Google+
Opinion

Google+ is the New Facebook

The first day Google+ opened to the public in early September of last year, I was quick to make an account. After getting tired of all the undesirable changes to Facebook and the long list of “friends” that I haven’t spoken to since high school, you could say I was ready to break out and start over.

It was easy to start my Google+ account. All I had to do was type in my Gmail e-mail account name and password and I was on my way to my first +1. A couple hours and a TV dinner later, I had established a few circles (Google+ groups for people you follow), and my Google+ account was officially active.

Google+ is an innovative social media platform that resembles a mixture of both Twitter and Facebook. The executives at Google give its users the tools to have people follow you, for example my old high school friends, without requiring me to follow them back. This unique tool allows users to follow celebrities and comment on their posts without having to actually be their “friend.”

Google+ also gives the user the opportunity to filter and edit posts easily without any significant character limit. Being able to filter and edit posts makes privacy an easier aspect to reach in the social media world. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter have complicated privacy settings that can just be plain frustrating.

The controls aren’t the only difference when it comes to Google+. Even the conversations that occur on Google+, from what I have observed, are much more mature and meaningful than the conversations on other platforms.

Google+ provides an innovative social media platform that combines all the good stuff from other successful platforms (Facebook, Twitter, WordPress) with its newer features and more sophisticated style.

Google+ also offers a unique video chatting application called “hangout” where you can video chat with celebrities at certain times (yes, actual celebrities coordinate their own hangouts) or your friends.

I know many of you may be reluctant to take the plunge into Google+, but trust me on this one, it is worth the switch.

Facebook is constantly making changes to its layouts. I am sure that I am not the only person struggling to learn how the new layout works or trying to figure out how to keep my classic one. The ever-evolving Facebook has just become a constant headache.

Twitter has also become a popular social media platform on campus, but your options are extremely limited. Twitter is full of “Beliebers” and spam. I feel bombarded with ads whenever I look at my Twitter feed.

Though there are some funny Twitter accounts, it’s almost impossible to weed through all the accounts to find the ones that do not annoy you. Twitter is also very timely and if you don’t check back within 15 minutes you could miss 100 important tweets.

As you can tell I am extremely frustrated by the lack of decent options in social media, but Google+ has created the winning platform in my eyes. The integration of all the Google tools we know and love creates a clean, easily navigable layout that has stolen my heart.

I believe everyone should leave Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress behind and join me at Google+. I have extreme confidence in Google+.

This confidence may just be wishful thinking, considering I have become increasingly fed up with each of the other social media platforms available, but there definitely is huge potential in Google+. I hope to see all of you there.