Extra Credit: Google+

For this extra credit assignment I had to make a Google+ profile. This was interesting to me because when Google+ first came out I was hesitant to see what it was all about. Making the account was super simple. I didn't have to add any personal information and I could choose who I wanted to follow and things I wanted to follow. I like the concept of circles, because that is one thing about Facebook I'm not too fond of, is having everyone lumped together.

I found the article, comparing Facebook to Google+, very interesting. I was surprised to see the number of people who said that they were going to ditch Facebook for Google+. So far I have not seen that with my friends. When Google+ first opened last summer, there was little to no buzz about it from any of my friends. Out of the 888 friends I have on Facebook, I found less than 20 that are actually on Google+.

I do agree that Facebook privacy was an issue when Google+ first came out. However, as result Facebook has made major changes in the privacy department.

Facebook also made other changes when Google+ came out. When trying the Google+ "Hang out" option, I found it was very similar to the video chat option on Facebook. The only difference is that the "Hang out" option allows more people to chat at once, which I think is more useful. You can "Hang out" with individual people or whole circles. That would be perfect for chatting with family members who are far apart of with groups for projects!

Google+ was a good idea in theory, however I haven't seen it take off the way that Facebook did. Granted the platform is still relatively new, however I don't think at this point it is good enough to compete with the empire that is Facebook and I don't see myself switching over anytime soon.