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Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
I've been in for about 12 hours now. Not much going on in the + world yet, but there are signs of life.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
There's no invite setup as of yet. I'll pass them out like candy once that's in place.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,580
2,005
Seattle
On it. So far there's fvck all going on but I think it'll pick up a bit at some point.
 

woodsguy

gets infinity MPG
Mar 18, 2007
1,083
1
Sutton, MA
Invite only? Yea, this is going to go real well. Probably about as good as Google's other attempts at social networks.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Invite only? Yea, this is going to go real well. Probably about as good as Google's other attempts at social networks.
Facebook was Harvard-only at first, and Gmail was invite-only at first, yet both products seem to be doing ok now.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
I've been in for about 12 hours now. Not much going on in the + world yet, but there are signs of life.
Facebook was Harvard-only at first, and Gmail was invite-only at first, yet both products seem to be doing ok now.
Gmail's invite-only worked well since it still interacted with other email systems around the world.

Facebook worked because it concentrated users in a small community.

Until Google+ achieves full openness and gets people to migrate over from FB, I have to keep *both* open, and that doesn't work so well. It's why Skype took over from AIM (which took over from ICQ), it's because that's where the users are. If 90+% of my friends/coworkers/colleagues are on one IM/Social Media site, I'm going to end up using that even if it's not as good as something else...
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,570
24,185
media blackout
Invite only? Yea, this is going to go real well. Probably about as good as Google's other attempts at social networks.
it's a beta service. this is almost always how google does stuff. don't forget gmail was in beta phase for 5 years. The first year - year and a half you needed an invite to get in. After the first 6-8 months invites were easy to come by though.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,570
24,185
media blackout
Gmail's invite-only worked well since it still interacted with other email systems around the world.

Facebook worked because it concentrated users in a small community.

Until Google+ achieves full openness and gets people to migrate over from FB, I have to keep *both* open, and that doesn't work so well. It's why Skype took over from AIM (which took over from ICQ), it's because that's where the users are. If 90+% of my friends/coworkers/colleagues are on one IM/Social Media site, I'm going to end up using that even if it's not as good as something else...
i think google+ has the potential to obliterate FB for the sheer fact that it will integrate so well with googles other, preexisting services. that, and the fact that it already has the worlds largest userbase of smartphone users to boot.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
i think google+ has the potential to obliterate FB for the sheer fact that it will integrate so well with googles other, preexisting services. that, and the fact that it already has the worlds largest userbase of smartphone users to boot.
At the *very* least it's going to push FB to completely re-invent itself in the next 12-18mo. After playing around with it for a couple hours it reminds me of Chrome when it first came out: Obscenely powerful (Chrome was *the* fastest browser when it launched), and with a slick and clean interface that makes it's competitors look chunky and old. Nowadays IE and Firefox have caught up with Chrome in speed, and they've pretty much copies the interface.

I personally think that the hangout video-chat and more specifically free *group* video chat could revolutionize social media. Just say you've got a group of 20 people or so in your "college friends" circle, and you start up a group video chat. Others in that group of 20 can see that you're doing a hangout session, and can jump in / jump out as they feel like it. Combine that with the fact that just about every laptop sold has a video camera on it, and that just about every smart phone has a front-facing video camera on it (oh FSM, please don't let Google/Android screw this up), anyone in that circle can drop by and say hi. It basically takes the idea of video skype away from "ok, now we're going to sit in front of a computer at a predetermined time and wave at each other" to a more informal sort of free-for all.

Of course, that's just theoretical so far since I'm, uh, only connected to Toshi (they stopped the invites sometime last night), and I'm concerned with the Android 2.2's inability to sense a front-facing camera (it's why google's video chat won't work on it, as you have to be running a 2.3 Gingerbread OS), but it could be a MASSIVE step forward in SM. Then again, it could be another Wave/Buzz/etc, but that will be a wait and see. At the very least it will probably push FB to integrate some type of video-chat into their program, and update the clunky, outdated look and feel of the thing.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,570
24,185
media blackout
At the *very* least it's going to push FB to completely re-invent itself in the next 12-18mo. After playing around with it for a couple hours it reminds me of Chrome when it first came out: Obscenely powerful (Chrome was *the* fastest browser when it launched), and with a slick and clean interface that makes it's competitors look chunky and old. Nowadays IE and Firefox have caught up with Chrome in speed, and they've pretty much copies the interface.

I personally think that the hangout video-chat and more specifically free *group* video chat could revolutionize social media. Just say you've got a group of 20 people or so in your "college friends" circle, and you start up a group video chat. Others in that group of 20 can see that you're doing a hangout session, and can jump in / jump out as they feel like it. Combine that with the fact that just about every laptop sold has a video camera on it, and that just about every smart phone has a front-facing video camera on it (oh FSM, please don't let Google/Android screw this up), anyone in that circle can drop by and say hi. It basically takes the idea of video skype away from "ok, now we're going to sit in front of a computer at a predetermined time and wave at each other" to a more informal sort of free-for all.

Of course, that's just theoretical so far since I'm, uh, only connected to Toshi (they stopped the invites sometime last night), and I'm concerned with the Android 2.2's inability to sense a front-facing camera (it's why google's video chat won't work on it, as you have to be running a 2.3 Gingerbread OS), but it could be a MASSIVE step forward in SM. Then again, it could be another Wave/Buzz/etc, but that will be a wait and see. At the very least it will probably push FB to integrate some type of video-chat into their program, and update the clunky, outdated look and feel of the thing.

agreed on all points. they've cut it down to what people NEED when it comes to sharing and communicating.

I suspect that next year, most, if not all, high end android devices will have front facing cameras (both phones and tablets). i'm getting antsy for gingerbread on my galaxy tab (yes, even the original gen had a front facing camera). I think one thing that will help drive this is that we'll start getting devices with ice cream sandwich by years end.


edit: facebook is also starting to get myspace-y with all the games and spam and their horrible ad implementation.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,570
24,185
media blackout
as long as we're talking about myspace...


A day after Google went public with a tilt at Facebook, today’s dominant social network, News Corp has found a buyer for MySpace, the ruling online hangout of yesteryear. The selling price is said to be between $30 million and $40 million — at best about 7 cents on the dollar News Corp paid six years ago.

The news comes from The Wall Street Journal, like MySpace also a division of News Corp. No official word yet from either party.

When Rupert Murdoch’s media conglomerate bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005 it was the place to be online. As recently as 2008 it was still the top locale. But in April of that year Facebook surged and left MySpace in the dust. And according to the Law of the Digital Jungle — there can be only one über-dominant social network, search engine or word processor — that meant that the inexorable MySpace death spiral had begun.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/news-corp-dumps-myspace/
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
Yeah, Gingerbread 2.3 is about the only reason I'm seriously considering rooting my droid... Unless of course Vz gets their act together and puts out that release for the Thunderbolt that they've been claiming they're going to do (for the past 3 months).


edit: Can you imagine if the same transition happened at FB? Go from a $50b company to a $30m one over a period of a couple of years? I'd laugh my a$$ off.
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
Facebook was Harvard-only at first, and Gmail was invite-only at first, yet both products seem to be doing ok now.
2 out of ... ?

exactly how does this significantly differ from fb/gmail & why would joe user want it? seems like a me-too product that also needs ramp-up time (and phase out from fb, which i'm ok w/ now that mom/wife are on it)
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,570
24,185
media blackout
Yeah, Gingerbread 2.3 is about the only reason I'm seriously considering rooting my droid... Unless of course Vz gets their act together and puts out that release for the Thunderbolt that they've been claiming they're going to do (for the past 3 months).
which droid do you have?

also, if you have a droid branded device, GB is in the works if you don't already have it. i know a number of devices received GB during a soak test last month, but big red ultimately rejected it, so motorola has some more bugs to work out.


edit: Can you imagine if the same transition happened at FB? Go from a $50b company to a $30m one over a period of a couple of years? I'd laugh my a$$ off.
facebook won't stay on top forever. all their growth these days is international. I saw somewhere recently that last month, FB has their largest user drop in the US EVER (something like 7mil US users "deleted" their accounts, ie just deactivated)
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
which droid do you have?

also, if you have a droid branded device, GB is in the works if you don't already have it. i know a number of devices received GB during a soak test last month, but big red ultimately rejected it, so motorola has some more bugs to work out.
Thunderbolt. Vz's been promising an update for some time now, but it might finally be actually coming?

facebook won't stay on top forever. all their growth these days is international. I saw somewhere recently that last month, FB has their largest user drop in the US EVER (something like 7mil US users "deleted" their accounts, ie just deactivated)
The more I think about this, the more I think there's a pretty good chance that FB's days are numbered... Having the largest user group didn't help MySpace, it didn't help AIM, etc. I'm almost wondering whether in another 6mo young people will start saying "Facebook?!? Yeah, I think my *mom's* still on that... Whenever I log in I get a ton of Farmville updates from her and that's about it."
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
85,570
24,185
media blackout
The more I think about this, the more I think there's a pretty good chance that FB's days are numbered... Having the largest user group didn't help MySpace, it didn't help AIM, etc.
Not a matter of if, just when.


Whenever I log in I get a ton of Farmville updates from her and that's about it."
that's what's killing it. too much extra crap. if i wanna play games, i'll turn on my ps3. if i wanna do some casual gaming, its my phone or tablet.


Just to reiterate, the best thing el goog has going for it is that it already has all the back end developed... email, chat, calendars, etc. This infrastructure already exists. Plus just gives an optimized way to link it together.
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
Was just playing around with the picture-taking integration, and if everything else is this good I doubt I'll be on FB much... Uploading pics to FB was always a pain, as it was done through HTC Sense, and it had a 50-80% failure rate (take picture, click "upload to FB via HTC sense", wait......... upload failed).

With + it's 1) go into G+. 2) Click photos 3) Click "take picture" and it's pretty much uploaded immediately. Turn on automatic geo-tagging, and the only option that's left is whether you want a caption or not.
 

$tinkle

Expert on blowing
Feb 12, 2003
14,591
6
apart from rebuilding your social empire, it does seem to be easier to manage 'friends'. but if that's a big draw to get you off fb, you probably shouldn't have a computer (or grandkids in the other cases)
 

dante

Unabomber
Feb 13, 2004
8,807
9
looking for classic NE singletrack
apart from rebuilding your social empire, it does seem to be easier to manage 'friends'. but if that's a big draw to get you off fb, you probably shouldn't have a computer (or grandkids in the other cases)
1) Better managing friends
2) Seamless integration/uploading of pictures (built into the front end instead of a 3rd party app)
3) Seamless integration of 4-square-like features, including a "nearby" page that lists open threads that are geographically close to your mobile device.
4) Group video chat.
5) Hangout, which is move of a come-and-go type of video chat as opposed to a staid, boring, tied-to-a-computer thing that skype is.
6) No fvcking farmville.
7) Far fewer privacy issues.
8) Much cleaner/better looking interface.
9) The hopes that at some point they'll introduce Skins (like for gmail, chrome, etc) so you don't have the same boring Blue-On-White FB uniformity crap.
10) Ummmm, that might be it off the top of my head...

edit:
11) Zero-compression pictures hosted through Picasa, that you retain full ownership of.
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Zero-compression? Certainly not for the grainy thumbnails in the stream…
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,032
7,552
Nope, but you can click on the pic to get taken to the Picasa photo-viewer to scroll through pictures. As I'm looking at yours I can't find a way to "download original" though, so...... ?
I don't have that option even for my own photos, either, so it must be an omission.