I will actively admit that I am a Google Fanboy. It’s a small addiction that I have to things that don’t suck giant balls and aren’t forced down my throat by a mad man/cylon hybrid in a turtleneck. So, somehow, in my fights against the man and his proprietary software, I somehow ended up genetically encoded with a fanatic devotion to the arguably most evil corporate empire on the planet. (Hint: If your corporate motto is “Don’t Be Evil” chances are someone is overcompensation for something.)
So, when I found out that Google was releasing their very own Social Network, (not counting the first 3 they had that sucked,) I had to get in on it. I spent day after day angrily storming through the cyberwebs in search for a beta invite, only to be shut down constantly by the corporation I so easily sold my soul to. It was with horrible desperation that I finally concluded that I would be forced to wait until it became open.
So I did.
Then Something wonderfully awesome happened. A friend of mine got an invite, so then I got an invite. It was the most happy moment ever. Of course, Google+ is live now, and you should all be able to get in on it with me. You might not be ready to just jump ship from Mark Zuckerberg’s fledgling empire. After all, he’s grown his how turtleneck symbiote from a stolen piece of the one turtleneck to rule them all. So, I’m here to tell you there are 3 very important things I’ve already learned that make it essential that you switch.. NOW!
1) There are No Stupid Games on Google+…. yet.
That’s right. Google+ users do not get spammed 10032434 times an hour for “free bricks in crackheadtown.” This is the most hated thing about Facebook, and if Google betrays our trust and adds it to the Google+ platform… well, I’m in too deep now, so I’ll probably try to convince everyone around me that it’s awesome when Google does it.
2) Circles are AWESOME!
If you so choose, in Google+ you can organize your friends into Circles. This is similar to the groups concept on Facebook, except that you don’t have to go into a specific group to post to just that group, and as far I as can tell so far, no one knows which circle you put them in. The biggest benefit is that you can post to the streams of just the people in a specific group, and even mark the posts so they can’t be shared outside of it. You can also put a person’s name in the “Share To” field to share to that person or persons directly.
3) It’s Google
Fandom aside, most of us already use a ton of Google products, maybe without even realizing it. Since this is just another google product, all of those things integrate nicely into it. If you’re like me, that means a lot of saved time not having to log into hundreds of things OVER AND OVER again. It’s like the Facebook integration that Mark Zuckerberg is pushing so hard, except it already exists and you don’t have to keep clicking “connect to facebook.” That’s a big upside for me.
THE BAD SIDE
I’ve only got a handful of complaints so far. 1) Hootsuite doesn’t integrate to Google+ yet. I know that’s not google’s problem, but I sure would enjoy that feature. 2) Very few people are on it yet. This is both good and bad. On the one hand, my friends are mostly there so I can talk to them. On the other hand, my entire family uses Facebook, and probably isn’t going to switch. Of course, like the XKCD Strip says, the best and worst thing about it, is that your parents won’t switch to it.
So, what are you waiting for. You should already be signed up for Google+ and following me there. We’ll be Google-buddies forever!