Google+ is a Facebook beater PLUS a social phenomenon: Nine reasons why

Google+ has had a fascinating start and it looks good enough not only to be just a Facebook beater but also a social phenomenon, revolutionizing the way we connect to each other in our daily lives.

Meanwhile, people may think Google+ has borrowed some good ideas from Facebook. Nonetheless, it offers some cool new approaches which Facebook doesn't. And, hence, even though now Google+ has just started, it could soon be a solid alternative to Facebook.

So what Google+ is all about? Let's dig in.

Must Read:

> Top 5 reasons why Google+ will beat Facebook+Skype Video Chat  

The biggest dazzle Google+ has is integration. Almost all the existing Google online services, from Search to Documents and Video, have combined together with Google+. If you’ve used any Google products before, you might be surprised that information is automatically imported to your new Google+ account. Without ever leaving the current Google service you are using, you can monitor all Google+ events (updates, messages, etc.) as well as share content with friends.

Google isn’t based on two-way "friend" relationship. Instead, users create groups of other users - Circles. If you’ve put your friends in your Best Friends Forever circle, they can even ignore you without you knowing it. The Circles is only for your convenience, that you can share things with all of them as a group.

The Circles concept more closely follow the way you organize your contacts in real life. We meet different kinds of people everyday and interact with them in many different ways. Circles offers a simple means of organizing one's social network by grouping contacts into anything you can possibly imagine - family, friends, co-workers, etc. The groups can be formed by dragging the contact's picture/photo over a circle that represents the group (a group of people can also be dragged over a circle!)

In other words, Circles allows you to focus on the things a subset of your contacts are interested in and helps you to separate the signal from the noise. This could be Google+'s biggest strength as it the biggest problem with not only Facebook but also with Twitter as well.

With Circles, Google feels it has hit the sweet spot as the biggest problem of sharing that has hounded social networking sites has been solved.

Through Stream, you can see instant updates from friends in your circles. When you post something, Google+ encourages you to carefully choose which Circles and individuals you want to share the post with. You can make it available to 'All Circles' or even to 'Extended Circles.' It has some similarity to Facebook. However, it’s much simpler on Google+.

Sparks is for those who use social media to consume news. Sparks pulls in stories, videos and other cool content relating to your specific interest. According to Google, the content in Sparks stream is different from the results you'd get if you put the same term into the search engine.

In other words, through Sparks, you can get an instant fountain of relevant information to share with friends. After you are asked to choose from a list of possible interests (biking, sailing, etc.), or to put your own specific interest, Google+ goes out and searches almost completely on-topic content from all over the Web. In particular, you can choose who you want to share with - a single friend or a group of friends. Facebook can't do this, since it doesn't have search engine. Users of Facebook must leave the site to find stuff to share or wait until their friends share it with them.

Hangouts is a really shiny feature of Google+. It’s a kind of mashup of video chatting through Gmail. It lets you find others who are "hanging out" on the Web and engage in a video chat with them. It is a feature that Facebook doesn't currently offer and could likely be a big draw for teenagers to socialize with friends.

With Hangouts, up to 10 of your contacts can see and talk to one another. It seems like a natural and fun thing to do while forming a little chat group. What's more, Android mobile users can start up group text chats. Facebook doesn’t have these tools.

Huddle is a SMS conversation group of members whose mobile phone numbers are visible to all.

Google+ has Instant Upload option that automatically uploads all photos and videos from your phone to your profile. From there, you can decide who to share that content with.

The main Google+ Android app has brought the core parts of Google+ to a mobile device. Posting notes and contents and comment on others' sharing is quite easy.

It's not exaggerated that privacy has been the biggest problem that Facebook has faced. It's quite possible that your information is overshared by your boss, your family, or even complete strangers.

In comparison, Google+ has solved this problem quite well. It allows you to choose which Circles you want to share that content with. Also, it lets you know clearly that the information you contribute to Google+ will be used to help refine search results.

Another advantage Google+ has over Facebook is their "data liberation," which allows you to pack up and take your data away from Google+ should you decide to leave the service.

This is a big draw for Google as privacy has always been one of the pet peeves of Facebook and users complain how difficult it is to leave Facebook and take their stuff with them.

In conclusion, Google+ looks good enough to beat Facebook and, the fact that Google+ is still a work in progress, there are lots of rooms to improve and innovate. Is Facebook listening?