Stitch on 11/7/2011 at 14:55
Yes, but Facebook's interface is horribly convoluted for, well, just about anything.
I've been a longtime defender of Facebook in general, as I think it's a fantastic app that gives users far more control than most critics are aware of. At the same time, though, exercising this control is remarkably nonintuitive and frankly beyond the grasp of 75% of facebook's user base.
In fact, accomplishing pretty much anything beyond default posting and sharing on Facebook is an unnecessarily laborious paddle upstream. For example, I spent twenty minutes last week trying to figure out how to move existing photos into a brand new album, which in the end involved the ridiculous workaround of creating a new album by uploading temporary photos for deletion. Perhaps there was a cleaner method, but I certainly wasn't able to find it, and I'm remarkably more app savvy than your average Facebooker.
As for Google+, it certainly faces an uphill battle as a social app is only as good as its active user base, and Facebook has managed to reach a critical mass of user adoption that will be difficult to topple. Still, nothing stays on top forever, although I think it far more likely that Google+ will in the end do little more than force Facebook to improve, which is in and of itself good enough for me.
David on 11/7/2011 at 18:51
I've just snagged a Google+ invite, and first impressions are good. The segregation is really simple, which is good. I don't tend to post things on Facebook that would upset anyone who read it, but I do refrain from posting most work stuff as I do have several colleagues as Facebook friends, might be easier to post the occasional anecdote without having to nueter it completely.
Stitch is right in that Google does face a massive uphill battle on its hands, but they are certainly ones with the technical prowess to pull it off, as well as a name that everyone already knows.
Forever420 on 28/9/2011 at 13:51
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
On facebook I definitely take care what I post to general. I like the idea of the Google+ circles because it'll hopefully let me filter who I post what to.
Lol dude yeah. Being tagged in pic with certain thing bad for a one's groove
Muzman on 28/9/2011 at 15:55
Facebook always felt like some sort of Kafka Goes to High School scenario for me. All the cool kids are talking about some place so you follow them there and they vanish into the shittiest looking junker of a building, held together with glue and string and hobo saliva. Your eyeballs dry up just looking at it.
They all come out unscathed and aglow from all the sex and drugs and money you apparently get in there somehow, but it just doesn't seem right. You spend years circling it, gazing through the cracks trying to figure out the magic, but it seems really straightforward and its supposed magic impossible.
So you ask one hottie on the way out one day, who screams with alarm. You check hair and underarms, but she explains she was, like, just totally surprised to hear someone speak outside there.
That's when you notice, yes, the world is quieter now. The landline doesn't ring. The email gets no...uh...mail. It's all taking place... inside.
But it doesn't seem like much. Oh no, she explains, eyes widening, there is so much more When you Join Us!
Oh, can't I just dip in and out?
No, you must give yourself to the program. Then you will get the sex and drugs and money. But not before!
Does everyone get the sex and drugs and money?
Yes.
Really?
Yess! Now what is your name? Fill out these forms! She whips out a camera. You put up the paparazzi hand pose.
I think I'll just wait a while. It seems like too much commitment.
Wait? Commitment? Soon everything will happen in there! Ev Ree Thing. You're not waiting for life. Are you not committed to life?
Can't you just tell me more about it. I'll tell you my name.
Put it on the form!
No, just talk to me.
I don't talk to people from out here. And soon there won't be anyone talking out here. Do you want to be out here in the silence with no friends?
Well...
Your mother's in here Karrass.
What!?
Never mind
My sister is, that's for sure.
On topic: Sex and Drugs and Money!
Oh... uh... *sigh*
Fill this out.
Can I find out a bit more about how it all works?
You can find answers to all your questions when you join up.
What makes it so special?
You make it special.
I thought it was already special?
Look! None of the features make any sense until you experience them and to experience them you have to sign up!
I...I think I'll just go stare at the walls for a while longer.
Guh! Fine, whatever!
She walks on, catching up with a group of attractive young go getters. They all air kiss one another. As they vanish you hear them conversing.
Do you know him or something?
Ugh! Of course not. He didn't sign up.
nicked on 28/9/2011 at 17:38
Hahaha, that's- wait a minute. Ugh... Good terrifying true story!
icemann on 28/9/2011 at 18:22
I honestly doubt that Google+ will make a huge dint on facebook in the longterm. I just wish that facebook would stop forcing changes on people more often than George Lucas.
Muzman on 2/10/2011 at 09:23
I just watched The Social Network, which has piqued my curiosity some( really, I am always curious about this stuff, just really can't be bothered with it for the most part. Too much like hard work).
In the movie they even ask the question "What is it about facebook that (will be) so special" over friendster and bebo and myspace. But it doesn't quite answer it. They say it's exclusivity or something. But that doesn't really explain it. If you ask people they usually only speak in practical terms that doesn't really do the job either.
They do touch on the addictive game-ish quality in the film. What is it about it that causes that more-so than the others I wonder?
Whatever it is it'll probably take something like that for google to really make a dent. Clearly , practical alone doesn't cut it.
