Due to the nature of Google+, as well as the fact that it is still inexplicably in Beta, there are not many ‘friends’ I have there. The vast majority of people I follow by circling are professionals and industry pundits; a very influential or at the very least highly respected crowd.
That is why I find it very interesting that a big part of the communication exchange over at Google+ centers around hating Facebook. The hostility usually comes in the comments, which often creates a great dissonance. It’s like innocent observations by famous topic starters provoke regular folks to reach for pitchforks.
When Mike Elgan publicly asked his respective Google+ and Facebook followers whether they think new Facebook features are hot or not, the reaction was amazingly disproportionate. FB users went (unsurprisingly) with plain ‘hots’ and ‘likes’, whereas some of the negative responses from the G+ community were simply vicious. ‘You can’t polish a turd?’ ‘Fuck Facebook?’ Really? Is that the sort of genuine and quality social interaction I’m constantly hearing about?
I like both Facebook and Google+. I like Facebook more, because, as a social network, it allows me to keep in touch with most of the people I have met in my life, plus a few I haven’t. The abridged interaction in small dozes, plus all the shared links, is all I need during smoke breaks at work. And when I get on Google+, I know that I’ll be reading thoughtful and original ideas of otherwise unreachable tech and media superstars.
But at the same time I brace myself for the inevitable avalanche of negative and idiotic comments from people I’ll never know, but who always feel it’s their obligation to comment on a celebrity post. It’s a hyperbole, of course. Plenty of useful and engrossing info can be found in the comments. Maybe. Unfortunately, I no longer feel like digging in to make sure. It has all the excitement of scanning through a forum flame war.
And that’s really unfortunate, but perhaps expected. By opening Beta mostly to advanced users as well as those who are ready to vocally bash the competitor no matter what it does, the wheels were set in motion for the creation of a very specific community. The only problem is – there is not much to do in this community for a regular Joe like me. As I’ve already said in Twitter this whole Facebook vs. Google+ war is no longer exiting. I’m literally too old for this shit. My social networking war should be about innovation, not public relations and name calling.
I wrote most of this text on Wednesday, but something stopped me from publishing it immediately. And of course, on Thursday I learned about Facebook’s newest toy – Timeline. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Facebook and not Google+ just reignited my initial interest in this technology race. Kudos to Zuck, I guess… Unfortunately, recent experience with negativity on Google+ makes me really unwilling to check out what the G+ camp has to say on the matter.
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