It’s no secret. I like Google+ a lot. Lot of people love Google’s new social network. But, I think it noteworthy when someone like Steve Kille, a former Senior Research Fellow at University College London and one of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)’s authors writes, “Google+ is very impressive. I reckon Facebook is toast.”
Kille, CEO of Isode, a high-performance messaging and directory server software company, has been helping design the Internet’s communication infrastructure from its very early days. He knows what he’s talking about.
In his blog for Ferris Research, a leading e-mail and Internet communications research firm, Kille explained that he saw Google+ eventually killing off Facebook for numerous reasons.
These reasons included: Google Plus‘ “integration with other Google services [which] will be a key strategic advantage, that Facebook will not be able to match.”
He makes a good point. Google already has, for example, a sophisticated e-mail system, Gmail, and a Voice and Video over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Google Chat. Facebook, on the other hand, is discovering that integrating Skype for VoIP into Facebook is easier said than done. Just today, August 1st, a major Skype/Facebook security hole has been reported.
Kille also praised “The Circles approach to privacy control” because it “puts control of
sharing with the sender in a clean and easy to manage way. Widely aired privacy concerns with Facebook will help fuel the already spectacular growth of the invitation only G+ service.”
That’s another telling point. Many people have been voicing concern about Google+ user security.. Certainly you should be wary of your security on any social network, but keep in mind that Facebook’s security and privacy settings are an ever-changing maze. Heck, here at ZDNet’s we’ve been publishing new editions of the multi-part The Definitive Facebook Lockdown Guide in no small part because even we, people who make their living from riding technology’s cutting edge, have trouble keeping track of what’s what with Facebook’s settings.
He also thinks, as do I, that Google+’s “asymmetric model (like Twitter) will usually work better. It removes the need for ‘hand shaking’ on setup, and subsequent issues of de-friending.” With Google+, you don’t have all the friend/de-friending drama or the eternal Facebook question, “Where do I know this guy from?” You can follow someone new who follows you or not with no pressure.
Kille also thinks that “Photo integration is increasingly important and already better than Facebook. Convergence with Picasa [Google's Web-based photo album] is likely to help G+ to extend its lead.”
When I first started using Google+, I didn’t see this one myself. Since then, though, I’ve found myself being followed by more and more photographers who are using Google+ and Picasa to share their work. I suspect that it’s because photographers are growing concerned about the long-term fate of Yahoo’s Flickr and so they’re looking to move to other services such as 500px or the combination of Google+ and Picasa.
Put it all together, and Kille concludes that while “Facebook has a lot of users and enormous network effect strengths. All the same, I don’t think this will save it from going the way of MySpace.” I can’t disagree.
Related Stories:
Five Things to love about Google+
Three signs Google+ is here to stay (And two that it’s doomed)
