Google+ vs Facebook: 6 reasons to say goodbye to Facebook and join Google+

By Rafael Martin

Google+, the new attempt of Google to reposition the company in the Social Networking space, was launched on the 28th of June. For the moment, it is not open to everyone, but a few people have had the opportunity to test the platform.

I have spent the last few days "playing" around, testing different features, and getting a good understanding of what this new platform has to offer. And of course, I've kept wondering about the obvious question: will Google+ be able to defeat the one and only Social Networking platform: Facebook?

However, maybe this is not the right question. Google+ is much more than just a new product of Google… it is a social layer that integrates many other Google services, such as Picasa, Google Chat, Google Calendar, Google Maps, and some others. Therefore it is fair to assume that Facebook is competing with Google as a whole.

Facebook is a giant with more than 700 million users today, adding an impressive 400.000 new users per day and can claim that each user spends on average 16 hours per month socialising through the platform. Everyone seems to be there and if not, they will join soon. Or: can this giant be defeated by Google? Here we have 6 reasons why people will move from Facebook to Google+:

1) It is more simple and easier to use:

For the average user, Facebook is just too much: lots of information on the wall, complicated privacy options, third party applications generating spam, profile picture changes, and a long etcetera. On the contrary, Google+ offers a clean interface which is intuitive and simple to use.

2) Integration with other services of Google:

It is difficult to find a person on the Internet that doesn't use at least one Google service, like Search, Gmail, Google Maps, Picasa or YouTube,. Google is making an extra effort to combine all these services in an integrated environment with similar look-and-feel and way to use. Now, when you check your email in Gmail or search for the location of a new restaurant in Google Maps, you will see a black bar in the top of your browser window that will keep you updated of what is happening in Google+. This is a subtle but very important and smart movement of Google to make sure that their users keep constantly engaged in Google+.

3) Easy way to setup your contacts with Circles:

A big challenge with any Social Networking platform is: how can I separate easily what I communicate to my colleagues at work from the conversations with my family or the jokes I share with my friends? In Facebook you can create lists of friends, which, in practice, is not being used very much because it is tedious and not intuitive.

Google has found a better and more intuitive solution to manage contacts: Circles. You can drag and drop your friends into different circles, which are integrated in every piece of content you create on the platform. This way, you can easily decide who will be able to see what you are publishing. Simple, intuitive, just wonderful.

4) Hangouts and group (video) chats:

With Google+ you can forget about the unreliable Facebook Chat. Now you have powerful tools to have real time conversations with one or several friends, in text or video mode.

This is also a way to differentiate from the non-free Skype video group service.

5) Privacy taken seriously from day 1:

Facebook has been highly criticized for not taking the privacy of its users seriously enough. With Google+, things are different. Just to give you a couple of examples: First, with Google+ it is very easy to delete your account. Second, when someone is tagged in a picture, the person has to accept the tag before it is published. Even though Google is not perfect, they have shown a high degree of transparency when it comes to privacy and respect of its users. Google+ is just another example.

6) It is Google.

What do you think? Do you consider these reasons good enough for Google to defeat Facebook? Do you disagree? Can you find additional reasons why Google+ compares favourably (or not!) to Facebook?