Brajeshwar

Update: Comment below with your email to get a Google+ Invite.

There are a plethora of social websites available in the virtual world. Wikipedia even has a list of them. Despite, Google has taken a bold step by unveiling Google Plus, one of it’s precious projects. If rumors are to be believed, it could give a tough competition to the king of the social networks, Facebook. Few geeks among us would have already figured out the difference between both Facebook & Google Plus. For those who haven’t, do read ahead for my take on it.

Google has already had two big disappointments previously after launching Buzz and Wave. Google Plus is the third ball which Google is hoping to make a home run. If we keep the satire aside, Google has tried to play it safe, as they are surely uncertain about Plus being a hit. Note, Google deliberately calls Google Plus as a ‘Project‘ rather than a ‘Product‘ because, it wants people to be ready for changes in Google Plus, in near future. Plus, it has deliberately limited access to approximately 200,000 users. And also, the famous, ‘Only Invite‘ approach.

On prima facie, there are a lot of features which are strikingly similar to Facebook. The biggest similarity being Google Plus’s stream which looks like Facebook’s News Feed. Apart from it, the Circle resembles that of Facebook’s Friend List. Site navigation wise, Google Plus ‘Circle’ is more easy to manage, as family, friends and others list have a drag and drop option. Spark in Google Plus helps to meet people whose interests and hobbies match yours; akin to that of Facebook’s ‘Community’ feature.

Some features which surely were refreshing are hereby mentioned too

• Hangout – It’s something which, in future, most of the offices might use. Hangout offers to video chat with maximum ten people at same time. It’s kind of cheap and delightful video conferencing. Quite Innovative, must say.
• Huddle – It’s a group texting systems app for android smartphones using Google Plus network. It also gives option to automatically upload pictures from phones to web. Quite similar to the Steve Jobs’ idea for its Apple iCloud service; but Google executed it first.

Launches like this will surely have mixed opinions on the web. And then, the holy critics will always have their word. Many will find Google Plus similar to Facebook; but still there are millions in the pupulace who cannot wait to play with it. It is not me who is speculating that, but the poll carried out on Mashable – What Do You Think of Google Plus? The results are, as expected a mixed bag. Go to the poll for yourself to figure out what the world around you thinks about Google Plus.

For sure, there is chance for Google to make it big; but the only gigantic difficulty it will face is – Convincing 650 million Facebook users to switch to Google Plus. If Google Plus can offer Me a chance to gossip, fun, and entertain like Facebook and Twitter; it will certainly give a tough fight to Facebook. Realistically speaking, Google Plus is no Facebook Killer. And, I can bet any amount of my hard earned money on it.

For now, I sincerely hope that it is not just another Google Sham!