Google, the most popular Web site on earth, is worried about the second-most popular site. That, of course, would be Facebook.
Why else would Google keep trying, over and over again, to create a social network of the same type? Orkut, Jaiku, Wave, Buzz -- Google has lobbed forth one fizzled flop after another.
And now there's Google+. It's the latest Google "we wanna be Facebook" project. The difference is, this one's got a real shot.
Instead of throwing open its doors with a big splash, as it did with the hopelessly confusing Wave and the privacy-challenged Buzz, Google is letting Google+ seep into the world virally. You can't yet just go sign up; you have to be invited by someone who's already a member.
Even so, Google+ already has millions of members. That's not quite 750 million (Facebook's current tally), but watch out for the network effect.
At first, Google+ looks like a shameless Facebook duplicate. There's a place for you to make Posts (your thoughts and news, like Facebook's Wall); there's a Stream (an endless scrolling page of your friends' posts, like Facebook's News Feed); and even a little +1 button (a clone of Facebook's Like button), which may be where Google+ gets its peculiar name.
Why else would Google keep trying, over and over again, to create a social network of the same type? Orkut, Jaiku, Wave, Buzz -- Google has lobbed forth one fizzled flop after another.
And now there's Google+. It's the latest Google "we wanna be Facebook" project. The difference is, this one's got a real shot.
Instead of throwing open its doors with a big splash, as it did with the hopelessly confusing Wave and the privacy-challenged Buzz, Google is letting Google+ seep into the world virally. You can't yet just go sign up; you have to be invited by someone who's already a member.
Even so, Google+ already has millions of members. That's not quite 750 million (Facebook's current tally), but watch out for the network effect.
At first, Google+ looks like a shameless Facebook duplicate. There's a place for you to make Posts (your thoughts and news, like Facebook's Wall); there's a Stream (an endless scrolling page of your friends' posts, like Facebook's News Feed); and even a little +1 button (a clone of Facebook's Like button), which may be where Google+ gets its peculiar name.
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