Google+ is changing the way I interact with and use my social networks. I hope to make some sense of it in this post. Some obvious changes have been simply using the other social networks less. I seldom open Seesmic anymore to tweet. I look at Facebook when I get emails saying I have something new to look at such as a new post or comment in one of the groups I belong to. I use LinkedIn only when absolutely necessary. What has happened that has changed my behavior? Is it what Google+ does or what has happened to the other social networks? I will compare each against Google+ and what has changed in my use of that social network.
Facebook vs. Google+
I have never big a big direct poster (?) to Facebook. Most of my updates and posts usually get there by way of my blog or Twitter. I used to use Facebook more as a means to network with other librarians and other online “friends.” At one point I spearheaded a big effort at my former place of employment to reach out to the students. I actively ”friended” everyone I could find that was associated with Morrisville College. That was in the early days of Facebook. Frankly, I have lost count of how many friends I have on Facebook. I now only friend with people I know in the real world, acquaintances from high school, and family members. Except for the Facebook pages I maintain for the Baker Commons and the TC3 Alumni Association, I do not post anything exclusively to Facebook (except for the Facebook Group WordPress and Librarians). Facebook has turned into a tool for me to keep ion touch with my family. What brought about these changes in my behavior?
Several things happened before I got access to Google+ that changed my use of Facebook. The biggest change was a couple of idiots in my family as well as one from high school. I started getting all of these inane and off topic comments to posts from my blog that I also posted to Facebook. While I eventually found ways to deal with them, it was not easy to exclude them from seeing my wall posts related to libraries. The problem is they were also people I wanted to maintain contact with for various reasons. Another event was the constant changes by Facebook in its interface and how it manages privacy. Just when I thought I had it working right, something would change. Privacy control in Facebook has never been granular enough and too much was hidden or difficult to use. The introduction of new features and how things are shared there also raised my concerns. You may be asking what this has to do with Google+.
The best feature in Google+ for me are the Circles. I am able to control what I share and with whom I share in way not possible or easily done on Facebook. The Circles feature allows me to organize in a very intuitive way the people I want to share with. Facebook does not easily allow me to do that. Recent changes may make it possible to do so but I have not found the time to try those new features out yet. I may be suffering from Facebook Burnout with the constant barrage of requests to play games, dig through the new 150 possible relatives that different Facebook apps found, or simply tired of having to constantly tweak my privacy features.
Twitter vs. Google+
I am a promoter and user of Twitter for personal and professional use. But, my use of it except for posting started to go down before I even got my invite for Google+. I found it getting to be unmanageable to read my stream as I currently follow 484 people and have 999 followers. Managing lists in Twitter is a bit cumbersome. I was also getting frustrated at the 140 character limit. I use it primarily now as a feed out for my blog posts with retweets of important tweets from my stream when I have time to read it. I now primarily use it for official posts via the library twitter account. I have also gotten very tired of spam on Twitter. The other issue I have with Twitter is not actually directly with Twitter. It is with the people who have created desktop and web based clients for Twitter. I use Seesmic for the Web. The problem is they keep adding new bells and whistles that get in the way of the clean simple Twitter interface. Also, Seesmic can’t seem to make up its mind what business it is in.
Google+ does many things better than Twitter. Again, Circles are much better than lists. I have been using what I learned trying to manage my lists to start using my Circles more efficiently from the very beginning. Twitter also does not attach a retweet to the original tweet so conversations get lost. G+ keeps conversations together in clear readable form. I can also turn off the display of a post or its updates if I get tired of seeing it over and over again. It is impossible to do that in Twitter.
LinkedIn vs. Google+
It is hard to compare LinkedIn and Google+. I can’t afford to use the best features of LinkedIn that would make it more valuable to me. What I have found recently is that LinkedIn does a lousy job controlling its Groups. I belong to the WordPress Group. About 1/2 to 2/3 of the messages posted there would be allowed through if I had control of it. There are not supposed to be any job posts or any unrelated posts. I have flagged content and yet the same violators post again and again. I use it as a directory or people finder more than any other use. If I had to give up anyone social network, it would be LinkedIn.
Google+ vs. Other Social Networks
My bookmarks folder is full of the detritus of social networks that I have tried for a short period or just signed up for so I could control the use of my prevalent username. One such social network is Ning. I started a social network there several years ago as a way to learn about Ning. That network was Library Two Point O. For awhile Ning was the pioneer but the need to make money got in the way of innovation. Ning is the only social network where you have to go to it to see the contents of your inbox or new posts. All other ones I am familiar with allow you to get the actual text of the posts in your email. Ning is too closed in and parochial anymore. The best thing about Google+ is that i has learned from all of the other social networks and is now forcing them to adapt and grow. I am using Ning as a typical example of social networking sites that have gone in the wrong direction. Nin had a real chance to go mainstream but lost it when they closed down all of the free networks on it.
My Future Use of Social Networks?
What will I do in the future? That is a difficult question to answer. I may decide to give up my personal use of Twitter entirely if G+ because open to all in the near future. I will not give up Facebook but will definitely trim down my “Friends” there. What may change the whole social networking landscape for me is Diaspora. I am waiting for my invite. I got an email late last week that I would have one by the end of October. I hope I get it sooner than later. Stay tuned for the future.
