Google+ invites?

[il d00d]

Does anyone have one to spare?  Anyone using it yet?

[zarn02]

http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=50535.0

Torrey is using it. Don't know that he has invites, though.

[il d00d]

Well, I got in - I just refreshed plus.google.com several times and I signed in using my google credentials.  I did put myself on the notification list, I just never got a notification.

Anyways, I have invites, PM me if you want one...

[jclin]

il d00d got me in. So I have invites now. To pay it forward and to thank il d00d, I'll invite the next 3 people are interested and PM me. Sorry it can't be more, but I have to save some for friends as well.

Thanks d00d! DMF always comes through for me.

[Monsterlover]

How is gp different than Facebook?

Which I also don't use.

[il d00d]

You do actually use Facebook, the URL is a little different:  www.ducatimonsterforum.org

Same idea though.  I know this because under my ducatifacemonsterbook profile it says:
"Total time logged in: 40 days, 6 hours and 6 minutes."

Anyways, Plus has:
 - circles - you can limit which posts go to who
 - video chat - facebook announced Skype integration this week, though
 - integration with the rest of the google stuff
 - Better security

There is also little stuff, like the ability to edit messages you post.

I'm rooting for Google on this one - whether you like them or not, their stated charter is "don't be evil".  I believe FB is a house of cards - they don't really have revenue streams like Google and have made some tentative steps to start doing scary things, I think to start making money.  I think Google competes for things like phone OS and social network market share because they can, but also to shore up their core business - selling text ads.  Ubiquity makes this easier to do.

So, I think FB will eventually have to rely on evil to make money, Google just have to starve the beast and keep doing what they have been doing to remain a profitable company.  Hopefully they won't get into the evil business...

[AJ]

...
I'm rooting for Google on this one - whether you like them or not, their stated charter is "don't be evil".  I believe FB is a house of cards - they don't really have revenue streams like Google and have made some tentative steps to start doing scary things, I think to start making money.  I think Google competes for things like phone OS and social network market share because they can, but also to shore up their core business - selling text ads.  Ubiquity makes this easier to do.

So, I think FB will eventually have to rely on evil to make money, Google just have to starve the beast and keep doing what they have been doing to remain a profitable company.  Hopefully they won't get into the evil business...

THIS
Example: FB "beacon" (or whatever it was called) - horribly conceived attempt to make money by following you to other sites and publishing what you purchased.

Google has more cash than it knows what to do with, so here's hoping they keep being profitable and G+ never stoops to FB level. 

[jclin]

I totally agree with that. I've appreciated my time on FB, but there are always annoying things that kept me from spending more time on it. G+ gets those things right.

The latest example I've experienced is this: Let's say I want to tag a photo of a friend in one of my pictures. Let's see how the two systems deal with this. FB-tag immediately, notify friend, give option to "remove tag" which she can only do once she logs in. G+-does NOT tag immediately (unless my friend adds me to the "automatic tag approval" list), notifies my friend, waits for her to approve or to not approve, then adds the tag based on her answer. I don't want people to tag me unless I can see the photo or it's someone I know won't embarrass me. It's like FB requires you to be on it ALL the time OR subscribe to their notification system. Requiring my social presence to spam my email in order to keep on top of things is neither elegant nor desirable.

Now, that's the "privacy" portion of tagging. The other thing is that I find a lot of my friends faux-tag me so that I get that notification, even if I'm not in the photo! It's the only infrastructure that FB provides to notify me of that photo. G+, OTOH, bases everything on its sharing activity. If I post a picture of my friend and I want him to know, then I need to share either directly to them, or to a circle that has them in it before he or she sees it in their feed. It's not based on tagging. I know that it's essentially the same thing: telling someone that they might be interested in seeing this picture. However, the way you do it makes more sense with G+. You share it, just like any other item (link, video, post, etc.) Now some would say that it will be easy to miss that feed item when the news feed scrolls right on by with all the noise. The good news is, all I have to do is choose a smaller circle for the stream! If I do that, the news feed is just from posts made by uses in that circle. Elegant solution and it works for everything!

[zarn02]

As an extension/distillation of the above, Facebook seems to be based on an opt-out philosophy, where things are shared with all and sundry unless you specifically say not to. G+ appears, at this stage anyway, to be much more of an opt-in approach to social networking.

[jclin]

That's so true. It's a different approach, and if you think privacy as important, than obviously the opt-in direction is simpler.

[elyse]

anyone have invites left?

[jclin]

I have invites. PM me with your gmail account username.

[SacDuc]

Okay, want in. I've pretty much turned into a google fanboi. Gmail accounts and android phone and I've been using google documents a lot to distribute plans/specs via a link in an email instead of running hard copies all over town. Very useful. And I LOVE that my contacts are integrated. No more entering that crap twice. Facebook is starting to blow. The security sucks. Go google! I don't even care if they are "evil", just don't suck so much. I mean shift+enter to get a new line in a comment, really? Really FB? And having to open a pic in a new tab to hotlink to it? You suck.

jclin, PM Sent. 

sac

[Slide Panda]

I'm in, so PM me for invites too if you want. The open and close invite windows so when you get the email you might not be able to get in right away. If you can't just try again every so often

[SacDuc]

In!

Thanks Sad Panda!


sac