The Showdown – Google+ vs Facebook

It’s been a game of fisticuffs this week; Facebook previewing its “smart lists” and “subscribe” features ahead of f8 to combat Google+’s announcements. It would appear in Facebook’s attempt to deal with competition, the lines between the social networks are being blurred. I can now subscribe to people’s updates on Facebook, like Twitter, and smart lists sound remarkably familiar to circles. However, both platforms this week introduced very interesting, stand alone products; Google+’s extended video hangouts and Facebook’s new Open Graph.

It’s hard not to feel a little in awe at Mark Zuckerberg, the 27-year-old billionaire, as he discusses his vision of the “social web” and what the future holds. Firstly, by modifying what those of us hold dearest to our hearts; our Facebook profiles’ are being transformed into an interactive and visually aesthetic forum of our whole (shared) lives called the Timeline. Secondly, and more boldly still, with the new Open Graph, it heralds the age of the app, or more appropriately, the social app. 

There was something poetic in the way Zuckerberg described his natural progression of Facebook; now that the network is established "the next era will be defined by apps & the depth of engagement.” Facebook are "building the language for how people connect". To start with, we had “like” and it was the nouns we chose; now Facebook are adding verbs, from “reading” and “watching” to “listening” and “cooking” etc to our social vocabulary.

This year’s f8 is being called its most mainstream yet, but as 800 million of us now have a Facebook account and 500 million of us use it in one day, I would argue it’s quite relevant, if not sensible, to see how Facebook plan to shape our online selves and our experience.

This week I have signed up to Google+ and will admit thus far my profile is threadbare. There are no photos, no videos and only one post. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of “here we go again”; how many electronic personas can one maintain with any real success? That said, with the list of Google products ever expanding - gmail, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Maps, Blogger, Reader and now Wallet - without even mentioning search, perhaps the natural progression is to put a face to all the data Google already knows about you.

My life has been on Facebook almost solidly from 2005 so I am intrigued as to how my timeline will look exactly and as I type this I am listening to Spotify through my Facebook account…all in the name of research.

What do you think of the new Facebook developments? Are you on Google+? It's entertaining to spectate from the sidelines but who will win out?

I think the jury is still out on that one.

-Sophia Cheng, Junior Consultant, simplygoodadvice.