Is Facebook unbeatable?
There have been rumours that Google+ is “dead”. If it were true then Facebook would be the dominant social networking website on the internet.
“Google+ was supposed to be a "Facebook killer". Some now say it's already dead - but the search giant says it is just getting started.” (Danzico, 2011), basically this means user’s are exaggerating the slow success of Google+ or could this be a prediction? Presently, Google+ has 100 million users whereas Facebook has 800 million. That is a big difference, but these things take time, as Danzico (2011) states ‘Facebook and Twitter both took more than two years to hit the 10 million user milestone.’
With this on suing competition, how is Google+ gaining its user’s? My opinion is that Google is popular with its search engine and other services (such as Blogger and YouTube) and so because it is popular people want to try out the latest service, in this case Google+, Google’s answer to social networking.
“The real test of Google’s social network is what people do after they join. As far as anyone can tell, they aren’t doing a whole lot.” (Manjoo, 2011), it is known that Google+ struggled when it became live on the internet and people have been sceptical about it with mixed opinions about it lacking and being more like Facebook. But if were struggling now then it would not have gained its 100 million users (which is the last published record to date and as the number continues to grow).
“Whether Google+ grows or not, the public should expect to see Google putting everything it has into the service's promotion and development during the coming months.” (Danzico, 2011), so it would appear that perhaps Google+ could be a worthy competitor against Facebook in the near or later future, that’s if Google keep the dedication to improve Google+ up.
But it is only a matter of time before we can properly answer the question, is Facebook unbeatable?
External links
Google denies Google+ death reports - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15829333
References
Danzico, M., 2011. Google denies Google+ death reports. BBC News, [online] (Last updated 11.04 PM on 22nd November 2011). Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15829333 [Accessed 27 November 2011]
Manjoo, F., 2011. Google+ is dead. Slate, [online] (Last updated 5.22PM on 8th November 2011). Available at: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/11/google_had_a_chance_to_compete_with_facebook_not_anymore_.html [Accessed 27 November 2011]
I have been saying for months, that there is no way that Facebook can get beaten.
ReplyDeleteI was really skeptical about Google+, I didn't even try it, but after months, I finally gave it a try this morning.
So the question is why? well, I'm tired of using tons of different accounts and Google+ seems to be trying to unify everything (which I hope they do).
After creating an account and trying it, I have got to say: it works great! It's better than Facebook in every single way. As for pictures you can upload them in full resolution at a really fast pace (better than in flickr), if you want to post, you get to choose circles (in a much more natural way than in Facebook), if you want to follow people you don't need twitter no more!! and on top of that you can use your Google+ account for youtube, gtalk, blogger etc.
Sure thing Google+ is not beating Facebook any time soon, but I'm pretty sure they are going to be a extremely strong competitor.
I agree with some points that Fran has made in regards in the ever growing battle for social media supremacy between Google+ and Facebook. The point I concur with is the scepticism of Google+ and the prior belief or perhaps bias that it will not be as good as Facebook. However, like Fran I recently created a Google+ account and was pleasantly surprised. The concept of circles seems to be a simple idea, but the ease of dragging and dropping of contacts between circles is something that appeals to me, as this makes privacy of my account easier, well simpler than Facebook, which I could see appealing to other Facebook users.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I disagree with Fran’s statement that ‘there is no way that Facebook can get beaten.’ I disagree with this as I believe that Google in a few years will overtake Facebook due their user appreciation and feedback. Most of the features seen on Google+ that the majority find useful and innovative are in fact the ideas and criticisms of the average user. Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of social at Google, posted on his Google+ account that there are ‘lots of criticism’ and that there will be changes made. Underneath his post were suggestions of how users would want the website to be improved, with many having multiple +1 votes, which Google have taken into account.
Furthermore, the rate in which Google+ is gaining on Facebook’s total number of users in staggering, with some experts claiming that Google+ could be the fastest growing website in history. Google plus reached 20 million users in 24 days, whereas Facebook acquired 20 million users with 1152 days.
However, I don’t believe that Facebook will be almost non – existent like some of it’s predecessors (MySpace, Bebo), but I do feel Facebook will be a close second in this battle with Google in the coming years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/faster-forward/post/google-plus-could-be-the-fastest-growing-site-in-history/2011/08/03/gIQA9x2vrI_blog.html
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/google-is-being-tweaked-this-week-based-on-user-feedback-20110711/
http://www.famousbloggers.net/graph-facebook-twitter-google-20-million-users.html