Last week we wrote a number of articles on Facebook but this is because they are such an interesting company that are getting so many things right. We are well aware Google+ bought out a product which allowed group chat(Hangouts) but Facebook know that the majority of people have one-to-one chats and launched their video chat feature.
Facebook have given businesses people lessons for years now and we managed to see some just last week
1. Get your product right - make sure the consumer loves it then start charging for it - this could mean market research first & knowing your customer - Facebook have data on over 750m people.
2. Innovate - because once you have a great product then people will copy and it's important to always be one step ahead - but for Myspace and Skype partnership in 2007, may have been to early.
3. Stay Efficient - if your not efficient enough to do something then outsource or partner with someone who has the resources such as Facebook and Skype - Spotify are also reported to be reaching a deal with Facebook.
The recent reports were right - So we now have Facebook with one-on-one video chat, not to long after Google+ launched and gave us hangouts. This i'm sure is going to be quite a problem for Google attracting users, who don't need to chat to more than one person.
So we have Google+ hangouts where you can get up to ten people in to one chat and yet to be opened to everyone. Whilst Facebook has launched its one-to-one chat that brings Skype inside your browser. You don't need a new account either to use the Facebook video chat. I still see Google+ as an additional profile for remote workers and Facebook video calling for those personal social calls. We also found out that Facebook have their 750 million users - WOW!
How easy do you find Facebook's Video Calling - here's a clip from YouTube.
***NOW CONFIRMED***
This recent spoiler that I have heard, doesn't surprise me - Skype is being brought to Facebook! With the recent knowledge that Google+ has a group video feature how will Facebook's compare? Are both skype and Facebook going to see a huge rise in users, almost certainly.
Skype was recently bought by Microsoft for $8.5bn. Microsoft became the "exclusive third-party advertising platform partner for Facebook" and began to sell advertising for Facebook internationally on Oct. 24, 2007. This shows their close ties and Microsoft's lack of entry in to the social network market other than Facebook. Is this as Mark Zuckerberg put it "awesome"? Tell us your thoughts @snaksocial
OK this story was broken a while back but I have received an invite to try it out. I have seen some cool features with the new google+ which I think is going to be really helpful for some business people. Their idea to give invitation has only made the buzz more appealing because we can see the product but only a number can touch it.
The first cool feature is the hangouts which I think is going to be really helpful for any conference calls which if you want this service at the moment many people use Skype's group video calling which costs around £5 per month (not much but still...).
I have also seen sparks now this can be quite cool for sharing news stories perhaps industry news with colleagues and can also help you to collectively gather cool stories that you'l find benefit the people you work with.
Circles has got to be one of the coolest things because this will allow you to put your contacts into what can only be called "circles" so that you can share certain information with those who you wish to target. In a business sense (which this article is targeted to) the circles will be great for putting your contacts in to different circles such as media contacts, editors, directors, programmers & so on. this could be great for finding new staff, getting answers, marketing the business etc...
My conclusion is that the odds are stacked against Google+ becoming the next Facebook but I think it will be one like Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and so on because it will be used "as well as" not "instead of". Remember though I haven't actually tried Google+ yet. With all these useful features for business as well as people I believe that allowing integration with a company like Linkedin will give Google+ a strong position for a more mainstream social growth if it doesn't grow that way at first.
