By Chris Lee

After previous failed attempts to break into social networking, such as its ill-fated Buzz programme, Google has again entered the social media arena with the launch of Google+ (Plus). Google+ promises to offer social networking that is more akin to the way humans socialise and also improves on privacy settings which have caused many to turn away from rival Facebook.

Google+ is a bold project and is still undergoing testing, but can it seriously launch a bid to rival the big social networks or is it just Buzz all over again? NMK asked around.

Similar products?

According to Roger Warner, managing director of digital agency Content and Motion, Google’s biggest challenge is convincing people to belong to two very similar services in Google+ and Facebook.

“To me, Google+ is Facebook with a few additional organisational and communication features,” he told NMK. “If the world moves en masse to Google+ tomorrow, then we could all get a really superb service - social plus search plus IM plus email plus, plus, plus… But I don't see this happening in the short term.”

Warner believes that Facebook’s cash position will enable it to roll out features similar to those on Google+ to rival it in a relatively short space of time. For example, when geosocial network Foursquare increased in popularity, Facebook rolled out its Places service.

“Since both services are free, they face a big challenge in getting people to switch,” Warner continued. “This is not one utility supplier versus another. People have worked hard in investing time and effort in building the value of their Facebook experience. They will be loathe to give that up for the benefit of a few widgets.”

Social circles

Kelvin Newman of Internet marketing agency Site Visibility believes that the comparison between Google+ and Facebook may be misplaced.

“Everyone’s been making the connection between Google+ and Facebook but actually I think it may over time become more of a challenger of Twitter,” he argued. “The biggest difference between Facebook and Plus is that FBs relationship are reciprocal, unlike Google+ and Twitter where they are asymmetrical. Behind the long words is an important distinction about how you use the site; the asymmetric relationships make broadcasting more likely than conversation. And if your aim is broadcast the greater functionality of Google+ may lead many people away from Twitter.”

For Content and Motion’s Warner, Google is relying heavily on the idea that it can break down technological barriers against friends and friendship groups that make things like Facebook less personable.

“On paper, things like ‘Circles’ [a Google+ feature] sound interesting and innovative, but I’m not exactly sure how they deliver a significantly different experience to things like creating columns on Twitter or groups on Facebook,” he concluded. “To most people Google is just a search engine. That’s it. Sure, they might use it as a mail provider or even use Chrome to browse the web, but to a lot of people Google is merely a service provider whereas Facebook is easier to associate as a ‘brand’ or ‘destination’.”