Social NetworkMirna Bard

Is Google + Competing with Facebook?
Posted Jul 25th, 2011 By Mirna Bard in Google With | 4 Comments

Hands-down, Google is the most popular website on earth. Yet they seem to be worried about their stiff competition coming in at a close second – none other than Facebook.

This is precisely why Google has decided to introduce their own social network as Google +. Google has tried to make a number of different social media channels over the years, like Google Buzz and Google Wave. Yet nothing has caught on so far…

But now we can consider Google + for a second. Google + makes no bones about the fact that it is supposed to be just like Facebook with a few enhancements. Maybe we could call it “Facebook with a facelift”? Instead of opening up Google + to the public, Google has decided to create a little bit of buzz, so to speak.

Upon its introduction, you can’t sign up directly for Google + just yet. Initially, you have to be invited by someone else who is a member in the beta stage of this social network. But even with this type of exclusive appeal, Google + has managed to gather 10 million members as of July 2011. This is nowhere near the mega benchmark set by Facebook at 750 million members, but it seems to be off to a strong start.

Google + versus Facebook

At first glance, Google + looks like a copycat of Facebook. You can post your thoughts and updates, just like you can to the Facebook wall. There is also something called a Stream, which is exactly like the Newsfeed on Facebook. And to compete with the “Like” button on Facebook, Google + offers a +1 button so that you can show that you are a fan of a post, picture, video, or what have you.

But the big, shiny difference between the two is that Google + has a little something called Circles.

If you’ve ever had the thought when using Facebook that you’d love to say something a little more inappropriate, a little more private, or a little wackier than what you would share with all of your friends, Circles may be the answer. You can create circles of friends, family, acquaintances, and following, which is similar to Twitter. You can also create your own circles with specific members, like Grandparents or College Friends, where you can share private jokes or special stories to your heart’s content without boring everyone else on your Stream.

And when you decide to share something, you are able to specify which circle that it is sent to. Of course, you can choose to send the information to all of your circles or just one to keep a bit of news private. This minimizes much of the fuss surrounding social media, like teachers getting fired for posting pictures of a drunken party or saying something inappropriate. If you want to post something that you don’t want your boss to see, then don’t post it to a public circle, plain and simple.

Although this may be a subtle difference between Google + and Facebook, only time will tell how the Circles feature attracts users to this new social network.

Guest Author: Bethany Ramos is an expert in Internet marketing and social media marketing, and she also co-owns her own e-commerce website, The Coffee Bump.
Does Google+ have a chance?
Posted Jul 19th, 2011 By Mirna Bard in Google, Polls, Social Networking With | 9 Comments

Please vote and include any additional opinions in the comments below!
Are you ready for the Google Network?
Posted Apr 22nd, 2011 By Mirna Bard in Google With | 2 Comments

Welcome To the Google Network

Google TV exists; it is the interactive programming installed on certain models of Sony HDTV televisions and works with various LG products as well. With Google TV, you can search the web, check and send email, and play Internet content directly on your TV. That is seriously cool, and while Apple has it too, but theirs is a little less feature rich. Like much that Google has done in the past, it is a cool project, but it never really captures the public’s imagination; however, this may be about to change. Google is going to be working on some major upgrades to YouTube that could be the beginning of an actual Google Network.

Your Interactive Past

Does anyone remember the Time magazine cover story on our interactive future, way back when the Internet was young? Does anyone remember what WebTV was? WebTV was a set top box that connected your television to the Internet. In reality, it was a simple way to access email and some basic, sandboxed, browsing from your TV. While Microsoft bought the company and did nothing with it, a few are still out there, unbelievably, and one is now known as the MSN TV.

The interactive vision has been around for as long as the Internet has been a part of the public perception, it just never took off. Convergence was the buzzword to describe the future where TV and Internet became the same thing. The person producing the content was the single problem that arose. Companies saw a future in which people would be able to access and share their precious franchises without revenue control, and froze solid. That copyright and infringement issue has kept the Internet on a leash ever since. (more…)
The Social Networking Monopoly
Posted Apr 8th, 2011 By Mirna Bard in Social Networking With | 6 Comments

It is fair to say that most consumers consider Google and Facebook the Internet in its entirety. While they may be aware of other sites, when they think about the Internet, what they are thinking about is one of the above corporate giants. Social networking has been around for a long time. One of the first online communities was “The Well,” which still exists and was created in 1985 as an extension of the “Whole Earth Catalog.” MySpace, Xanga, and many others were very popular until the Facebook juggernaut took over the entire Internet. So will there be only one search engine or a single social network in the end?

The Faceless Book

It was not too long ago that Facebook was, while successful, just one of a number of social networking sites that people used to keep track of friends, communicate, and post pictures and messages. Friendster, MySpace, Xanga, Classmates, and others all served different demographics and markets.

Facebook on the other hand was originally a social network strictly built for Harvard students, and because exclusivity breeds desire, it led to Facebook expanding to include all Ivy League students. It later expanded again to include all college students of any school, and, finally, anyone with an Internet connection. This “forced scarcity” and tiered rollout created a huge demand and now we have the Facebook of today.

Facebook now claims to have 500 million users, which, if true, constitutes 25 percent of all Internet users. The other social sites have faded fast and while some have survived, many are no longer in business. With the social networking side of things well in hand, and Google the largest gateway to the web, Romulus and Remus rule us all and we are experiencing the end of the Internet. Or is it? (more…)
Ask Mirna: What’s Your Take on Facebook’s Privacy Concerns?
Posted May 17th, 2010 By Mirna Bard in Ask Mirna, Facebook, Social Media, Social Networking, Viral Marketing With | 5 Comments

QUESTION:

“Mirna, what’s your take on Facebook these days with the privacy concerns? I didn’t like seeing my FB photo, name, text box pop up online.” — Pam W.

ANSWER:

Good question, Pam! Several people asked me the same thing, since I did not react much to the changes.

As briefly mentioned to you on Twitter, I think users should have the right to choose if they want to show others what sites they visited. However, I also see Facebook’s perspective on helping brands and other businesses boost their viral marketing efforts since this will also support the site’s growth. To a certain extent, they were not thinking of the average Facebook user because they ended up causing a tremendous amount of confusion and commotion.

Although I think Facebook and other social networks do a very poor job at educating and listening to their users, I do believe it is the users’ responsibility to protect their own privacy. Everyone online should be focused on having fun, educating themselves about social media and working on their strategies, instead of wasting too much time worrying about the Facebook changes.

We have to all remember that a huge part of using social media is transparency. It is our choice to make whether we want to use social media or not; and we decide what to share and how visible we want to be.

As you know, I share a lot of content and consider myself to be very visible online. But, I am also a very private person and don’t like sharing my entire life with the world. Although, I allow everyone to get to know my personality, I am very strategic and extremely cautious with what I post or discuss on social networking sites.

If privacy is still a concern, here are a few tips when using any online tool or website:

- Use common sense. If you do not want your competitors or great great grandchildren to see something, do not post or discuss it.

- Take the time to check the privacy policies before using a social media tool or application.

- Be responsible and use privacy settings when joining social networking sites.

- And last but not least, if you are using sites like Facebook for business, please remember to use them as supporting tools only. Too many of us are concentrating way too much on these tools instead of focusing on what is truly important — our business strategy and our websites.

If you still have concerns, questions, and comments regarding privacy, please post them below.

If you would like to get your questions answered by Mirna, please visit the Ask Mirna page.