Google+ might have a shot at taking on Facebook

[caption id="attachment_1265" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Google+ was cool until it got all mainstream and popular."][/caption]

 

As I have previously written, I left Facebook back in December of 2010.  The reasons were many, but mainly it was the ongoing issue of security and privacy, issues Facebook seemed to take lightly, especially considering founder Mark Zuckerberg's nonchalance about user data.

The only thing I have missed since then is the real time social interaction which surpasses most real life interactions by allowing me to stay in contact with people all over the world.  No other social media site could offer that on the widespread basis that Facebook did and so I was stuck.

Until now (maybe).  I received my Google+ invitation this morning and found myself immediately populating it with friends and pictures.  While very much like Facebook in terms of activities, Google+ makes keeping individual worlds of contacts separate.  I can have a Circle (Google's term for groups of friends) for professional colleagues and one for just friends or family.  Indeed, I can have as many different Circles as I want and whatever I post to my + site can be directed to only certain Circles, all of them, or none at all.

Best of all, Google doesn't retain any of my data (it claims) should I decide to leave.  I can download all my uploaded posts and pictures to my local machine and it's deleted from Google's sites.  It took me 3 weeks to fully delete my Facebook account and even now, I am not entirely sure it is gone.

After a day of using Google+, I can honestly say "so far, so good".  It's still in beta and invites are few.  Last I heard, the site was shut down to new users again.  If Google can add the time wasting games and other apps that keep people checking Facebook, I would say this service is a strong contender to knock Facebook off its #1 perch.  Especially given the growing frustration with that service.

[caption id="attachment_1262" align="aligncenter" width="645" caption="Very clean and simple interface, designed by a former Apple Mac OS designer"][/caption]