Textview: google plus vs facebook the battle beging

Google+ vs Facebook : The fight is on. All kind of rumors are floating around with quants predicting the number of users on G+ already. Some say it will be 10 million today and some say it will be 20 million by this weekend. Google hasn’t shared its figures yet but looking at the buzz, I can say for sure, Facebook got company. No body is killing anybody yet but there will be some bloody blows exchanged. Finally Google has arrived in the social arena with proper arsenal.

Here’s a list of all the animated GIF’s, regular images floating around on the Internet (read Google+). The attribution is provided wherever applicable. For some GIF’s I couldn’t find out the original source. If you know it, I will add it.

[Note: These are animated gif’s and are heavy. They will take time to load, so please be patient]

By the end of last year Facebook crossed Google to become the most visited site of the world. The valuation of Facebook crossed well over 50 billion dollars and it looked strong to scale new peaks. At the same time the new start ups of Google like Google wave, Google Buzz and so faded out; in fact Google Wave is almost shut down now Check here. Even the Google directory which was started to compete Yahoo Directory and Dmoz is now shut down. One can see the shut down message in Google Directory.

It was becoming more and more evident that Google is losing out the race against Facebook. That is when Google came up with the Concept of Google Plus and +1 for the search engine. Even during the beta phase Google Plus had a strong impact on Facebook Traffic. Though Facebook integrated video chat in to their interface, they are now facing a very strong competition in the social networking segment. Experts estimate that Google Plus now have more than 20 million users (that is when the program is available only through invitees), and the growth rate is 22% for every 24 hours. This growth is astounding and will definitely have a strong impact on Facebook’s traffic and income.

The reasons why Google will become a serious competitor for Facebook are:

1. Google services integration

Integration is one of the biggest cards that Google has in its hands to win over the audience. Now, you might be wondering what this ‘integration’ is? It’s nothing but all of Google’s existing online services like Gmail, Docs, search features are combined on to a single platform in Google+ and you can do everything on the same site.

Earlier people faced the inconvenience of having to switch from one site to another while switching from mailing to surfing the net to social networking. Google+’s services integration has taken care of that problem now.

2. Manage your friends more efficiently

The ‘Circles’ concept of Google+ is far more comparable to our real life friend circles than the ‘ad hoc’ group concept of Facebook. Everyday, we interact with hundreds of people but not always in the same way.

Google+ lets you create different circles to which you can add different people you want. For example, you can create one circle for your family, one circle for your work people, one for your old classmates and as many as you want.

The biggest touted perk is that you can share the things with the circle that you want and the other circles won’t ever know of it.

3. Better mobile apps

Google+ has a lot better apps for Android users, rather than Facebook. You will find that it’s a lot more easier to get stuff on your Google+ profile than it ever was on Facebook.

The huge Android user database that Google has, is likely to be used by the company in the battle against Facebook.

4. Share more easily on Google+

This time Google has done something that Facebook will not be able to do, with Google+ Spark.

When you are networking on Facebook, you often have to leave the site for finding shareable information with your friends. Google+’s Spark is an instant solution to that problem.

Google has optimised its search engine to provide instant search for finding stuff you wanna share. Since Facebook doesn’t have a search engine, it is obvious that this feature can’t be provided by Facebook.

5. Data can be reclaimed

Facebook is seen as a poor steward of personal data but Google+ has a better hand in this area.

On Facebook, you are made to make all your personal data public and also its very hard to permanently delete a Facebook profile. Google+, on the other hand, allows you to pick up all the data you have put on the profile and just walk away.

This is done by a tool called ‘Data Liberation’, another clever trick from Google+ to hook up customers

6. Segregation of Business and Personal Users

Facebook allows everyone to create a profile and a page. A company can create a page and let people follow the page, however at the moment Google is not allowing Companies to start a profile. The made it clear through their official release.

Google is keeping its word on not allowing non-individual accounts in the current format of its Google Plus social network. The company has removed some of the biggest company, brand and news profiles on Google Plus including that of IBNLive.com, Mashable and Ford.Google had earlier asked businesses not to create Google+ profiles as the company was in the process of working on a business-specific feature.

The suspended profiles now lead to an Error 404 (page not found) page.

So Google right from the beginning is segregating the business and individual users which Facebook failed to do. This might prove to be a master stroke in the long run for Google.

Social Network Marketing

The biggest problem which marketers face with Facebook Marketing is the increasing Cost of Advertising with Facebook. Experts say that the cost of advertising with Facebook has increased 40% over the past few months. This will also open the gates for new revenue generation for Google through Google Plus.