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Google+ |OT| A New Social Network

Z

Zozz

Banned
A lot of people on my facebook feed are commenting about getting Google+, mostly due to the redesign on facebook. Complete overreaction.
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Zozz said:
A lot of people on my facebook feed are commenting about getting Google+, mostly due to the redesign on facebook. Complete overreaction.
Click to expand...
A good amount of people bailed on FB when G+ launched because they were sick of it. I bailed out of FB years ago when one of their privacy changes made my wife public again and allowed her psycho sister to find her. Also as much as FB might try to take features from G+, they're pretty different services.

It's not just one thing. Different strokes and all that.
 
J

JonCha

Member
Zozz said:
A lot of people on my facebook feed are commenting about getting Google+, mostly due to the redesign on facebook. Complete overreaction.
Click to expand...
When you don't have the choice to remove a feature like the timeline after hiding the sidebar, people get annoyed. I've locked down Facebook a lot because I don't want certain people seeing certain content.
 
C

Chiave

Member
Just created a G+ page no friends on it or anything really. I'll probably figure out how this shit works later tonight.
 
RoadHazard

RoadHazard

Gold Member
Don't know if you have noticed, but we can now share single photos from private albums. I don't know why this feature has taken so long, but I'm glad it's finally here!
 
T

Terrell

Member
Zozz said:
A lot of people on my facebook feed are commenting about getting Google+, mostly due to the redesign on facebook. Complete overreaction.
Click to expand...
Not really... people put up with Facebook pulling this shit every other time because they had no recourse. Now they do.

And the changes to Facebook that were just announced at f8 have people in a screaming mood.
I kinda like some of the aspects of Timeline and a few of the changes (despite being implemented in revolting ways), but it seems like privacy might be taking a hit again to get them and it's not worth it to go back. Perhaps it's time for Google to steal features from Facebook and show them up by doing them better instead of worse?
 
S

Sean

Banned
Terrell said:
Not really... people put up with Facebook pulling this shit every other time because they had no recourse. Now they do.
Click to expand...

Sure people have the option of Google+ now, but they're not gonna leave Facebook unless all their friends come along with them.

It reminds me of Leo Laporte quitting Twitter and trying to get everyone to join him on Jaiku. Nobody cared and after being lonely posting there all by himself, he came back to Twitter.
 
Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station

Member
At the risk of getting ahead of myself, I'm also experiencing a lot of randos and casual acquaintances adding me to +Circles, meaning they're trying it out as an alternative to FB. That's a good thing :)
 
L

Lesiroth

Member
Well, I'm convinced this will be a slow but sure movement. Seeing as that even the most tech illiterate of my friends have gotten G+ accounts, which surprised me.
 
V

VanWinkle

Member
I like it, but there are certain things I wish it had, like posting to another person's profile, and sending them a message in an easy way. One major reason it probably won't be a huge success is that you can't get every piece of information about a person's life and what they're doing, and a lot of people won't like that. It's unfortunate, but probably true.
 
W

walking fiend

Member
VanWinkle said:
I like it, but there are certain things I wish it had, like posting to another person's profile, and sending them a message in an easy way. One major reason it probably won't be a huge success is that you can't get every piece of information about a person's life and what they're doing, and a lot of people won't like that. It's unfortunate, but probably true.
Click to expand...
You can, just write a stream in your own wall and share it with them, it will also appear in their stream. You may also send a message by limiting it between you and him/her, instead of enabling his/her friends seeing your stream shared with him/her.
 
V

Vyer

Member
Lesiroth said:
Well, I'm convinced this will be a slow but sure movement. Seeing as that even the most tech illiterate of my friends have gotten G+ accounts, which surprised me.
Click to expand...
Why would that surprise you? Would seem to me those are the most likely to have bothered.
 
T

Terrell

Member
Sean said:
Sure people have the option of Google+ now, but they're not gonna leave Facebook unless all their friends come along with them.

It reminds me of Leo Laporte quitting Twitter and trying to get everyone to join him on Jaiku. Nobody cared and after being lonely posting there all by himself, he came back to Twitter.
Click to expand...
The thing is, people who bitch about Twitter are either not using the service at all (and thus can't migrate to anything) or in the minority.

Go to Facebook and tell me that the people who hate the changes are in the minority.

"That's it, I'm going to join Google+!"
"I thought that was invite-only?"
"Not anymore."
"OK, I'll come with you."

Enough of THOSE conversations appear and the "my friends aren't there" argument starts to fly out the window.
 
T

Treefingers

Member
Terrell said:
The thing is, people who bitch about Twitter are either not using the service at all (and thus can't migrate to anything) or in the minority.

Go to Facebook and tell me that the people who hate the changes are in the minority.

"That's it, I'm going to join Google+!"
"I thought that was invite-only?"
"Not anymore."
"OK, I'll come with you."

Enough of THOSE conversations appear and the "my friends aren't there" argument starts to fly out the window.
Click to expand...
But are these conversations appearing? Cause I'm not seeing any.
 
T

Terrell

Member
Treefingers said:
But are these conversations appearing? Cause I'm not seeing any.
Click to expand...
Who says they have to happen on Facebook itself?

But I sure am. The questions people ask me about G+ has quadrupled since this announcement. As have the amount of people I know from Facebook adding me to circles.
 
T

Terrell

Member
AstroLad said:
G+ added 10m users in the past two days since going open per Paul Allen.
Click to expand...
Here's a link: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-...proaching-50-Million-Users-Paul-Allen-419805/

Google+ is approaching 50 million users, if it's not there already, said Paul Allen, who said Google saw a 30 percent membership bump Sept. 22. That's just 2 days after its beta launch.

Google+ is rapidly approaching the 50 million user mark, just days after launching to everyone in open beta, according to unofficial number-crunching from Internet entrepreneur Paul Allen.

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Sept. 20 launched a broader search functionality and several new features for its popular Google+ Hangouts group video conferencing application. New Hangouts tools include screensharing, Google Docs integration, live broadcasting and Hangouts for Android smartphones, among other improvements.

The biggest news that day was the launch from limited field test to beta, according to Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra, who is leading the charge to make Google+ a household name as an alternative social network to Facebook.

Allen, who has been calculating Google+ user growth by counting surnames, said that the network grew 30 percent just two days after its launch to beta. Specifically, he calculated Google+ membership at 28.7 milluion users on Sept. 9, with that number soaring to 37.8 million users through Sept. 22.

Accounting for private user profiles and non-Roman surnames, which are not represented in his surname counting model, Allen said he believed Google+ to have roughly 43.4 million users. That's a nice, robust figure.

Allen explained that for this count he updated his model to use 400 uncommon surnames in the U.S., which he said also reflects usage in many other countries.

His earlier estimates in July, in which he had Google passing 10 million users on July 12, did not address either private profiles or non-Roman alphabet. However, through July 19, ComScore placed Google+ at 20 million users.

Regardless, 30 percent growth for a Website that some declared to be dead, dying and a ghost town is no mean feat. For perspective, it took Facebook three and a half years to reach 50 million users. Google+ has grown that large in less than 3 months.

Now for some key caveats. Allen, founder of Ancestry.com and current CEO of FamilyLink.com, has always admitted his numbers are not all inclusive.

He noted that on FindPeopleOnPlus.com there are substantial numbers of users from Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, and many other countries, whom his surname counting does not include.

To wit, he is allowing for a 15 percent error probability factor, 5 percent for private profiles whom he cannot account for and 10 percent for Google+ users with non-Roman surnames.

Moreover, Facebook, whose main functionality Google+ appeared to copy, is evolving with a Timeline user interface that lets users surface their life's history of stories, photos and videos on one Webpage. Many experts said this could help Facebook distance itself from Google+.

However, Allen, who published his post before Timeline was unveiled at F8 Thursday, said in his post he believes users may not cotton well to Facebook's frequent user interface changes. He cited a survey from Mashable and angry tweets from users fed up with Facebook's steady stream of changes.

By contrast, he feels Google's discipline in keeping a minimalistic design will help it gain more users:

"I think the tens of millions of people who will be signing up for and using Google+ will find that changes here will be very well thought out, very iterative, very carefully tested, and won't be nearly as jarring as the changes that have been made at other social networks. Google is not in a rush to change the world. They are on a steady course to do so."

Perhaps, but Facebook now has 800 million users. Grumble as they might at the privacy and UI changes Facebook makes every few months, the users that comprise the vast social network stick around.

That's user engagement, and by extension social advertising opportunities, Google can only aspire to at this stage.
Click to expand...
 
N

noah111

Still Alive
Since none of my irl friends are on G+, i'm thinking of using it as a GAF & net friends tool instead.. how is the community on there? Existant? Are there anything like fan pages/groups etc?
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Sentry said:
Since none of my irl friends are on G+, i'm thinking of using it as a GAF & net friends tool instead.. how is the community on there? Existant? Are there anything like fan pages/groups etc?
Click to expand...
I never added the big GAF group, but I have about 10 or so gaffers I've known for a long time on there that post regularly. If you want a gaffish experience, add Gary Whitta. He posts a good amount and most of it's pretty entertaining and has a lot of discussion.
 
V

Vyer

Member
Terrell said:
The thing is, people who bitch about Twitter are either not using the service at all (and thus can't migrate to anything) or in the minority.

Go to Facebook and tell me that the people who hate the changes are in the minority.


Enough of THOSE conversations appear and the "my friends aren't there" argument starts to fly out the window.
Click to expand...

I'm getting people on Facebook who signed up as 'developers' and are now posting pictures of their timelines for other people to see. I see more people getting excited about it than I do getting mad about it.

so...yeah. it's probably going to be hard to gauge until the thing rolls out to everyone. certainly there could be a huge negative backlash, but who knows
 
B

Bad_Boy

time to take my meds
Is there a way to send a private msg on G+? I found someone I've been trying to contact, but I don't want to add in my circle(s) or anything.
 
T

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
Bad_Boy said:
Is there a way to send a private msg on G+? I found someone I've been trying to contact, but I don't want to add in my circle(s) or anything.
Click to expand...

Make a new post, remove all the circles from it, then add that person specifically in that field.
 
V

VanWinkle

Member
walking fiend said:
You can, just write a stream in your own wall and share it with them, it will also appear in their stream. You may also send a message by limiting it between you and him/her, instead of enabling his/her friends seeing your stream shared with him/her.
Click to expand...

I've tried the whole writing an update with the person's name in it, and I checked their profile and it wasn't there. And the message getaround is not that convenient, and to the person you're sending it to, it just looks like an update that could be for just him/her or for everyone. They wouldn't know.

Another problem I have, even though it's not that big of a deal, is that it takes a little bit of time for it to show if you have notifications. When I get on Facebook and Google+, sometimes I just get on there, check for notifications, and get off. And it feels like a hassle on Google+.
 
D

duderon

rollin' in the gutter
VanWinkle said:
I've tried the whole writing an update with the person's name in it, and I checked their profile and it wasn't there. And the message getaround is not that convenient, and to the person you're sending it to, it just looks like an update that could be for just him/her or for everyone. They wouldn't know.

Another problem I have, even though it's not that big of a deal, is that it takes a little bit of time for it to show if you have notifications. When I get on Facebook and Google+, sometimes I just get on there, check for notifications, and get off. And it feels like a hassle on Google+.
Click to expand...

To make it easier for them to recognize, put an @name or +name (doesn't matter which it's the same thing) in the message. This will send them a notification that you mentioned them. There are no walls, so your posts won't show up on their profile.
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
VanWinkle said:
I've tried the whole writing an update with the person's name in it, and I checked their profile and it wasn't there. And the message getaround is not that convenient, and to the person you're sending it to, it just looks like an update that could be for just him/her or for everyone. They wouldn't know.

Another problem I have, even though it's not that big of a deal, is that it takes a little bit of time for it to show if you have notifications. When I get on Facebook and Google+, sometimes I just get on there, check for notifications, and get off. And it feels like a hassle on Google+.
Click to expand...
If you do + their name they will get an email and notification about it per default settings, unlike regular stream posts.
 
T

Terrell

Member
VanWinkle said:
I've tried the whole writing an update with the person's name in it, and I checked their profile and it wasn't there. And the message getaround is not that convenient, and to the person you're sending it to, it just looks like an update that could be for just him/her or for everyone. They wouldn't know.

Another problem I have, even though it's not that big of a deal, is that it takes a little bit of time for it to show if you have notifications. When I get on Facebook and Google+, sometimes I just get on there, check for notifications, and get off. And it feels like a hassle on Google+.
Click to expand...
2 things... first, Google (to my knowledge) has changed the behaviour of single-person posts so that any post sent to another individual person gives them a notification, no +mention necessary. And the message doesn't appear on their profile page. Google+ works so that content you generate is YOUR content and not spread across several locations of the service that can be revoked at any time by another user (see: wall posts that disappear when that user closes their page).

Second, the issue you're having is sort of an illusion of lost time. It seems like it takes longer because it loads the CONTENT of the notification into the notification section itself. So the time it'd take you to open and load content in Facebook basically equates to the same time spent in Google+, Google just does all its loading of the content right at the get-go.
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
I finally tried Hangouts since friends from facebook are moving over and it's pretty damn awesome, we couldn't get the youtube thing to work though since it kept crashing, one of my friends tried it on his iphone and his quality looked like shit, another friend tried it on her mac and her quality was average with no lag and mine looked HD but with a lot of lag, not sure if it was because i was downloading a lot of stuff.
 
R

radioheadrule83

Banned
Jzero15 said:
I finally tried Hangouts since friends from facebook are moving over and it's pretty damn awesome, we couldn't get the youtube thing to work though since it kept crashing, one of my friends tried it on his iphone and his quality looked like shit, another friend tried it on her mac and her quality was average with no lag and mine looked HD but with a lot of lag, not sure if it was because i was downloading a lot of stuff.
Click to expand...

YMMV depending on your webcam and available bandwidth -- WRT youtube -- I've found that different browsers don't always play nice. My family's computer tells them to install the IE hangout plugin all the time, even though they've already done it - if they persist at trying to load the hangout, it eventually just loads. I've told them to get Chrome!
 
G

gcubed

Member
_dementia said:
Explain pls

Anyway, Facebook is getting a massive visual overhaul on this coming Saturday.
Click to expand...
The top bar. Not sure how long its been there. Nothing wrong with competition, Facebook has the problem of horrible UI designers coupled with a user base that can't figure out how to tie their shoes, so they can't win.
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
gcubed said:
The top bar. Not sure how long its been there. Nothing wrong with competition, Facebook has the problem of horrible UI designers coupled with a user base that can't figure out how to tie their shoes, so they can't win.
Click to expand...
So true. Facebook really is lie AOL back in the day.
 
S

SRG01

Member
gcubed said:
The top bar. Not sure how long its been there. Nothing wrong with competition, Facebook has the problem of horrible UI designers coupled with a user base that can't figure out how to tie their shoes, so they can't win.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not sure whether if they have horrible designers, or whether their internal teams are talking to each other...
 
T

Terrell

Member
AstroLad said:
So true. Facebook really is lie AOL back in the day.
Click to expand...
OH GOD, don't remind me of the service that tried (and nearly succeeded) to kill free interoperable community-based web services like IRC.

.... but yeah, fair comparison.


SRG01 said:
Well, I'm not sure whether if they have horrible designers, or whether their internal teams are talking to each other...
Click to expand...

I'd say that failing to communicate with other teams for uniformity makes them horrible designers by default.
 
V

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
So, Cityville has just been added into Google Plus. Never thought we would see Zynga games outside of Facebook.
 
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