Google in face-off with Facebook for social networkers

GOOGLE is taking yet another stab at social networking, as it tries to go up against Facebook in this wildly popular and lucrative segment of the internet.

This time the project is called Google+ and it aims to make online sharing more like real life.

Other social networking tools make selective sharing within small groups difficult. They don’t allow for the nuances that people are used to in offline communication and because they call so many acquaintances “friends,” said Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google.

Many Facebook users, for instance, find it difficult to limit their status updates to small groups of people so that their co-workers aren’t exposed to party photos or their parents aren’t privy to flirtatious posts on their “wall”. Though Facebook has tried to address this with a much-hyped “groups” feature, it’s not clear how many people use it.

Google, which dominates internet search, has been experimenting with different social tools since late 2009 with poor results.

The project Google unveiled on Tuesday lets users share things with smaller groups of people through a feature called “circles”. This means only, say, school friends or your favourite work colleagues can see the photos, links our updates that you post.

Another feature called “sparks” aims to make it easier to find online content you care about, be it news about surfing or barbecue recipes. You can then share this with friends who might be interested in it. In an online video, Google calls it “nerding out” and exploring a subject together.

There’s also a group messaging service called Huddle and a special video chat feature, in which up to 10 people can join in a conference call.

Another feature lets users instantly upload photos that they take with mobile phones. The photos are stored in a private photo album on Google’s remote servers, and users can access them and share them as they see fit.

Google drew more than 1 billion visitors worldwide to its websites in May, more than any other company, according to Web analytics firm comScore. But people are spending more time on Facebook.

Google+ seems designed to make its online properties a pervasive part of the daily online experience, rather than being spots where web surfers occasionally check in to search for a website or check email.

As with Facebook’s service, Google+ has a central web page that displays an ever-updating stream of the comments, photos and links being shared by friends and contacts.

A toolbar across the top of most of Google’s sites — such as its main search page, its Gmail site and its Maps site — allows users to access their personalised data feed. They can then contribute their own information to the stream.

The company has combined the Facebook and Twitter models of social networking in Google+ — a person can have friends in their network with whom they share information and they can also follow certain people, say a movie critic, as occurs on Twitter.

Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li has high hopes for the friend grouping feature. She said that her biggest pet problem with Facebook is its friend management tools. She noted that millions already use Google to share things with others via email, and Google+ looks like an extension of this, making it more functional and organised.

“I think Facebook is going to have to up its game,” she said.