So it's been an official 72 hours instead of a week focusing only on Google+ profile instead of Facebook. And I feel I've learned enough to share my own thoughts on the differences between them. Other then this post on my blog I've also taken the time to send Google this exact feedback as well, so what you guys are reading, they are reading as well. So let's get down to business and get through the details.
Sharing Posts/Videos - Google+ gives you an awesome layout to post relevant content relating to a specific group of friends or family members. The best part is that your friends won't ignore your shares because you spent the last 10 posts talking about your cats or your thoughts on your little nephews first baseball game. However, that also means you put yourself out there as a social friend as well. Why do I say that? Well it's simple, if you hang out with a group of people you workout with a lot, and you only talk to them about working out, then in a Google+ world they might have added you to a "workout buddies" circle and only share relevant stuff in that circle. So that means, you do miss out on learning new things about them, or limit your chances to finding out more about these new friends. In another case the good side to this is that you can share drunkin' photos with your best friends and no one you've added from your work will ever see them...just as long as you don't add them in a circle that can see said photos that is. Other then that the upload process for images and videos are awesome and way better then Facebook's upload process. The only gripe I have with this feature is that the first image instantly becomes the photo album cover, which I don't like. I would love to be able to select a specific photo for the album cover. It doesn't hurt to also include that ability to block people from re-sharing your posts to their profile, or you can block comments from taking place on a specific post too. These are good measure that Google has taken at their shot of the social network spectrum.
Notifications - Initially when G+ launched, they had an issue with their notifications service. After a user checked up on their notification, they would still get a notification saying the same exact post, friend addition, or photo you were tagged in hasn't been address. This caused a lot of frustration but, since it was still a new service not many users were really affected by it. Since then, the notification system is perfectly fine. However, what I do not like is getting notified for every single post that my friends puts up. It's like a constant nagging and very annoying. Now, a user can definitely remove these notifications in the update, but by default it's all on. So, unless you spend a good amount of time in the settings, you just might end up annoying some friends or they might end up annoying you. :-P
Mobile Sharing - This actually strikes a cord with me the most. Most people are on the go and don't have the time to sit in front of a computer and share information like we used to back in the day. If there is an important piece of information that needs to be sent to a group of people, doing so with pre setup bookmarklets for easy sharing on Facebook or Twitter are a must. Think about it, whole countries have organized riots, and revolted dictatorships using social networks and messaging services. So, where is my Google+ Share button? Most of my social networking happens in front of a small cellular screen or iPad, while I'm on the go. I know that not everyone is that way, but most the world is. So I would definitely get better use out of using their mobile app or using a share button to my Google+ page. There just needs to be one from the get go and I don't feel that was a good move on Google's part. But in my opinion, it puts the nail in the coffin for me. Facebook here I come!
In the end really, it's up to the users and their friends. If most of their friends aren't using Google+ because their friends are not on it or don't care to use it, then you won't have much pull on it. It's still in it's Beta, so let's hope they add more features soon!
