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Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

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Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#121

Post by zwily »

Jasber wrote: post #66
mrshoe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, Facebook lists already do everything he praises Circles for in this article. They might even do a little more (e.g. share with List A, excluding anyone in List B). As he correctly notes later in the article, the lists feature is not prominent on Facebook, and therefore few use it (or maybe few people actually want it?). But it definitely will not require a major architectural overhaul by Facebook.

My problem with lists is it acts as a separate group rather than a filter. I want to see everyone's posts who is in a list. Instead I only see posts that have been specifically shared with a list. With circles, it automatically filters my stream without anyone having to post to my list or group. They just share it with me. This is a subtle but important difference for me.

People don't post to a list on Facebook. Your friends don't even know they're in a list, like Circles. You can filter your stream by lists, but it's not exposed on the UI and you have to do some URL mingling.

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#122

Post by masonhensley »

The problem is that you cannot categorize the thousands of friends on any social network. No one should or would curate that many connections.

As cool as the lists/ circle are, they will be kinda pointless if users are overwhelmed by the monumental task of curating everyone.

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#123

Post by zwily »

winsbe01 wrote: post #67
mrshoe wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, Facebook lists already do everything he praises Circles for in this article. They might even do a little more (e.g. share with List A, excluding anyone in List B). As he correctly notes later in the article, the lists feature is not prominent on Facebook, and therefore few use it (or maybe few people actually want it?). But it definitely will not require a major architectural overhaul by Facebook.

exactly. i think more people would use the lists if it were a more prominent feature. with G+, they are center stage, so people can easily interface with them.

They used to be more prominent. They were "hidden" only after it turned out that people didn't like classifying their friends. Either they just did it wrong, or Google will discover the same thing with Circles.

(I already find myself pretty much just putting everyone in one of two circles now.)

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#124

Post by ForrestN »

jimbokun wrote: post #23
pmichaud wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook has "circles" but they are called "groups." I have sources that say, unofficially that: 1) They were not blindsided at all. They worked hard to compete on major features before g+ ever came out. 2) "Groups" has more or less similar functionality, and the feature is known to have a poor UI right now. The point though is that FB thought about this and even though they aren't up to the same polish with that fea…

"Just UI polish." If Apple's success has taught us anything, it's that "UI polish" trumps pretty much everything else when it comes to making money from software, and it is hard to get right (or else everyone's UIs would be just as polished as Apple's). So if Facebook is behind Google in "Just UI polish" they may have very much to fear, indeed.

Agreed. People spend a lot of time on Facebook, and most I know complain about its frustrating UX and ugly design. People aren't using Facebook's groups feature, so it's immaterial. Having a feature isn't good enough, it has to be broadly usable and ultimately, it has to be used.

It is true that Facebook may just copy the best innovations of Google+, but that puts them in a defensive position and obviously isn't what they want. We've seen what happens to giants who bank on leveraging their entrenchment in the current market.

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#125

Post by PotatoEngineer »

yalogin wrote: post #36

Leaving the emotion of Google+ being awesome out - what is preventing facebook from copying this? They have a huge number of users who are not going to leave overnight. Facebook we all know can turn on a dime to get products/features out. If these features are really that sought after and good they could just implement them and give it to their users. Why won't that work? Also facebook is a platform as much as a soci…

The biggest problem is that Facebook is already a known quantity. As mentioned elsewhere, Lists and Groups can replicate most of the Circled functionality---but nobody uses them. They're not well-known, and users aren't about to start using them, even if Facebook reworks themselves: people are accustomed to sharing with everyone on Facebook.

Google+ has positioned and designed itself for Circles, and has firmly shoved Circles into everyone's skull. I think it's more of a branding thing than a technical difficulty thing at this point.

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#126

Post by jmjerlecki »

I disagree with this portion of the article:

You have hundreds of friends, but your news feed is always filled up with nonsense from the same 5 friends that seem to send an update every other minute.

I believe Facebook has an algorithm that only displays status updates from the people I interact with most on the service. For example, using Seesmic or Flipboard shows each status update, as opposed to Facebook on the web I seem to see only a small number of updates and I have noticed they tend to be from the profiles I visit the most. I am actually not bothered by my Facebook feed, although I do love the notion of circles. My Mom got a circle all to herself.

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#127

Post by dools »

"These circles represent a powerful innovation. They allow us to send more personal updates just to our closest friends instead of forcing us to share with all of our hundreds of acquaintances"

Powerful innovation!? Give me a break. This should be called an "obvious innovation" or "trivial implementation". How is it any different from having mailing lists?

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#128

Post by jdhopeunique »

kisielk wrote: post #115
spullara wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Facebook Friend Lists are far more powerful than Google Circles and Facebook Groups are an entirely different beast. At an architectural level Facebook Lists are a core feature. They even had them front and center for a few years as they asked you to populate them by "how do you know this person?" when you added them as a friend. The problem is that no one wanted to use them so they were gradually phased out of the U…

"The problem is that no one wanted to use them so they were gradually phased out of the UI." That basically says to me that not enough emphasis was placed on designing the site around the feature. I think that's what Google's done right in their case, circles are front-and-center and not just another feature in an already feature-cluttered UI.

A prime example of a fundamental feature of facebook is the concept of a single wall that all of my friends can post to. Even if I could figure out how to prevent my work/church/family friends and my college/bar-hopping/trouble-making friends from seeing each others posts to my wall, I'm still faced with an uncomfortable UI that displays posts from both groups at once. That aspect of the UI alone doesn't help me feel secure about privacy on FB.

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#129

Post by aufreak3 »

The share target in G+ leaves me wanting for a "not" operator - i.e. share with "A and B but not C". I really wish they give a special "advanced" geek interface for this - full set operator support. I tend to think "A+B-C" and every time I've got to warp my head to the way G+ or FB thinks.

Re: Google+ is Awesome. Facebook Maimed, Twitter Mortally Wounded?

#130

Post by waterlesscloud »

bmelton wrote: post #102
SoftwareMaven wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they will only add their photos to one, and that one will ultimately pull ahead.

And that is exactly why, at least on Android phones, the out of box Plus configuration is to automatically upload all pictures that are taken on a phone.

You've got to have misstated that. That would be a complete and total disaster of enough scale to completely kill Plus.
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