiple people at once
  • The Circles targets specific friends you chose to show information to, you can drop people into certain circles to follow and share information with. This could compare to the Facebook friends list, but provides greater control over just who sees your content. You no longer have to worry about offending your boss or your parents because you did not accept their ‘friend’ request. Just accept them and drop them in a circle that you do not share information with.
  • Google+ huddle is an application for mobile phones as text-chat. Facebook allows you to chat with friends on your mobile, but doesn’t not have an official app for chat only
  • Google+ app for mobile phones has unlimited photo and video uploads. Each photo you take on your phone is automatically uploaded into a private folder within Google+. For Facebook, users can manually upload mobile photos and videos to the mobile album
  • The “Stream” on Google compares the Facebook Wall. You are able to choose which streams you want to view (friends, family, coworkers, etc.)
  • For business needs, Google+ has not yet publicly introduced a page for businesses to market services and products. With Facebook, businesses are already able to monitor traffic to their company pages
The bottom line, while Google+ still has far to come to achieve the amount of users as Facebook, there is potential due to the Google+ features. With the advancements of social media in businesses, reaching thousands of potential customers and clients has become an inexpensive way to market and expand business. Businesses should keep an ear open for Google’s next round of business beta testers to try to secure a spot.
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Danielle Rosato

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  1. Google Plus has hangouts where people can video chat with multiple friends in one go! Facebook has yet to match this feature! Facebook only has been able to implement group chats but certainly not video chats with multiple users within one chat. Right now there are 750 million users on Facebook and they are happy to use Facebook services, whereas Google Plus is going to need to pull people off of Facebook, wean them off and convince them that Google plus has better features and functions that beat those on Facebook. That's the only way they can get people to come and use their services rather than the big boy Facebook.

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