Google+ is not about one’s family, friends and coworkers, like Facebook. This is a sort of monumental difference, so I’m going to go ahead and insert a line break here while we all come to terms with it.
Once people break their Facebook conditioning and get it into their heads that they can find and follow interesting people on G+, they may stop joking that it feels empty. Even in beta, with most of my friends not yet on board, my G+ posts get instant responses, and I feel like I’m having a public conversation with the whole of the Internet.
I do understand that having a public conversation with the whole of the Internet may not appeal to everyone, but I don’t care about viewpoints other than my own and I have decided that this is one of the best things to have happened to the web in a while.
As people who follow my various crimes against bloggery may know, I’ve long had a problem with the way the “revolution” of the “social Internet” really kicked the shit out of socializing on the Internet (among other things), and this has largely been the fault of Facebook. If you see an interesting comment on one of your friend’s Facebook posts you are not likely to add the commenter as a friend, because you don’t know them and that would be creepy as fuuuck. Facebook has been such a massively successful service that this trepidation about talking to new people has become the norm online.
On G+ you don’t have to think twice about who you add, because they can simply post all of the irritating personal bullshit you have no interest in to their Family or People I Hate circles. Some folks coming from Facebook may need a while to get used to the idea that it’s okay to make friends online.
Human beings generally struggle with forming opinions on stuff unless they have something to compare it to, but it is important that we at least pick something similar to that which is in question. We should be comparing G+ to Twitter, if anything, and surely not Facebook.
Compared to Twitter, good gravy, what an upgrade across the board.
If you have a Google+ account, type an interest of yours into the “Find People” box at the top and click on Find everyone matching “Penises”, then add somebody to your I am a typical Internet user and I love Penises circle.
If you don’t have a Google+ account yet, post a comment and I will send you an invitation.
