The evolution of social networking

Social networking started for people to interact with their friends who are quiet far away from them, to share their special moments, to give their viewpoints, share music, videos and much more. But then as we know anything which has an existence whether real or virtual goes through an evolution, it cannot stay in its primary form, and so did the social networking.

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Social networking has now become a part of our life. If we win something, before telling it to our best friends, we post it on facebook, or tweet it on twitter. After getting up from bed, the first thing we do is to check what comments have been added to our post. And so because of all this, the meaning of social networking has totally changed. It’s now a billion dollar industry.

It is safe to say that the era of MySpace is a distant thought in history. Few people refer to MySpace daily in today’s social circle, as Facebook (created by a Harvard dropout) has taken the thrown as top dog of the social networking world. Since then, it has seemed Facebook stood as king of the hill with no competition to challenge their rank in our hearts, until now. Google+ is the newest site Google launched to take back the title of “most viewed website worldwide.” Facebook now has a run for its money with Google’s vast following and exceptionally outclassed features. Has the time come where a new king will be crowned, or will Facebook merely adopt similar features in hopes to retain its user base?

If you are an avid user of today’s social media networking sites, you are aware of the battle between Facebook and Google Plus for the supremacy of the social network industry. The fight has become similar to that of ALI vs FRAZIER which many refer to as the fight of the century.

In round one, Google released the first wave of beta testing to select individuals, to test out the newest platform in Google’s arsenal to compete with Facebook. So far, all the reviews have been great and it seems as though Google has one-upped Facebook in terms of innovation and ease for its user base.

Except, there are two problems. One: Google is still in the trial phase and has not gone live for the general public since it is a closed testing. Two: Facebook has just fired back a combination of hits straight into the heart of Google Plus – video chat and group chat.

Talks of Facebook integrating a Skype based video chat feature was the talk of the town not too long ago, but the rumors were dismantled when Microsoft obtained Skype. The features have been released to the Facebook platform, yet are still under development. This raises the question: is Facebook threatened? It is not like Facebook to release any features or applications to the users that are not functional. This may be a ploy by Facebook to keep its users loyal to the brand, or the final product may have experienced technical difficulties during the implementation process. Either way, neither company has a functioning video chat or group chat feature available to the general public, yet.

This giant leap forward for Facebook does not come as any surprise. With the release of Google Plus and the rumors of how innovative and user friendly it will be, Facebook clearly had to step up their game to compete.

There are still a few things Facebook needs to shape up before it can reign supreme. For starters, the privacy policy of Google Plus is 6 times shorter than Facebook’s. If you aren’t aware, Facebook has had some issues with their privacy policies in the past. If you begin to read into them, you will also need a lawyer to explain it, line by line, in laymen’s terms for you to understand each meaning. Google Plus has kept it simple and short so that their users can be at ease. No one wants to question the privacy of any social networking site. Google Plus has made it clear, easy and user friendly is their stance. Until Facebook cleans up their privacy policy, the simplicity of Google Plus may divert users away from Facebook to try out the newest addition to the social media realm.

Facebook, for now holds the championship title for business advertising. The user base and functionality of Facebook gives businesses an edge on marketing to their target consumers. The advantage Google Plus has is there webmaster tool kit. Since the details of Google Plus are kept to the basics, we are unsure how marketing will evolve on this new platform. What this means for marketing? Since we are unsure what this new “experience” will include, it is hard to formulate plausible assumptions as to its functionality. What I do know is that incorporating the arsenal of products and tools Google has to offer to businesses will make it a force to be reckoned with. This will be another advantage over Facebook: differentiate business experience from the personal experience.

The +1 feature of Google has not been liked at all. Some may feel this is just a mere attempt to keep Google in good standings with its users due to all the concerns over their privacy practices. All could be true or false. If you take time to look into Google+ and what it allows you to do, you will see it is similar to Facebook, yet in an entirely different way.

Google+ experimented with a field trial, inviting only those lucky enough to be chosen. This “beta test” must have been a success as those users were allowed to invite others, and so on. Google had to shut down the invitation process due to “insane demand.”

And to add to this fight there is someone called Microsoft who is secretly making its own social networking site called “Tulalip”

It can find relevant information from within social networks. This is the company’s way to penetrate the social networking world. It will be used to find out relevant information from facebook and twitter using Microsoft search engine Bing.

If you type www.socl.com, you would be directed to a web screenshot like the one below.

So now it’s just not about social networking, it’s about creating an industry which has the maximum user base so as to create larger revenue. I certainly would not be surprised if even Apple comes up with a social networking site. It’s all about bringing more and more users to your site and increasing more and more profit. But ultimately it’s the users who have to decide to change from one network to another or stay loyal or manage both. And only one thing can help the likes of facebook, twitter and google plus is innovation. If anyone of them manages to bring in something completely new. The championship would be theirs. So embrace yourself to see one of the biggest battle in the technological world ever happened.