Google to begin forcing Google+ on people

[notjustjay]

I was spooked out by Facebook when I signed up (being forced by another site that required a Facebook login ) and had it immediately present me with a long list of people I might know, and indeed knew at least a hundred of them. How did they know considering I never gave them any history? Scary.

When new users sign up for Facebook, the site encourages them to send it their contact lists from Gmail, Hotmail, etc. in order to search for their friends on Facebook. Even if you chose not to do this, probably there were a few of your friends who had your email address in one of their contact lists. I bet it saves that information so when you signed on, it showed you those names.

In addition, the site cross-references people's mutual contacts, under the assumption that if you're friends with Adam and Bob and both of them know Chris and Dave, then you likely know Chris and Dave as well.

 

[george-brooks]

Just because more people will have accounts doesn't necessarily mean more people will immediately use it. Quite frankly I don't see what the big deal with google+ is. I find it hard to navigate and lacking features. I think Facebook has done something that no other social networking site has done in the past (i'm specifically thinking myspace) in that they have not only made themselves a universal thing that nearly everyone has but they also manage to update when their competitors/friends come out with something new. Facebook is integrated into other sites in ways that we havent seen anything similar at all to in the past and I think that at this point their influence is so large that anyone else will have a tough time attracting enough users to make something as universal. Google+ might be the way of the future, but I think that future is still 5 years ahead, if not longer.

 

[notjustjay]

Just because more people will have accounts doesn't necessarily mean more people will immediately use it. Quite frankly I don't see what the big deal with google+ is. I find it hard to navigate and lacking features. I think Facebook has done something that no other social networking site has done in the past (i'm specifically thinking myspace) in that they have not only made themselves a universal thing that nearly everyone has but they also manage to update when their competitors/friends come out with something new. Facebook is integrated into other sites in ways that we havent seen anything similar at all to in the past and I think that at this point their influence is so large that anyone else will have a tough time attracting enough users to make something as universal. Google+ might be the way of the future, but I think that future is still 5 years ahead, if not longer.

I would tend to agree, but 5 years is a long time in internet land (5-6 years ago things like YouTube and Google Maps didn't exist or weren't commonplace yet!)

What drew me to Facebook was that it was relevant to me, compared to MySpace which seemed to be for teenagers trying to hook up and promote their punk bands. By contrast the people on Facebook included my old friends and former classmates and a lot of people that I knew. It felt more "grown up". Now of course even that is changing: every 12-year-old has Facebook and plays silly games on it. So who knows what will happen. Facebook might continue to dominate and be relevant, or it might become completely overrun with kids and predatory apps trying to mine their contact information and sell it to spammers.

 

[george-brooks]

I would tend to agree, but 5 years is a long time in internet land (5-6 years ago things like YouTube and Google Maps didn't exist or weren't commonplace yet!)

What drew me to Facebook was that it was relevant to me, compared to MySpace which seemed to be for teenagers trying to hook up and promote their punk bands. By contrast the people on Facebook included my old friends and former classmates and a lot of people that I knew. It felt more "grown up". Now of course even that is changing: every 12-year-old has Facebook and plays silly games on it. So who knows what will happen. Facebook might continue to dominate and be relevant, or it might become completely overrun with kids and predatory apps trying to mine their contact information and sell it to spammers.

I know what you mean, Facebook definitely started out as the more mature site. But I think Facebook is just more universal. My friends' 10 year old kids have Facebook profiles, my 95 year old great grandmother has a facebook, my friends (teens and 20s) ALL have facebooks, my mom, my dad, aunts and uncles, professors, EVERYONE has a facebook these days. In fact, I would say that if anything, the average new facebook user is getting older, not younger. Certainly 5 years is a long time for the internet, but I think internet time is slowing down. Myspace really only had 3, if not less "golden years" (around 2004-2007 when facebook totally took over) and showed signs of weakness even before the big switch hit the world. I think facebook is the opposite, it has only improved and at this point, they have 3 times as many users as MySpace ever did. 800 million members, more than half of which use the site every day. As little as a year ago that number was more like 500 million. It will take something absolutely earth shattering to get all 800 million (and more) of those users to switch to something different.

 

[Wondercow]

How peculiar - I read your post, went to Netflix.com, and saw this page - no mention of Facebook at all. Even when I clicked for details of the trial offer, there was no mention of Facebook.

Netflix ended that promotion partnership idiocy a few weeks ago.

My quick Google search didn't turn up much, but there's a similar situation in the UK and Ireland (luckily those residents could still choose to sign up in the normal way):

In Canada, and presumable the US since it's the same call centre, we didn't have the small link under the Facebook login allowing the standard "sign up using email address".

 

[Melrose]

I've seen plenty of services that allow you to log in with Facebook, but I've never run across a single one that requires it.

I've had several in my years of experience, actually.

 

[cerote]

I know what you mean, Facebook definitely started out as the more mature site.

Well technically it started out as a college only site. You used to have to have a .edu email to even get an account.

 

[OutThere]

I have an unused Google+ with like 1 or 2 connections. Nobody I know uses it and I don't particularly care either way. I do care, however, when sites require you to log on with Facebook. I HATE that. I explicitly don't use Spotify just for that reason. Just like every other Facebook app it wheedles and prods to get more access to your information and more permission to spam your friends than I have any interest in giving. The Spotify stories in the news feed are, to me, little more than ads for Spotify with no other value—to me a 'social' music experience is listening together.

My biggest gripe with sites that require you to log on with Facebook is Facebook's real name policy. I have a unique name—if your name is Ryan Jones or Amy Williams or something like that, you are essentially anonymous using it online. However, for someone with a rare or unique name, using it online means you're completely exposed. Every link on the first page of Google results for my name actually pertains to me. So, unless I want friends/family/employers to be privy to any comments or interactions I have online, I have to abstain from facebook-linked interactions that are publicly visible.

I have already had my identity stolen and abused through Facebook once, and I don't want it to happen again. Someone made a new profile using my name and profile picture, started friending people from my friends list and spamming them and their friends lists with 'free iPhone 5' junk. It took me almost a week to figure out what happened and for Facebook to delete the account, in the meantime my friends were furious with 'me' for spamming them. No fun.