Not gonna lie. Love Facebook. When signing up for it 6 years ago (when you had to be connected with a university to join), I thought it’d be something fun to pass the time. I was wrong. With over 800 million users, Facebook continues to climb the social media ladder offering a way to connect to friends and family, shop and store information, and open up to the world. They’ll have to add more kick to their step however now that Google has created its newest jab at a social media network: Google+. Both sights have the positive and negatives that can entice users to switch or become a part of both.
While looking at the difference between the companies, it helps to see who heads the businesses. Geniuses Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) and Larry Page (Google CEO) are up front and with a competitive edge, both companies are working hardest at having the best teams with the best technology.
Paul Adams, a social researcher for Google was one of the masterminds to create Google+. He didn’t quite get to interject this idea when Facebook asked him to help design advertisements. Adams reply to this on his blog? “Google values technology, not social science.” Thus the war begins. This is the war of all wars for the future of web technology. Receiving and getting info, communicating, posting and living our lives electronically come down to a user name and password for either or both of these empires.
Google, created in 1996, has organized the world’s info and currently stands at $38 million in revenue. It all started with a search. Now they come to offer more than a search with their new baby, Google+. Within the first 4 months, the network had seen 40 million users sign on. This has been the biggest overtaking since Facebook blew MySpace out of the water (Yes, my MySpace account is nonexistent).
Google, created in 1996, has organized the world’s info and currently stands at $38 million in revenue. It all started with a search. Now they come to offer more than a search with their new baby, Google+. Within the first 4 months, the network had seen 40 million users sign on. This has been the biggest overtaking since Facebook blew MySpace out of the water (Yes, my MySpace account is nonexistent).
Some of Google+ ‘s top features include:
- a one click picture upload from a mobile device (Facebook can do the same but it’s not an automated feature)
- a clone of Facebook’s like feature (+1)
- circles, a feature where it’s easy to decide who can see posts by separating groups of friends (Facebook has run into problems with privacy and where online sharing is broken, Google+ users can share as they do in the real world)
- hangouts, a video chat through the account where Facebook only has the text chat feature
- sparks, collected info on a select topic in one place through what friends are sharing or from blogs on the internet (not a feature on Facebook)
- huddle, enables group chats (also not on Facebook)
Google’s main goal now is to slow down Facebook and use Google+ to improve maps, search engines and advertisements. Improving You Tube and Gmail, Google’s other clients, will also make their ads more relevant.
Facebook, owner of the world’s identities, lets your friends talk about things they’ve searched (whether through Google or not). Facebook has come out on top with connecting thousands of apps and websites along with investing more money into advertisements. In fact, their ad revenue will grow to 81% this year more than doubling Google’s 34%.
- a one click picture upload from a mobile device (Facebook can do the same but it’s not an automated feature)
- a clone of Facebook’s like feature (+1)
- circles, a feature where it’s easy to decide who can see posts by separating groups of friends (Facebook has run into problems with privacy and where online sharing is broken, Google+ users can share as they do in the real world)
- hangouts, a video chat through the account where Facebook only has the text chat feature
- sparks, collected info on a select topic in one place through what friends are sharing or from blogs on the internet (not a feature on Facebook)
- huddle, enables group chats (also not on Facebook)
Google’s main goal now is to slow down Facebook and use Google+ to improve maps, search engines and advertisements. Improving You Tube and Gmail, Google’s other clients, will also make their ads more relevant.
Facebook, owner of the world’s identities, lets your friends talk about things they’ve searched (whether through Google or not). Facebook has come out on top with connecting thousands of apps and websites along with investing more money into advertisements. In fact, their ad revenue will grow to 81% this year more than doubling Google’s 34%.
Facebook also has their competitive advantage with:
- the new timeline feature which allows users to express the story of their lives through a digital scrapbook
- deeper connections with social integration with Netflix and/or Spotify
- a hidden stab where four of the 11 top executives hail from Google
- the opportunity in four months to mint millions (an expected $80 billion) when the long-awaited initial offering of going public actually occurs
- seeking for a closer relationship with one of Google’s biggest rivals: apple
- the comment on Google’s fight being a “validation as to how the next five years are going to play out” (a.k.a. we created it first and they are duplicating)
Any nice play today kids? A Stifel Nicolaus analyst, Jordan Rohan thinks not. "It's highly unlikely that either Google or Facebook could grow by the billions that investors expect in the display market without engaging directly and stealing market share from the other." With Google+ coming out, Facebook initiated a lockdown motivating and pushing employees to replicate features of their enemy. Zuckerberg served free food this summer to workers on weekends where Page pushed his team to add features at a quick stride – more than 100 in first 90 days. Page even moved his personal office in with the Google+ team creating one of the largest engineering endeavors they’ve undertaken in their 13-year history.
Google has offered their top engineers and executives more than $10 million in cash and equity if they stay. Their workforce has also received a 10% raise. Even with this, Google’s employees would do better to support their company in valuing that their proposition is different from Facebook; that will compel people to switch accounts or use both. Of the 40 million users on their new site, Google is not certain how many are active in their account. The plus side however is when Facebook makes a mistake next, Google+ will be waiting with arms wide open. Where mobile is the next background for Google, they will find ways to put Google+ in phones.
Being the best will be a fight so may the best company win (seeing most Americans will probably be comfortable with wherever they are at).
- the new timeline feature which allows users to express the story of their lives through a digital scrapbook
- deeper connections with social integration with Netflix and/or Spotify
- a hidden stab where four of the 11 top executives hail from Google
- the opportunity in four months to mint millions (an expected $80 billion) when the long-awaited initial offering of going public actually occurs
- seeking for a closer relationship with one of Google’s biggest rivals: apple
- the comment on Google’s fight being a “validation as to how the next five years are going to play out” (a.k.a. we created it first and they are duplicating)
Any nice play today kids? A Stifel Nicolaus analyst, Jordan Rohan thinks not. "It's highly unlikely that either Google or Facebook could grow by the billions that investors expect in the display market without engaging directly and stealing market share from the other." With Google+ coming out, Facebook initiated a lockdown motivating and pushing employees to replicate features of their enemy. Zuckerberg served free food this summer to workers on weekends where Page pushed his team to add features at a quick stride – more than 100 in first 90 days. Page even moved his personal office in with the Google+ team creating one of the largest engineering endeavors they’ve undertaken in their 13-year history.
Google has offered their top engineers and executives more than $10 million in cash and equity if they stay. Their workforce has also received a 10% raise. Even with this, Google’s employees would do better to support their company in valuing that their proposition is different from Facebook; that will compel people to switch accounts or use both. Of the 40 million users on their new site, Google is not certain how many are active in their account. The plus side however is when Facebook makes a mistake next, Google+ will be waiting with arms wide open. Where mobile is the next background for Google, they will find ways to put Google+ in phones.
Being the best will be a fight so may the best company win (seeing most Americans will probably be comfortable with wherever they are at).
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