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BY LEXA DECKERT
ANCHOR JIM FLINK
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After swirling rumors -- Google finally launches its own social networking project, Google+.
On its official blog -- Google says it is taking a very personal, close-knit approach to the social networking world.
“We’d like to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to software.”
One of the ways Google intends to do that is with Circles -- allowing people to group friends into smaller, more intimate groups. You can share information with each circle individually instead of every friend, every time. (Google Blog)
Google denies their goal is to compete with social media juggernaut Facebook.
Google + was released only as a quote- “project.” Now they can figure out what aspects work and which don’t. ZDNet reports on current details...
“Circles... rather than make every single update go to every single person, just define which Circle everyone belongs to and share whatever you’d like with the audience it’s intended for...
Sparks... Add your interests, and Google returns relevant content from across the web.
Mobile.... will also add your smartphone pictures to the Google cloud in real-time to promote sharing. And you can send messages to entire Circles at once from the app.”
Critics see don’t see this venture as innocent -- saying Google can’t let Facebook be. A blogger for The Wall Street Journal points out...
“[Google +] promises the Web search people know and love, plus updates of what your friends are doing, thinking, photographing and sharing. If that sounds like Facebook, well, yes.”
Even with the new options Google + provides, a blogger for Search Engine Land doesn’t think it will affect Facebook users...
“If you’re already happy using Facebook, you may have no more incentive to use Google’s new social network than someone already happy using Google has to switch over to Bing. What you’re using is doing the job just fine.”
Whether they can pull off social networking at all is brought into question -- as the LA Times recalls their past attempts...
“This is a risky gambit for Google, which has had a string of social networking flops, most recently Buzz... which automatically included their e-mail contacts in the network, setting off a firestorm. Google changed the service and in March settled with the Federal Trade Commission and agreed to 20 years of privacy audits... Google has to make the transition from a Web that connects pages and a Web that connects people.”
Currently only a limited amount of people are able to use Google + -- those selected by Google. They have not revealed when larger audiences will have access.
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