Google Plus launched to take on Facebook

[ABC]

Google Inc. makes its boldest to on Facebook to participate in the rapidly growing social networking market and maintain its dominant position on the web. Google, which has been frustrated by a series of failed attempts to crack the social networking market, introduced a fully-fledged social network on Tuesday said Google +. It is the company's biggest foray into social networking as co-founder Larry Page took over as chief executive in April.

Page social networking a top priority on the world number one Internet search engine, whose position as the main gateway to online information could be compromised if people spend more time on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

"They had the luxury of making mistakes in the past with their social initiatives. They do not really have that luxury now, "said Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner, referring to Google.

"Companies that are successful with the social Web, the page views to get the job they get and they will eventually get the ad dollars that are so important to Google," he said.

Google + now available for testing, is structured in remarkably similar ways as Facebook, with profile pictures and news feeds the formation of a central core. However, a user's friends or contacts aligned in specific circles of their choice, compared to the typical common pool of friends on Facebook. (Here)

Enticing consumers to join another social networking service will not be easy, said Rory Maher, an analyst with Hudson Square Research.

"They're a tough battle due to the effects of the Facebook network," Maher said, citing the 700 million users, some say his research is currently in the service of Facebook.

"The more users (Facebook) to get, the harder it is for Google to steal that," he said. But he added that Google's popularity in Web search and e-mail can help you gain a following.

To set its service apart from Facebook, Google is betting on what it says is a better approach to privacy - a hot-button issue that has burned Facebook, but Google, in the past.

Central to Google + are the "circles" of friends and acquaintances. Users can organize contacts into different custom circles - family members, colleagues, college friends - and share photos, videos or other information only within these groups.

"In the online world has its share box and you type it and you have no idea who is going to get, or where it's going to land, or how it will embarrass you six months from now" , said Google vice president of Product Management Bradley Horowitz.

"For us, privacy is not buried deep six panels," he added.

Facebook, which has been criticized for its confusing privacy controls, a feature introduced last year that allows users to create smaller groups of friends. Google, Facebook without mentioning by name, said other social networking services, bolt-on efforts that do not work so well, "his attempts to create groups.

Facebook, in an email statement, said "we are in the early days of making the web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere. "

+ Google began rolling out a limited number of users on Tuesday in what the company is calling a field trial. Only those invited to participate will initially be able to use the service. Google has not said when it would be more widely available.

Google, which is about $ 29 billion in revenues generated in 2010, said the new service not currently advertising function.

Google's stock is pressure from concerns about rising costs within the company and increasing regulatory oversight - not to mention the battle of social networks. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, among others, is currently reviewing its operations.

The shares are down nearly 20 percent this year after underperforming the market in 2010.

To make Google +, the company went back to the drawing board in the wake of several notable mistakes, including Google and Wave Buzz, a microblogging service whose launch was marred by privacy snafus.

"We learned a lot of buzz, and one of the things we learned is that there is a real market opportunity for a product that people worry about privacy and how their information is shared, addresses," said Horowitz.

Google attracted more than 1 billion visitors to its websites worldwide in May, more than any other company, according to comScore Web Analytics. But people spend more time on Facebook: The average American visitor 375 minutes per month spent on Facebook in May, compared with 231 minutes for Google.

+ Google seems designed for the online properties of a pervasive part of everyday online experience, rather than places where Web surfers occasionally check in to look for a site visit or email it.

As with service from Facebook, Google Plus has a central Web page that an ever updating stream of comments, pictures and links shared by friends and contacts displays.

A toolbar at the top of most Google sites - such as the main search page, the Google Maps site and the site - users can access their personal data to feed. They can then contribute their own data to the stream.

The company has Facebook and Twitter models of social networks + Google: A person can have friends in their network with whom they share information and they can also follow certain people, say a film critic, as happens on Twitter.

Google + will also be a special video chat feature, where up to 10 people can jump on a conference call. And Google will automatically save photos taken on mobile phones to Internet servers, so that a Google user + to the photos from any computer and share them.

Asked if he expects people to switch from Google to Facebook + Google Senior Vice President of Engineering Vic Gundotra said people may decide to both.

"People today use multiple tools. I think what we offer here offers some very distinct advantages around certain basic needs, "he said.

[alaster]

i hope so, because it has great features as compare to facebook

[makano]

There are now reports that the activity in google+ was 50% less than when it first came out. It may not succeed as facebook but I know it will make a dent with facebook's popularity.

[Strengthandpower]

I doubt it will make much of dent makano. Mainly, because alot of people who are trying out Google+ are also facebook users. The one's who aren't I think also are in a different demographic then the average social network user.

[Gamrpro]

I don't think it'll ever reach close to FaceBook. Everything looked great the last time I used it but they barely had anything. Facebook is tremendously huge and don't think it would be better in anyway.

[moonpeach]

I've seen and tried google+ it's horrible, i really dont see how anyone can like it to be quite honest, it just looks so confusnig and therefore i just refuse to use it, I dont know what the exact circles are and they dont really give a decent FAQ on what each thing does. So for that reason i prefer just to stick with facebook

[MustangV10]

In a way, I hope they don't get more popular than Facebook since they already do a lot...