

Why Twitter Should be Very Worried about Google+ - flardinois
http://siliconfilter.com/why-twitter-should-be-very-worried-about-google/

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msbarnett
> For a long time now, Twitter’s proponents have argued that Twitter’s 140
> character limit was an advantage. It keeps posts brief and to the point.
> Once you use Google+ for a bit, though, you come to realize that those
> constraints are really just annoying at the end – and likely hard to explain
> to a mainstream user anyway.

I have to say, I really disagree with that one. I didn't truly appreciate the
value of the 140 character limit _until_ I spent some time using Buzz. Once
people are free to dump an entire essay into your timeline, it ceases to feel
like a quick visit that I can pull 20 or 30 bite-sized nuggets of interaction
out of, and more like as RSS feed -- an enormous backlog of reading I can
never hope to catch up on and stop caring about.

~~~
Leynos
I actually think Facebook got the balance right. 400 characters (approx) of
unformatted in the default status updates, and a notes function (which can
optionally be configured to import an external web log) that needs to be
accessed through a separate user interface.

Facebook statuses are long enough that you can actually say something
meaningful without allowing you to ramble on for too long.

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uast23
>Google, being late to the party

This is biggest advantage I guess. Seeing both the models (Facebook and
Twitter) working, Google+ tries to bring the best of both, wherein when I add
someone to a circle, it's like following him rather than adding him as a
friend, which is more like Twitter; but with it's rich media interface, the
stream looks as good as Facebook. And not to mention the granularity of user
control over what to share with whom, which again is a better version of what
we have on Facebook. So it's more like the best of both worlds where you don't
necessarily have to be friends with someone to broadcast and if you are
friends, then well, you are friends.

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ecaron
I think Yammer has more to fear from Google+ than Twitter. Once you can auto-
integrate Google+ with Google Apps, you've essentially destroyed 99% of
Yammer's value proposition.

~~~
xbryanx
Agreed. Now Google just needs to getting around to enabling "Accounts" with
Google Apps.
[http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Apps/thread?tid...](http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Apps/thread?tid=17b45c62b43447f6&hl=en)

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aristidb
Well. I added Markus Persson (aka Notch, of Minecraft fame) to my Following
circle, and... his posts are always bumped to the top of the stream because so
many people comment on them.

Posts can also take up a lot of space when there are attached pictures/videos
and comments.

So Twitter has these huge advantages that everything is streamlined and kept
short. Google+ does not; and it's not really necessary if you don't use
Google+ as Twitter. This is also something that Google can fix, so we CAN
(then) use Google+ as Twitter.

~~~
Goronmon
It's funny because the same exact thing happened to me. Notch now dominates my
Stream, to the point I might just remove him from my circles.

~~~
groks
At the top right of each post is a tiny arrow in a circle. It's a menu --
choose 'Mute this post' and it will no longer float to the top.

~~~
Goronmon
The problem is that Notch tends to post stuff all the time. Right now I have 6
of his posts on the first page of my stream. And they are all from the last 12
hours or so. If he keeps up that rate, I'll be muting a dozen posts a day,
heh.

~~~
telcodud
Check out this post from a Google+ engineer:
[https://plus.google.com/107117483540235115863/posts/GTESUy4y...](https://plus.google.com/107117483540235115863/posts/GTESUy4y93t)
(sorry, Google+ users only) This was identified as an issue that's planned to
be fixed in the next few days.

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timmyd
I think we all need to appreciate the fact most people use Facebook and/or
Twitter because they are agnostic - that is, are not tied or linked to any
singular email account. I have a Gmail account - albeit "lay persons" in the
tech world - use Yahoo or Hotmail, and sure, some use Gmail [shocking
generalization :)]. Most, in some capacity, usually check FB and/or Twitter on
their mobiles and website daily. Many do not even "log into Google" to use the
search engine [why would they?]

Facebook works. Twitter works. All their friends already exist on it - FB
friends list are closed, Twitter's are open. Both do everything they could
possibly want it to do "connect to their friends" and "find what's happening
in the world". In my mind - it's "Google and Bing" all over. For example, Bing
is arguably just as good as Google now yet everyone continues to use Google.
Why will Google+ bring about such a "rapid shift" that it will lead to a
hemorrhaging of users from Twitter and/or Facebook ?

Google+ - great for technology people who want to "control their data". My
friends don't even understand what "exporting data for portability" even
means. They use Facebook, see their friends posts, upload photos, check-in to
places and they love that. Those that use Twitter do so to find out instant
real-time updates and news from around the world. Twitter focus on this and
this only - not building and trying to be "everything to everyone".

Facebook will improve their "groups" feature to something similar to Circles
and continue to innovative. Twitter will continue to expand as the real-time
news service because it is so ingrained in modern culture now. People "tweet"
it just like people "Google it" [in the verb sense]. Google+ - is great for
"forcing" FB to continue to innovate - but I am still a cynic in relation to
it's ability to have such a high incentive draw that users leave FB or leave
Twitter "exclusively" - or even "in addition to" - Google+.

[that said, any chance of invite :) email in profile]

edit: Thanks to those that sent an invite. Seems that Google's disabled them
:( i.e. there are no links in the sign up emails so there is no way to join.
Awesome effort though! Thanks again +1 [pun intended]

~~~
nprincigalli
Tried with this workaround: Create a circle, add a person to it, then share
some content in the circle. Everyone who isn't yet member of Google+ gets an
invite. Let us know if it's still working.

~~~
hollerith
When about an hour ago, someone to whom I sent an invite clicked on the big
orange button in the email, they got a page telling them, "Already invited?
We've temporarily exceeded our capacity. Please try again soon."

~~~
esrauch
They are rate limiting new sign ups. The person doesn't need to get a new
invite, they just have to try the invite again later.

------
ender7
There is one thing that Google+ currently lacks that both Twitter and Facebook
have:

    
    
      Like us on Facebook! facebook.com/ProductFoo
        
      Follow us on Twitter! @ProductFoo
    

In G+'s (hypothetical, since they haven't done it yet) case, neither the
phrase nor the url are as catchy or memorable:

    
    
      +1 us on Google! plus.google.com/ProductFoo

~~~
tommi
Or was it "Follow us on Twitter! twitter.com/ProductFoo" at first?

The same way +1 could develop in to "+1 ProductFoo". Just give it some time.

~~~
kostadin
or just +ProductFoo

~~~
pvilchez
I think this is the most likely. The top left of the google bar is +[name],
and Andy Hertzfeld referenced other people in this way in his post:
[https://plus.google.com/117840649766034848455/posts/FddaP6je...](https://plus.google.com/117840649766034848455/posts/FddaP6jeCqp)

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protomyth
I think if Google+ has a decent set of APIs and doesn't go on a "kill the
client" spree, it might be a fairly interesting fight.

~~~
nextparadigms
I was just about to say that. Google needs to make sure they get the API's
right from the start, and not have a huge change of hard later, and say, like
Twitter, that they want to improve the UX or whatever, when they really just
wanted to be able to send you their ads.

Google should make sure they're not giving functionality that they're going to
take away later on and piss off a lot of developers.

------
kjames
Google+ is reducing the amount of leverage Twitter has to monetize their
service. I believe Twitter has waited too long to make money off of its
platform. The only ones seem to be making money off of Twitter is the 3rd
party developers that are making it easier to use the product!

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nextparadigms
I've just realized today that I can use Sparks to get the news I'd be
interested in finding on Twitter. For example if I look for "antisec" on
Spark, I get pretty good new results with a much better signal-to-noise ratio.

~~~
rooshdi
Couldn't you get the same thing by searching Google News?

~~~
nextparadigms
I've never really used or liked Google News interface. But they said Google
News is just a part of it, since they also show blogs, videos, etc

~~~
rooshdi
_But they said Google News is just a part of it, since they also show blogs,
videos, etc_

Google's search result pages have options to search blogs, videos, realtime,
etc too. Seems like they just integrated this functionality into Plus.

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voyvf
While I realize it mentioned it in the article, and that it's forthcoming,
I'll withhold my opinion of the "threat" to Twitter and Facebook until I see
what kind of API they're going to roll out for Google+.

One of the reasons I like the older services is that I can access them via SMS
- in fact, Twitter is just about perfect for that use case.

------
macrael
One of the things that is great about Twitter is that you can subscribe to
someone else's posts without them having to take any action. Is something
similar available on Google+? Are your posts required to be directed toward a
specific circle? I can't just add myself to someone I like's circle, right?
They have to add me?

I'd appreciate any clarity on this, I think that the asymmetry and follower
driven nature of Twitter is a huge asset. Merlin Mann isn't going to add
160,000 people to a "comedy" circle.

~~~
mcrittenden
> Is something similar available on Google+?

Yes, you can add someone to your circles without them doing the same to you.
There's even a default circle called "Following" for "People that you don't
know but find their posts interesting" (i.e., basically the same thing as
following famous people on Twitter).

> Are your posts required to be directed toward a specific circle?

Sort of. They can be directed at any combination of your circles, or all of
them.

> I can't just add myself to someone I like's circle, right? They have to add
> me?

Right, you can add anyone you want to your circles, but you can't touch their
circles at all. It's like Twitter in that respect.

~~~
macrael
So by adding someone to one of my circles, I'm automatically added to their
"Following" circle? It seems like you mean the opposite, that I would put
someone I don't know really well into _my_ "Following" circle, but that still
means that I don't get a feed of their postings, right?

Unless, as someone else mentioned, they set their post to "public", does that
post then show up for everyone who has the poster in their circle, regardless
of wether the follower is in a poster's circle?

~~~
losvedir
You seem to have it mostly right, but to clear up some confusion:

There's basically two directions to consider.

Your circles are for your outgoing posts. When you post something, you choose
which circles are allowed to see it (or you could choose individual people, or
"Public").

On the flip side, your circles inform your incoming news stream. By putting
someone in any of your circles, you basically say, "I could be interested in
what they say."

What appears in your stream, then, are posts in the intersection of the two:
from someone in one of your circles, and to a circle of theirs that they put
you in.

So to answer your original question: Google+ can operate in the Twitter
modality exactly. You put someone in any circle ("Following", by convention),
and then any posts they make to "Public" will appear in your stream. The
difference is that the person you're following doesn't have to direct all his
posts to "Public". He or she could send some to specific groups of people,
which you wouldn't receive.

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mikecane
I thought Google Wave was Twitter's doom. Then I got to try Wave. I think it's
too early to hold a wake for Twitter until everyone can get into Plus.

~~~
emp_
A closed communication tool mostly targeted at projects vs an open status
broadcast is hardly each other's doom.

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mark_l_watson
As much as I like Twitter, I basically agree with most of the points in the
article. G+ will attract developers, it does have a clear path to
monitization, and for people who already use GMail+Calendar+Picasa+etc it is a
natural since it is always available.

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shareme
author is wrong..

Google Search right now has more users than FB and twitter and linkedin
combined..its a direct threat to all not just one and those Google Search
users have a network effect as we saw in several past search engines just
absolutely just die off due to competition from Google

