In its never-ending quest to catch up with, rather than work with, Facebook, Google is rolling out its latest effort called Google +, or the Google Social Network.
This blogger is not a beta tester for Google +, but as one who's used Google accounts almost since gmail started, and was prepared to hate the very idea of a Google Social Network, after reading through the online presentation, I have to say, Google may be on to something here.
The main question is, is Google + compelling enough to want to use, and is that enough to supplant Facebook. The answer is yes, but no. Yes, because it combines features, and in a way fuses a Foursquare-like check-in system into its social network, but no, because it totally misses the design element that makes Facebook so popular.
What's cool about Facebook is it's simplicity - everything starts from your profile page. The Facebook news feed is kind of the "town central" for what your friends are up to.
So, in a way, it's like living in a neighborhood with your house as the profile, and the downtown park and mall as the place where you go and see what everyone's up to. When they come to your house, that's when they comment or "like" on something that appears on your profile.
It's that function that makes Facebook so very, there's that word again, compelling.
What's that word again about Google Social Network is its' design, using circles and colors to designate places and actions. But, and I can see this without a beta account, it doesn't have that neighborhood feeling that makes Facebook work.
And I don't think Facebook was deliberately designed to work in the way I described above, it just turned out that way. But if you think about it, that "way" is so organic, so much the way we work as people, it explains Facebook's success.
That Google didn't copy that aspect of Facebook's design is why it will not replace, or really put a dent into, Facebook's dominance.
The problem is that Google didn't think about how the "circles, hangouts, Instant Upload, Sparks, and Huddle," all fit together, or about what really binds people to each other. Google's system connects people but it does not let me see what people - my friends - are doing.
People like to know what other people are doing. Facebook's News feed allows that, even more than the status updates. Google should find some kind of way to incorporate Facebook's user experience into the Google Social Network, or else, it's just not going to catch on with many other than early responders.
UPDATE: PC World, which was invited to try Google + reports that the "Stream" is equal to the Facebook News Feed. From PC World's account, Google does copy Facebook's "feel" but I have to try it for myself to be sure. I'm still skeptical.
Stay tuned.
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