India Internet News

12 July 2011

Through Plus, Google has won a big war and also all of us.

However, this is just one way of looking at Google's work of over one year, when the members sat writing codes, desirous to make as big an impact in the social media sector as in the mail, search, photo and document storage domains.

Now they too think they have done something better than Orkut, which was literally smashed by Facebook in popularity and functionality, and surely better than its disastrous Wave. Their plan was to create a product that would crush its prime competitors Facebook and Twitter and wipe them out. Does Google+ actually did that?

Google+ is still in I-will-call-you-don't-call-me phase, but the same tactics was previously used by Mark Zuckerberg as well. Facebook was initially private and limited for Ivy League schools in the U.S. and the U.K. until the sudden impact happened. Thus, the invitations are still rare to find, not everyone in the Plus can send invitations to friends who are still puzzled. However, for sure, there are many more to be added to my circle every night, nearly three times the number that I started with.

But when you're in, you may not notice this, it automatically connects you to a secure (https) server, significant considering the recent controversy about Facebook taking liberties with the privacy of users. So far, so good.

Even if you missed it, there is no way that you can not pause to almost spartan neat user interface carefully. Yet refined compared to FB, and only four silos (Home, Photos, Profile, Circles) to click on. Yeah, no games, and fortunately, no Farmville! On the face of it, it is simple; yet it takes some understanding of the first Google+. The "Stream" is equivalent to the FB scroll newsfeed, and there are similar options - to share, edit, photos and video host, and remove them. You can "mute" those awkward conversations on your Stream. Phew! There is also a component called "Sparks," which, according to Plus, "... looks for videos and articles that it thinks you'll like, so when you're free, there is always something to watch, read and share." Your grandfather will approve, he added, but who is waiting for grandfather's approval rating on social media?

What is totally different from social media is the "Circle" concept. Literally, you can make your own social spheres, such as friends, acquaintances, colleagues and contacts in various circles that are similar to the school level Set Theory. You can choose who you want to share a particular detail with, spin-off of different groups may conflict with each other: a boss against one to whom you are complaining about him.

A thumb technique allows you to transfer several people on to the circles; and each circle you delete happily moves out of the screen. Do subsets of the intersection of Venn diagrams to play soon, where schematic impressions map of friends who belong to more than one circle? It will, surely, jazz above. 'Hangout' is a version of Google's "teleportation", an alias of "video chat" and is definitely cool so far.

Mobile Google Plus is finely tailored for Apple's iOS and works on the Android platform (tested on HTC phones), but does not seems to be working on the Symbian platform (tested on two Nokia E-series). Snooty again? Because even if the migration to Android or iOS gathers steam, there are still millions of users of Symbian, and everyone knows the connection between the phenomenal growth of Twitter and feature of mobile phones.

Although you are in, this is the fact that Plus is about one week old. While social media is becoming natural hyperbole of human communication, it is frustrating that the updates must be performed separately, as Google currently offered no integration with FB and Twitter (only a patch is available for Chrome). The dominance of Google on your life is troubling if you think about. Thus, until now Google Plus remains to be best and attractive, yet brief dalliance outside of marriage.