Google+ = the future?
The gauntlet is thrown down, the gloves are off; the two mighty leviathans of the internet are facing up to each other in a battle that’s shaping up to be a clash of the titans.
Today, Google+ will open its electronic doors to the unwashed masses (previously, one had to be invited.) Will it be the social network to end all social networks? During its trial run it gained 20 million users in 90 days. Facebook however has 750 million active users.
Google+ has sashayed out of “beta” mode, and, according to T3.com, like a gorgeous electric butterfly from a pretty boring chrysalis, has added some fancy new features. “Hangouts” means you can have multiple video chats, and can even “record and broadcast ”, which, said Joe Minihane on T3, seems “somewhat bizarre.” This feature is currently only being given to a selected few, such as the popular music star Will.i.am. Check out his page here – “this is pretty dope…”, commented the musician, adding that he “cant [sic] wait for the hang out session+”. Also, hallowed be the day, you can actually search from Google now without ever having to leave Google+! Who’d have thunk it.
“Here’s where things get REALLY interesting. The future of communication is coming and it might look something like this,” said The New York Times‘s Jenna Wortham on her Tumblr.
No thanks. But really – who cares? asked Hexus. The cool factor’s worn off, the cool crowd has left – people can’t be bothered to double up the stuff they’ve already put up on Facebook. It’s “hard not to feel pretty indifferent” about the network. Yes, it took a long time for Facebook and Twitter to gather momentum, but whilst “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” it’ll be hard for the network to grow.
That’s poppycock. Fiddle-faddle, said Lance Ulanof on Mashable. Google+ is a big deal. All these flashy addons make it “instantly competitive” with Facebook. You can hold “hangouts”, share your screens, draw with other people, edit documents, even broadcast your hangouts. However, it is still to early to tell, but we should all enjoy the show as the two giants face up to each other.
Wising up to business. Google’s being pretty savvy, said Rebecca Greenfield on The Atlantic Wire. With its features it’s targetting the business world, so you can have meetings and presentations over the site. Imagine the possibilities with Hangouts – collaborations, games; huge new audiences opening up. “Hangouts” is the feature that will make it happen – it “might draw a crowd that didn’t see the site as anything special.”