Google+ is promising better social networking through new features and integrated Google products

Posted Date: 02-Aug-2012	Category: Social Networking
Author: Dinesh Singh	Member Level: Silver	Points: 40

This article is about the pros and cons of Google+ . Since Facebook is the biggest social networking website right now so comparison between Google+ and Facebook is inevitable at some places. This article reflects my opinion of Google+ and other people may have different opinions for the same.

I have recently joined Google's new social networking website Google+, just after quitting Facebook. Although Google+ have similarities with Facebook but it's also different from Facebook in many ways. It also has some new features. This article is about the good and bad of Google+.

Joining google+

So let's begin with the beginning. Now to join Google+ or use any of Google's products it's necessary to create a Gmail id. This can be a little annoying if you already have an email id other that of Gmail and do not want to make new email id. Facebook has a smarter policy, they will create your Facebook email Id after you join Facebook and they do it silently so you may not bother about it.

Good features of Google+

The Google+ homepage contains links to all Google products, services and includes Google search which is a good feature. The homepage has the recent posts from members of your circles and links to your profile, photos, events etc similar to Facebook. You can add photo, video and external links to your post. Their is another feature which enables you to choose whether you want your profile to come up in the search results or not. You can also link your other profiles to Google+ profile and add links to your blog or the content you post on web. Google+ can also send notifications via SMS on your mobile phone about how others respond to you on Google+. Their are other good tweaks in Google+ such as its ability to let you choose if others can download your photos or not and removal of the geo location information from the photos.

Social networking features

Their is a new social networking feature called circles which can be your group of friends, collegues etc and circle members can share each other's posts and uploads. The idea is that you can share information with friends, collegues,relatives separately. Your circles will remain private by default. It also features 'Whats hot on Google+' and 'Trending on Google+' showing the most commented posts and topics on the website. Another social networking feature is that of video chat where you can talk with online members face to face. The video chat is code named as 'Hangouts'.

Deletion of social networking data and profile

One thing I like about Google+ is that they offer secure and permanent deletion of your profile or social networking data. For example your posts, photos and videos and even your whole Google account can be deleted through links in account settings. Evidently, Google has learned from the shortcomings of Facebook.

Areas where Google+ is ahead of Facebook

Google+ has the advantage over Facebook that it offers many services and products apart from social networking. It offers centralise management of all Google products such as Youtube, Picasa, Google search, Google maps and Gmail. It has some extra features such as docs, calender, dashboard(which records all your web history on Google products), reader, finance, shopping and many other services. You can even start your own blog(cool).Another thing about Google+ is that you can join Google's Adsense Revenue Sharing program through it and can make money online(you need good writing skills for this). This option is not available in Facebook.

Flaws of Google+

Now the bad about Google+ is that you can't sufficiently personalise your profile. for example their is no option for adding your interests, hobbies, favourite movies, games, sports, music, etc.Their is no option to set the privacy of posts to 'only me' and So your privacy is compromised. Certain section of your profile will always be visible to your circles. Adjusting settings is a little complicated. It may take some time for you to get used to Google+ because it's a little complicated relative to Facebook, which is more simple and user friendly. The content policy of Google+ is very strict and this can result in deletion of posts which are not up to Google's standards. Here Facebook is more flexible and gives its users more freedom.

The Best alternative to Facebook

If for some reason you want to quit Facebook then Google+ is a great alternative. Google has introduced new features in their social networking website and the range of services and products it offers through Google+ make it really great. Google may add new features and improvements in Google+ in the future and make it more awesome. They should certainly make it more user friendly and simple.

I may have missed some features or flaws of Google+ or their may be errors in this article so you should read more about Google+ from other sources and share them with me if you like.

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