GOOGLE+

As some of you maybe aware, Google launched their new social network this week with Google+. This is a direct competitor to Facebook and it marks the first real struggle between the two Internet giants. Google+ is not available to everyone just yet. They’ve been opening up the application to people via invites only. Google says this is to keep the numbers at a reasonable level so that they can work out the kinks. That very well maybe true but it also has the nice side effect making Google+ seem exclusive and desirable.

I currently do not have access to Google+. I could have begged people for an invite but I am fine with being patient and waiting for Google to improve things before they open it up to everyone. A lot of people seem quite excited about Google+ and I have even read and heard predictions about how people will flee Facebook en masse. Though that could be a possibility, I don’t think it will happen overnight and Google will have to be nearly flawless in its execution of Google+. There are already hundreds of millions of people on Facebook. A social network is pretty useful when it has almost everybody in the world on it. People like knowing they’ll probably find the person they were looking for on Facebook. People also have invested a lot of time and effort into Facebook. They’ve uploaded hundreds of pictures and videos. They’ve built up their farms and mafia empires on Facebook. It will take a monumental effort to get everyone to abandon Facebook for Google+. Though we are talking about Google here and they have a few smart people working for them.

When Google+ is open to everyone, I will sign up to see what the fuss is about. Will you already be on Google+? That might just determine if I stay there or not.