Recently I was invited to check out the beta of Google+. I decided to give it a try mainly because I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, if all the buzz being generated really amounted to anything. While 20 million users is an impressive number, compared to Facebook's 750 million members Google+ feels practically vacant. Being invite-only, I feel like I was let into one of those exclusive clubs that has a really long line on the outside that's almost completely empty once you get in, just to make those outside all the anxious to get in.
If Google can continue to be Google, g+ is going to be a major player in the future of what I believe is going to become an essential part of digital human culture. Just as email is now a completely accepted and relied upon way of communication around the developed and in many parts of the developing world, social networking is bound to become a mainstay in our society.
So far my experience has been mostly positive, G+ has all the things in a social network that I'm looking for. It's the first social network I've joined where I feel completely in control of what I put into it and what I'm getting into. I'm also pretty confident that Google had all my personal info on the internet before I even signed up; it's refreshing to not have to give all my user data to yet another giant internet company.
-----:EDIT:-----
I started writing this post just over a year ago, and as I stopped updating this thing around that time that explains why I never finished it. Still, it's interesting to see my thoughts a year ago and compare them to what I feel now.
Though G+'s user base has expanded quite a bit since I last wrote, no one really uses it. That being said, I've made it a point to actually attempt to update mine on a semi-regular basis because I think while Facebook has shown us that social networking is more than a mere fad, Google+ will show us how ubiquitous it can become to our everyday lives. Having Google+ already integrated into every other feature owned by Google just makes me want to use it all the more, and also brilliantly makes me want to use more Google products for ease of usage. Hell, this blog was forgotten by me until Google reminded me it existed and allowed me to immediately sync it with my other Google services.
For awhile I was a little intimidated by using all of these Google products as I didn't want one company to have that much control over me, but now I've taken the opposite view. I've given a snippet of personal data to so many countless websites out there that I have no clue who has what the fuck ever on me. With Google, i'm at least aware of the fact that they have all this data clumped together, and with that knowledge I have complete control over all future data they get from me. I am in control. They have to keep me satisfied or I'll stop using their products, because that's internet capitalism. Anything I really value can be saved to my physical hard drive, all the rest can be dropped like a bad habit.
I really just wanted to finish this post and need to get ready for work anyways, so I guess that's all I have to say on the subject.
If Google can continue to be Google, g+ is going to be a major player in the future of what I believe is going to become an essential part of digital human culture. Just as email is now a completely accepted and relied upon way of communication around the developed and in many parts of the developing world, social networking is bound to become a mainstay in our society.
So far my experience has been mostly positive, G+ has all the things in a social network that I'm looking for. It's the first social network I've joined where I feel completely in control of what I put into it and what I'm getting into. I'm also pretty confident that Google had all my personal info on the internet before I even signed up; it's refreshing to not have to give all my user data to yet another giant internet company.
-----:EDIT:-----
I started writing this post just over a year ago, and as I stopped updating this thing around that time that explains why I never finished it. Still, it's interesting to see my thoughts a year ago and compare them to what I feel now.
Though G+'s user base has expanded quite a bit since I last wrote, no one really uses it. That being said, I've made it a point to actually attempt to update mine on a semi-regular basis because I think while Facebook has shown us that social networking is more than a mere fad, Google+ will show us how ubiquitous it can become to our everyday lives. Having Google+ already integrated into every other feature owned by Google just makes me want to use it all the more, and also brilliantly makes me want to use more Google products for ease of usage. Hell, this blog was forgotten by me until Google reminded me it existed and allowed me to immediately sync it with my other Google services.
For awhile I was a little intimidated by using all of these Google products as I didn't want one company to have that much control over me, but now I've taken the opposite view. I've given a snippet of personal data to so many countless websites out there that I have no clue who has what the fuck ever on me. With Google, i'm at least aware of the fact that they have all this data clumped together, and with that knowledge I have complete control over all future data they get from me. I am in control. They have to keep me satisfied or I'll stop using their products, because that's internet capitalism. Anything I really value can be saved to my physical hard drive, all the rest can be dropped like a bad habit.
I really just wanted to finish this post and need to get ready for work anyways, so I guess that's all I have to say on the subject.
No comments:
Post a Comment