With a billion users, Facebook continues to trump every social media platform; they have the most registered users and the largest percentage of active users. However, Twitter is the fastest growing social media platform. And then there’s Google+, which despite a slow start, continues to be a major player.
And so the pressure is on as everyone races to become a key part of the future web. In the past couple years, Facebook created timeline; Google+ quickly unveiled a layout- almost an exact mirror of timeline. Google+ adds pages to accompany search results; Facebook decides it should have a search function too. Twitter’s #hashtag system is adopted by Google+; Facebook caved soon after.
So, for all of you who wonder “should I invest my time in Google+?” or “do I even know the difference?”, here is my personal pro/con list. Enjoy:
Google+
- Pro: Circles makes it easy to manage your friends and filter content.
- Con: Customizing the privacy of every feature tied to Google is cumbersome.
- Pro: With customizable searches, Google searches will cater towards your own interests and preferences.
- Con: My search engine of choice is collecting information on me, who else gets to see it?
- Pro: Google is better geared towards networking and making new connections.
- Con: For people who don’t want to be exposed, this is a con.
- Pro: Everyone I know is on it.
- Con: I mean EVERYONE.
- Pro: Unlike Google+, it’s easy to manage privacy settings from one place.
- Con: I can “deactivate” my account, but I can never completely delete it. And don’t get me started on ghost accounts….
- Pro: It’s easy to use, and I already know how to use it.
- Con: They replacing features I like with ones I don’t like. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Fortunately, you don’t have to pick just one. But for those of you who have used both, what is your honest preference?