Could Google Plus replace facebook?
#1 advantage: Data Liberation. "...at any time I want, I can export my Google+ pictures and conversations into a zip file on my local computer and leave their service. Facebook tries to trap that data much like AOL did years ago, and it is a model that has never sat well with me. People should own their own data. Nobody should hold it hostage..."
Comments
Thanks James - that is a really great article. Interesting to see the development and evolution of social networking. It does look like Google+ will extend the functionality offered by facebook.
However, I do share your concerns about the advertising aspect and how to handle the privacy issues. If the advertising is to overt, the technology just will not catch on. People hate it.
But facebook knows very well how concerned their users can be about privacy - and this should be a warning to Google as they move into the social networking sphere. As the article notes, users have identified the risks of mixing business and personal on one platform - more often separating across, say, Twitter and facebook. But the new Google+ would allow them to manage both types of data in one place, allowing different privacy settings for your business vs personal "circles". I wonder if you would be able to choose different settings on how data from each circle is shared with advertisers?