29Jun/1119
Google+
by Jeff
Image text: On one hand, you'll never be able to convince your parents to switch. On the other hand, you'll never be able to convince your parents to switch!
Google Plus (or Google+) is a new social network announced by Google yesterday. I wish you could join it as easily as the comic. First, the site was down. Next, the link to "Keep Me Posted" was broken. Then the submit my name and email address link was broken. I was sad. Also, it looks like even if you have an invite that the network is full and will not let anyone else in right now.
Here's the Google+ tour and every tech site on the web has an article about the new Google Plus.
June 29th, 2011
It’s still an invite only system, like gmail when it launched all those years ago. Even Facebook started out that way, only certain email domains were allowed to register (unless that movie LIED to me).
July 5th, 2011
You’re old enough to remember when Gmail was invite-only, but don’t recall Facebook being restricted to US universities? I’m confused.
June 29th, 2011
“..Google Plus (or Google+) is a new social network announced by Google yesterday….”
Umm…yes, but what do the cryptic xkcd utterances MEAN?
June 29th, 2011
In the first panel, she describes G+ as ‘not Facebook’. facebook is a popular social networking site that can be found here: http://www.facebook.com
She then decribes G+ as being like facebook. From initial previews/screenshots/etc. widely available on the internet (and here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/231368/google_social_network_hands_on_first_impressions.html), G+ appears to look and/or function similar to facebook.
After he thinks about it in the second frame, he comes to a realization in the third frame that ‘a social network like facebook, but not related to facebook’ is all he really wanted. This is in reference to the backlash that happens every so often wherein people grow tired of Facebook, its arcane policies, its cavalier attitude toward user privacy and/or it’s general disdain for end users, etc., and people want to leave facebook, but have no comparable platform to move their social networking to.
June 30th, 2011
And the alt text says that you may have difficulty getting your parents to adopt Google+, which may seem like a disadvantage, but can also be seen as an advantage.
To break it down further, you may have difficulty getting your parents to join because older people are often resistant to adopting new technologies/websites. The older generation were slow to join Facebook initially, and now that they’re used to it, they’ll be slow to move away from it. Many users may have pestered their parents for quite a while to get them to join Facebook so that they could communicate with them online easier, and now they’ll have to begin a new struggle to get them to switch to Google+. So that’s a downside of Google+.
On the other hand, it’s a common experience that people who have had their parents “friend” them on Facebook have found that the subsequent interactions with their parents online are awkward or annoying. For instance, users who were previously using Facebook to communicate with friends their own age may have been posting pictures and comments about aspects of their life that they feel uncomfortable sharing with their parents — things about partying, drug use, their love life, political views, etc. Or their parents may post comments that the child finds inane or embarrassing. So, the fact that one’s parents will be slow to adopt Google+ can also be seen as an advantage of Google+.
June 29th, 2011
it is probably 2 complicated for you parents to join. thats a PLUS to that
June 29th, 2011
Especially if it’s invite only right now. The initial difficulty might be enough to keep them off forever. But really, am I the only one who genuinely dislikes one or both of their parents but is not bothered in the least about them messaging me on Facebook?
June 29th, 2011
I know the grammar doesn’t agree with itself, but I was suddenly faced with two separate “they” references, and really didn’t want to restructure the sentence. We’re nerds, but we’re forgiving…right?
June 30th, 2011
I certainly don’t hate or dislike my parents – I love ‘em!
but I don’t want them around my FB profile…
July 3rd, 2011
My mother managed to join, though she thinks it’s called iGoogle and wants to know if it’s connected to Gmail. But my friend set up an account for his mother, did all the “work” involved in adding himself to her circle, and she still couldn’t figure out how to log in.
June 30th, 2011
“In the first panel, she describes G+ as ‘not Facebook’. facebook is a popular social networking site…”
So, let me get this straight…
In the first frame, she announces that a new competitor to Facebook has emerged. That makes sense. Then he thinks a bit, decides (as you say) that what he wants is a competitor to Facebook, and either turns his computer on or off.
Call me very dense, but I still have trouble finding this to be either funny, or deeply insightful…..
June 30th, 2011
He doesn’t turn his computer off, he clicks into the site in order to make a profile. The subtext is how Facebook hasn’t been to careful about protecting your privacy, or even give you the opportunity to do so yourself, hence he wants “a Facebook that is not Facebook” and jumps right in.
June 30th, 2011
Ok, but remember you asked for it. . .
You’re very dense.
June 30th, 2011
OK, I got the idea that he wanted an application just like Facebook that wasn’t run by Facebook. But lead still has nothing on me – as far as I can tell people wish that pretty much about ALL applications.
It might have been slightly funnier if it was about Linux-xp being like Windows but not Microsoft…
June 30th, 2011
yeah…because that joke would be SOOOO much more relevant to web comic viewers on the internet than something talking about facebook and google, the #1 and #2 domains globally* or at least in the western world**.
*in either order, depending on who you ask
**baidu.com may actually rank higher globally
I have sources, really I do, but wordpress thinks my links are spam.
June 30th, 2011
also this “linux” of which you speak, it was released this week, right?
Addendum to previous post: QQ.com also has a similar order of magnitude of traffic as google/fb, but I’m guessing xkcd’s base is primarily in the english-speaking world:P
July 1st, 2011
>mfw today my mom told me she thinks google+ is really cool and asked how can she get an invitation
July 2nd, 2011
I’m excited with and doubting Google Plus. Will it replace Facebook for real? I hope it can be real, because it’s one of the best if we want data liberation outside Facebook. But still, remember, we will still in a “Filter Bubble” by the way.
July 5th, 2011
Link for the interested: http://www.thefilterbubble.com/ted-talk
And an interesting wider view presenting two opposite approaches and their advantages/disadvantages: Filtering in Social Software: Protective Bubble v. Serendipitous Awareness