A Fight for the Top: The Battle between Google+ and Facebook on the Social Networking World Stage

Google caused quite a stir in the social media scene last year when they introduced Google+ (also written as Google Plus or G+) to the world. The search tycoon is the most visited website on the planet, followed closely behind by Facebook, the world’s largest social media site. So why has the new networking site not taken off quite as planned?

Google+ introduced many new features not available on Facebook:

                In order to gain followers, Google had to introduce new and exciting features that would draw users away from other social networking giants and into their new site. Several special elements were incorporated into Google+:

1.       Hangouts- a group video chat feature; Facebook currently only offers a one-on-one video chat feature

2.       Sparks- a place where members can customize their interests so specific news headlines and articles will appear on their page; Facebook now allows users to “subscribe” to different news destinations such as “Yahoo” or “Huffington Post”

3.       Circles- the most well-known feature of Google+ allows users to sort their friends into different groups but keeps the name of the groups and other members of the circle hidden; Facebook users also have the option to create “groups” but privacy in those groups is much more limited as all members can see the group’s name and who else is placed within that group

4.       Stranger Danger- while some users may find it appealing, many are not okay with Google+’s feature of being able to chat and see updates from friends who are not in your circles or who you have not followed; Facebook allows its users to severely limit what strangers are able to see on an individual’s page

Over a year later, G+ struggles to remain an active contender in the social networking battle:

Google Plus created a mass initial hype that has severely deteriorated in the last 12 months. In just 3 months, Google+ managed to accumulate over 25 million users so why were they unable to surpass MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn? Exclusivity, as seen with the creation of Facebook, makes any social networking site appealing to users. During its initial launch, Google Plus was available on an invite-only basis. When the site was eventually opened to all users social networkers jumped at the opportunity to join the site that had been on lock-down for such a long duration of time. Now, the initial excitement has subsided and all the other major social networks have updated their sites to compete with Google Plus’s special features.

Google Plus may not be a complete failure it just fails to meet all of its user’s needs:

                As a Google Plus account holder, it is easy to understand why the site has had a hard time maintaining current and attracting new users.

• ·         No one likes change- If you ever want to see people go bananas over a simple change, just wait for Facebook to make their next profile update. When the social networking giant updated to Timeline this past year the backlash was outrageous. Now imagine how the world will react if they have to adjust to an entirely new site… The outcome doesn’t look promising.
• ·         Nothing to do- Any social networking user knows how easy it is to get caught up for hours looking at updates from friends, socializing or playing a never-ending game of Farmville. Google+ lacks “stuff” to do. They don’t provide users with games or other activities that will keep users on their site for more than a five minute check-in
• ·         Lack of sharing- The idea behind a social networking site is that users are supposed to share their lives with other social networkers. Instead of promoting sharing, Google Plus actually promotes limiting what you share based on who you place in which “circle.”

Statistics show that Google still has a long way to go if they intend to remain a fighting contender in the social network arena:

Currently, G+ sits at the number 6 spot for most popular social networking sites, Facebook is listed as number one. On October 4^th, Facebook had officially reached 1 billion monthly users. As of last month, Google Plus had 400 million registered members and only about a quarter of them actually used their services on a monthly basis.