Google+ Versus Facebook: Which Does Social Networking Best?
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On June 28, 2011, Google launched a new social network, dubbed Google+. Within its first few weeks of operation (invitation-only, by the way), it had attracted more than 20 million users, which makes it one of the fastest-growing services on the Internet.
It’s no surprise that Google+ competes directly with Facebook, the Internet’s largest social network. Facebook has been around for more than seven years, which is quite a lead in Internet time. But Google+ has generated a lot of attention, and many tech experts and early adopters think it offers some interesting features and functionality above and beyond what you find in the more entrenched competitor.
Is Google+ a better social network than Facebook? Should you be thinking about moving from Facebook to Google+? Which of these sites will win the social networking wars?
Good questions, all. Read on to see how I think it all shakes out.
Comparing Features, Head to Head
Let’s start out by looking at the features and functionalities of the two social networks. To be honest, they’re fairly similar; there is little one network does that the other doesn’t.
That’s to be expected, actually. I mean, why would a new competitor launch with fewer features than a veteran site? By this point in time, we all know what a social network does and how people use social networks. Offering those features most used is just the price of admission to the social networking game.
So, not surprisingly, Google+ and Facebook both offer text-based status updates, photo and video sharing, instant messaging/chat, and versions for mobile phones. All the basic stuff, then, is available on both social networks, as detailed in the following table.
Comparing Google+ and Facebook Features
|
Feature |
Google+ |
|
|
Public status updates |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Feed or stream of friends’ updates |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Organization of friends lists |
Yes (Circles) |
Yes (Groups) |
|
Private messages |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Instant messaging/text chat |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Video chat |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Group video chat |
Yes (up to 10 users) |
No |
|
Link sharing |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Photo sharing |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Video sharing |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Content sharing |
Yes (Sparks) |
No |
|
Event management |
No |
Yes |
|
Celebrity and business pages |
Not yet, but expected soon |
Yes |
|
Social games |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Mobile version |
Yes (Android and iPhone; Windows Phone expected soon) |
Yes (Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Phone) |
|
Location sharing (in mobile version) |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Group messaging (in mobile version) |
Yes (Huddle) |
No |