Nearly two months after it launched Google+, search engine giant Google has now opened up its social networking site to the general public. The network, which up until now was ‘invite-only’ can now be accessed by just going to Google.com and clicking on the +you tab on the left side of its top navigation bar.
The newest social networking site created a buzz when it was launched in end June, and, within a matter of weeks garnered 20 million members. However, of late, the enthusiasm seems to have died down. This could have been the deciding factor for the Mountain View company to throw an open invitation to the public.
Senior vice president of engineering at Google, Vic Gundotra, wrote on the official blog, “For the last 12 weeks, we have been in field trial and during that time we have listened and learned a great deal. We are nowhere near done, but with the improvements we have made so far, we are ready to move from field trial to beta and introduce our 100th feature: open signups. This way anyone can visit Google.com / +, join the project and connect with the people they care about.”
There is no denying that Google introduced a slew of new features to Google+ during its trial period, including, turning Hangouts into a broadcast platform and integrating search into the fledgling social network.
One can’t help get the feeling that Google waited a bit too long before throwing its doors open to the public. Rival social giant Facebook, seized Google’s status of exclusivity, to introduce a slate of its own updates, comparable to Google+ features.
As Rachel King of Zdnet says, Google+ has had to face a few challenges on the way, most of which were of its own making. The main amongst them was the name issue, wherein Google insisted on users’ opening accounts with real names, and deleting, accounts that it deemed to be fake, based on their system of judging people’s names. They faced a lot of flak in the blogosphere on this account.
Facebook’s lead in the social networking area is far more than substantial, yet it would not be wrong to say that the leader must be feeling the heat. What makes Google+ a hazard to Facebook is the treasure of features it offers. For instance with Google+ Hangouts, you can:
- Hold hangouts via Android Smartphone
- Share your screen
- Draw together
- Hold topic-based hangouts
- Create and edit together
In fact, it is nothing short of a broadcasting platform.
On the other hand, it could be that Google+’ trove of features could act as a deterrent to users who are not exploratory in nature.
Facebook’s F8 Facebook Developers Conference, begins on Thursday, and it would not be in vain to hope that the social media giant will come up with a plan of action against Google’s public launch.
It has taken Facebook considerable amount of time to reach the level of interaction it has today with the public, it remains to be seen whether Google+ will coexist with the leader or whether one of the social networks will spell doom for the other.