So the fact that Google has a bunch of loosely connected tools that hypothetically could form a social networking site if it was pushed a little harder suddenly makes it a "Facebook-Killer"? Please, the strategies that this article is suggesting would only make a Google's site a hacked-up clone of Facebook. Even if they could find a way to unify all the different interfaces, it wouldn't give Google anything new or different.
Facebook has messages, pictures, video, notes (not quite blogging, but good enough), chat (again, not the best, but useful), and a good event system. These aren't provided by apps, they come built-in with Facebook. On the other hand, Google has a different app for each of their versions of these services. Just because they set up a minimalist profile page doesn't change much.
Hey, here's an idea, can we break out of the mindset that everything has to turn into a social network? Think hard, what else could Google do by consolidating services? At the least, one meta-service that seamlessly combines everything would be easier to market and manage. What makes a social network different from simply a collection of profiles is that people have to interact with it. They discuss topics. plan events, have fun. Well, the services are already there, so it is possible for Google to track much of that information. Personally, I'm a little intrigued by the insertion of the map, maybe this will be a geo-based service, who knows?
The big distinction that a google social network has is that its internal messaging system is real e-mail. Facebook relies on e-mail to keep users updated if they don't log in. This means that social networking can be tied directly into your usual workflow, rather than being a separate site that you visit.
This change alone is a huge competitive advantage.
I'd love to ditch facebook, except that the only reason I'm there is still true: that's where my peeps hang. Some people, that's their only online presence. What I'd like to see is a transparent layer in/out that could "export" these people to the social media of my choice. On the simple side, something that dumps my wall into my IM? That kinda thing.
I'm pretty sure that facebook will fight that kind of thing tooth and nail, though. Doesn't seem to align itself with their interests.
That was the fate of Friendster, MySpace, etc. So it's not unprecedented.
I've always been pretty lukewarm on social networking sites because they felt like they were essentially AOL 2.0 (as others have stated). Hopefully in the future something more analogous to the open web will come along.
I had a facebook account for about 2 days, 3 years ago. All these fucking people started bothering me and trying to 'connect'. Look at the picture of me drunk holding my ugly kid.
I've never fundamentally grasped this idea and find the whole thing intrusive and desperate.
Facebook has messages, pictures, video, notes (not quite blogging, but good enough), chat (again, not the best, but useful), and a good event system. These aren't provided by apps, they come built-in with Facebook. On the other hand, Google has a different app for each of their versions of these services. Just because they set up a minimalist profile page doesn't change much.
Hey, here's an idea, can we break out of the mindset that everything has to turn into a social network? Think hard, what else could Google do by consolidating services? At the least, one meta-service that seamlessly combines everything would be easier to market and manage. What makes a social network different from simply a collection of profiles is that people have to interact with it. They discuss topics. plan events, have fun. Well, the services are already there, so it is possible for Google to track much of that information. Personally, I'm a little intrigued by the insertion of the map, maybe this will be a geo-based service, who knows?