
07.07.2011 / Technology
Five reasons for a switch
At a first glance, Google+ looks like a white clone of Facebook. Why then, even before being publicly disclosed, is Google’s new social network already considered as a serious menace to Mark Zuckerberg’s creature?
And why, above all, should a long-time Facebook user with thousands of contacts and a familiarity with its features take the trouble to migrate to to Google+?
Although the invites for limited field trial have been stopped for now and only a few users are actually able to try the network, the reviews and conjectures abound.
We surfed the net in search for the reasons why we might soon find ourselves switching to Google+.
1) FRIEND MANAGEMENT
The Circles concept – a way of mimicking real life where we interact in different ways with different friends – is one of the most important and proclaimed features of  Google+.
While Facebook’s Groups are just a tool for sorting out our contacts, Google+ Circles are at the heart of the network’s concept: besides building a different profile for each Circle, you can hide the information regarding which people belong to your Circles and which Circles you belong to.
2) DELETING YOUR OWN PROFILE
While it is widely known that deleting your Facebook profile permanently is very hard, apparently Google+ makes the task less difficult. Besides, Takeout allows you to pick up all the data you’ve banked at Google+ before quitting.
3) CONTENT SHARING
Users wishing to share contents with Facebook must leave the site. Google+, on the contrary, allows its members to share information with friends instantly thanks to its integration with Google Search. Furthermore, through the Sparks feature, it reccomends sites and videos which could be of interest to you.
4) INTEGRATION WITH GOOGLE
Besides Google Search, Google+ is integrated with all the free Google services already used by millions of people – Gmail, Calendar, Picasa, Google Docs etc…
5) FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
According to an in-depth analysis by the Commiteee to Protect Journalists, Google+ could be a safer tool for reporters at risk working in dangerous or authoritarian environments since everything is encrypted with https, a transfer protocol often used for payment transactions on the web which makes it far more difficult to decipher the information.




