Taking Google+ for a Test Drive

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Rab1d-BDGR

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When it launches, the real acid test will be whether it hits "critical mass" - most people are only going to switch from FB if most of their friends have already switched. Kind of a chicken + egg situation, but if it hits that critical mass then Facebook would be dead in the water.
 

phone_trouble

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and yet ANOTHER reason NOT to use Google. They are just trying to expand their advertising empire.
Who wants to see more ads?
I for one will not be trying it and will continue to look for ways to block their intrusion into my web life.
 
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[citation][nom]phone_trouble[/nom]and yet ANOTHER reason NOT to use Google. They are just trying to expand their advertising empire. Who wants to see more ads?I for one will not be trying it and will continue to look for ways to block their intrusion into my web life.[/citation]

I'd love to say you're being ridiculous, but the sad reality is that you're probably right. The whole thing just looks like a big Facebook ripoff to me, in any case. I'm just failing to see any innovation/imagination going on with Google+ whatsoever.
 

blubbey

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[citation][nom]JMcEntegart[/nom]Her name is Cujo, she totally wants to eat people.[/citation]

Slightly scared *hides from Cujo*
 

trevorvdw

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[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]The software works or it doesn't. This limited membership pool is ridiculous.[/citation]

Yes who do they think they are testing with a small group first. I mean who TESTS software. What hack amateurs these guys are. It'd be better to make it fully open right now knowing there'd be issues and a bad experience that would definitely turn people away right? /sarcasm

You sir are a dolt.
 

fyend

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[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom]The software works or it doesn't.[/citation]

Good point. I'm disbanding our software QA dept. and giving a bad review to all programmers who don't have zero bugs in their first alpha release immediately. (Yes I'm joking to show you how absurd you are). :)
 

JMcEntegart

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[citation][nom]JaneIsNotSoPlainIwillRefrain[/nom]This beautiful young woman is "bumping" her article to stay in the top slot of the news section!!! haha[/citation]


Hark, it is not me doing the bumping but another.
 

Thunderfox

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I know it makes sense to allow limited access while they work out the bugs, but I have to wonder if the limited access will be enticing to some people. They might want in just because they can't get in, and then when the doors open to the public, there will be a massive flood of people who've been hearing about the thing during beta.
 

tomrippity02

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[citation][nom]hellwig[/nom] If Google does not open up membership to the general public in that time, it will die. I remember when Gmail invites were the next big thing. I didn't even notice when Gmail opened up to the general public (took many months), all I know is that Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail still have more accounts than Gmail. [/citation]

I don't know about the quantity of users that hotmail and yahoo have, but I don't think it really matters. How many of those accounts are actually active or receive anything other than spam? I have a yahoo and a hotmail account, the yahoo I haven't checked in ages and the hotmail is strictly for signing up for services i'm not sure of and don't want to be spammed by. If I like the service I will update the email address to my gmail account later.

Google+ ties into a ton of services and its not as simple as "it works or doesn't work". When the general public gains access to something, new bugs or flaws are ALWAYS found. I'd rather those be discovered by the few, rather than the many. What if there is a security flaw? Isn't it better to catch that with 10,000 rather than 1,000,000?

Also, if you remember, Facebook was exclusive in the beginning as well, and it seems to have worked out for them. Your logic is flawed.
 

tomrippity02

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[citation][nom]phone_trouble[/nom]and yet ANOTHER reason NOT to use Google. They are just trying to expand their advertising empire. Who wants to see more ads?I for one will not be trying it and will continue to look for ways to block their intrusion into my web life.[/citation]

If your only reason to not use a service is to avoid ads then your being ridiculous. Do you also not watch TV or read magazines? Do you avoid driving so you don't have to see billboards?

Google offers so many great services for free... I have no problem helping support them by seeing a few ads that are totally non-obtrusive and optionally clickable.
 
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I believe that the order of your streams is chronological based on most recent comment.

Lastly, the best way to contact an individual follower directly would be with Gmail, which every Google+ subscriber will have, so why recreate functionality?
 

eiskrystal

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So...how do i move all my pictures and vids over from facebook? Or am i just supposed to start again? and why is there no mention of security in this review? Given the controversy on FB security, viruses and media horror stories i would have though that would have got more than passing reference...and aren't a lot of people using FB for the games... what does google+ have?

Let's face it, the people that wanted to do social media are doing it on FB already, i can't see many "newbies" signing up just because it's google. FB isn't bad so people aren't going to leave in large numbers. I just can't see this working without FB doing a major screwup or some super new feature that FB can't replicate.
 

zak_mckraken

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@eiskrystal : I'm positively sure there will be an import function from Facebook to Google+. They'll want to make it as easy as possible for people to make the switch.
 
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I'm using Google+1 and suddenly Facebook is now starting to looked a big messy and time consuming. Google+1 is smart, fast and has a sophisticated user experience. It will dominate for sure and you won't be disappointed..
 

sh3lick

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[citation][nom]phone_trouble[/nom]and yet ANOTHER reason NOT to use Google. They are just trying to expand their advertising empire. Who wants to see more ads?I for one will not be trying it and will continue to look for ways to block their intrusion into my web life.[/citation]

Its not that difficult to install an adblock if you use Firefox or GC. I have yet to see an ad from anywhere. Though it is to be expected they will advertise on G+ but I wouldn't complain since I never see it anymore.
 

fulle

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@people saying people won't leave Facebook, due to fleshed out profiles on Facebook.

Years ago I remember Myspace being the big social networking site, when Facebook released with a much cleaner interface. I watched people maintain duo profiles while they waited for their friends to convert to Facebook, and then once enough people moved, they stopped using Myspace altogether.
The interesting thing about this, was that Facebook offered very little over Myspace back then, in terms of functionality. It had LESS, actually. What it did have, though, was a cleaner interface, and the feeling that the site would move in a more user friendly direction with new features. Oh, and possibly most importantly, an escape from many of the annoyances of a Myspace interface that was trying too hard.

I'm somewhat annoyed, honestly, by how Facebook takes this stance of how it's sooo unique, and how they're sooo innovative, when they didn't really invent anything at all. Given the history of social networking sites, they should be shaking in their arrogant, lazy boots, because if G+ has the superior user interface, people will start moving out in droves almost immediately. And lets not rule out the "I just don't want to be annoyed by unnecessary BS" factor as well. I'd switch just so I won't ever see anymore Farmville / Bejewelled crap.
 
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