COLUMN: Google+ changed the world
Facebook has been criticized for their privacy policies for some time. Privacy advocates are constantly sounding the alarm over perceived violations of privacy perpetrated by the largest social networking website in the world.
Facebook is so monolithic — where is one to go if they disagreed with the Facebook privacy policies? There was always the option to delete one's Facebook profile altogether, but doing such a thing would quickly result in social isolation. As sad as that might be.
Then along comes Google with their own website, Google+. Although very similar to Facebook, Google+ offers two huge advantages that lured people to the site.
First, Google+ considers privacy an “opt-out” feature as opposed to Facebook's “opt-in” policy. In other words, Google+ assumes you value privacy unless you state otherwise.
Second is the “circles” feature of Google+, which other than being a fantastic tool for sorting one's content feed, adds an additional layer of privacy by easily allowing someone to include or exclude other users from seeing specific content.
Within days, Google+ was flooded with so many new accounts, some were saying it was only a matter of time before it overtook Facebook as the largest social networking website.
Both Google and Facebook began very publicly swiping at each other.
Live and learn.
Traffic to Google+ has fallen dramatically and it only seems to be losing already-fragile footing. Perhaps the victim of overinflated expectations, it appears as though Google+ is headed for “has-been” status. Even if people liked it better, the transition to a whole new social media platform was simply too much work for too little benefit.
Something very interesting has happened in the meantime, however. This week Facebook began rolling out its newest features, including an improved news feed. It is undeniable the renovated news feed feels a whole lot like that of Google+.
Additionally, over the past few weeks Facebook has unveiled brand-new privacy features, including a “lists” system that allows one to pick and choose who can see specific content they create. Sound familiar?
Facebook privacy settings are more streamlined and customizable than ever. In the past couple weeks it has become a significantly more secure website.
Although the Facebook competitor looks as if it might fizzle out without ever having made a dime on their social media project, Google has changed the world. Now the largest social networking site in the world, Facebook is responding to the demands of millions of Internet users to better their privacy standards.
We have Google+ to thank for that.
