#68 - Social Networks, One Joke and One Bit of News

Motto: Google Plus is better

It was just pointed out to me that I should make a column comparing Google+ to Facebook, so when people ask me why Google+ is better than Facebook I can just refer them to this. So I'm doing a very very short version of that right now:

There are three 3 social networks - Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Twitter is full of short, random tweets about anything. When you tweet, we pretty much tweet to the entire world. When you go to Twitter, you'll see 140 character snippets from celebrities, people that don't actually exist, people you've never met, and rarely, people know and care about talking about stuff you know and care about.

Facebook is full. Facebook is full of pictures of the kids of and news about people you kinda sorta used to know. When you post on Facebook, you are sharing not with everyone in the world, just basically everyone you've ever met.

Google+ is less full. What is there, though, is way more directed for you. Who you share things with is an integral part of Google+, so things that get shared with you generally apply to you directly.

• Twitter:
• Pros -
• Public tweets are searchable
• Hashtags allow for post discovery and great filtering and searches
• Cons - 
• Tweets are limited in scope and content
• Sharing with select people is downplayed, which leads to lots of noise
• Personal, directed sharing of things is not easy - there is a lack of structure
• Facebook:
• Pros -
• Everyone has it. Your friends from school. Your coworkers. Your camp friends. They can all keep up with you and see what you are doing.
• Native photo viewer with the ability to comment on things directly - there is a strong structure
• Cons -
• Everyone has it. Your mom. Your teacher. Your boss. Your 12 year old cousin. They can all keep up with you and see what you are doing.
• Facebook gives you the ability to waste infinite amounts of time learning things you don't really need to know about people you don't really need know. It has turned "stalking" into a culturally accepted habit.
• Facebook makes everything "official". You aren't really "dating" until it's on Facebook. You aren't really someone's "friend" unless you've added each other on Facebook. Every post and every picture carries the burden of being accessible to anyone at anytime. This scrutiny or opportunity for scrutiny later on gives each post you write a relatively equal amount of meaning. This interjects extra meaning into some situations that shouldn't warrant any while simultaneously removing meaning from some that do. 
• Facebook has a very "I'm a 14 year old girl and I need to show off to everyone" mindset. Here's pictures from my vacation to New York - everyone look at these and be jealous about how awesome my life is. Here's pictures of my with my pretty friends. Here's a picture of me doing something fun and exciting with someone you've never met - I just wanted to let you know so you could know how cool and fun and exciting and cool and fun I am.
• Google+:
• Pros -
• Every time you share anything, Google+ makes you actively select who you are sharing it with. This is a simple idea with paradigm-shifting implications. Things you see on Google+ were intentionally shared for you, with you in mind, and thereby usually carry some sort of meaning or importance to you directly. Google+ has all the features of Facebook, with the addition of the perfect level of privacy.
• Google Hangouts - 
• You know Skype? The thing that lets you video chat over the internet? All you have to do is install Skype, get a username, have the person you want to talk to install Skype and get a username, swap user names, then start the program and start a Skype call. Oh - and you can get more than two people on a call if you want - all you have to do is have everyone pay for the more premium services. 
• Google Hangouts allow up to 10 people to join in on a group video chat (or "hangout") entirely for free - using only your Google account. Hangouts can be started or joined in on from any internet-connected computer, phone, or tablet. I have used Google Hangouts to wake Melissa up in Thailand while I was shopping, group chat with her, her sister, and her parents, and to do a screen share to show someone how to work a program on the computer. This was all free, and will always be free. Google Hangouts alone would be enough of a reason to get on Google+.
• Integration with Android. It's native and it works better than any other social client/cell phone integration that I've ever come across.
• Cons -
• Not everyone uses Google+ yet.
• ???

When Google+ first came out, critics claimed it was a blatant copy of Facebook. Google+ has, by and large, grown into its own niche and built out its own products and services that less and less resemble Facebook. It's also interesting to note that Facebook's recent redesign looks startlingly similar to how Google+ has looked for the past half year. Not that that's bad, it's just something funny to note.

I want to work for NASA. Then, when I get tripped up by problems in normal life, I will say "I can't do this, it's not rocket science."

That's my joke. Boom.

I scheduled a flight to Thailand. That's happening. 

April 5th to the 14th.

I'll probably have an interesting post around April 15th.

Here's a picture:

I couldn't leave the parking garage at the Plaza.

Top 5: Most Brilliant Shows on Television Today
5. South Park - there is brilliance underneath a veil of stupidity and obscenity
4. Packs and Recreation
3. Community
2. The Colbert Report
1. Modern Family

Quote:
“You do realize this photo isn't the same as putting that $40 in my pocket”
- Nick, about a photo I sent him of the $40 I owe him -