Google+ Vs Facebook

Recently, many of my friends have started using this service called Google+. Google+ is a social networking site much like Facebook, and some people are predicting that Facebook will fall out of style due to Google+. Do I agree with this statement? Well, let’s take a look at some of the features of Google+. Essentially, Google+ is a simplified version of Facebook. The layout is much cleaner and more organized, which caught my eye immediately. In my opinion, Facebook has become much too cluttered as of late. You have the main display with status updates and such, but you also have a left sidebar and a right sidebar, not to mention the ADDITIONAL sidebar to the right that contains the chat. All of the ads are right there in your face, and it’s just not very aesthetically pleasing in general. Google+, however, is much cleaner and less confusing. It’s easier to navigate around, and there are no confusing functions. I especially like the main navigation bar of Google+. It has five buttons: Home, Photos, Profile, Circles, and Games. Simple and easy. Facebook, on the other hand, has buttons on the left, middle, and right. Basically all over the place. Moving on; the main feature that really sets apart Google+ and Facebook is Google+’s “circles,” as they’re called. Using these circles you can separate your friends into different groups, and choose which ones can see various things. Or, you can post a status to a specific circle so that only they can see it. I find this feature to be useful and innovative, and I believe Facebook is in need of a tool such as this. Another notable function is the “Hangout” tool, which allows multiple people to engage in a video chat . Facebook has recently implemented a video chat feature, but It only allows two people to video chat at the same time. Now that I’ve bashed Facebook sufficiently, let’s move on to the negative aspects of Google+. First of all, I do not like the inability to post messages and pictures on friends’ walls. This was a fun feature of Facebook, one that I used often. Yes, you can post statuses that only certain people can see, but there’s no way to directly post something on a friend’s wall. The other area that needs work is Google+’s chat feature. It seems very clunky and inefficient right now, and might be hard to access for first time users. However, I will attribute the clumsy feel to the relative newness of Google+. After looking at Google+’s new features and comparing the services, I DO NOT believe Google+ will take over as the king of social networking. Why? Because it is not innovative enough to completely replace Facebook. “But look at what happened with Myspace and Facebook,” some of you might say. The reason Myspace is now dead is because Facebook was SO much more innovative. It was almost like a completely different service. I feel like Google+ is Facebook plus a couple more features, not an entirely different service. For Facebook to die, Google+ would have to implement something truly radical; but I just don’t see that happening based upon what Google+ looks like currently. As for me, I will continue using Facebook, simply because that’s what the majority of my friends use. However, more and more people I know are making the switch, and if there truly is a mass exodus of people from Facebook to Google+, then I will join their ranks. But for now, Facebook is fine for me.