It’s Google Plus vs. Twitter, Not Facebook

To some extent, I agree. If Google+ plus becomes a parallel universe that is a refuge from the MySpace users now dominating Facebook, I'll be fine with that.

I used to post news articles and try to provoke discussion through the Facebook news feed, but I have since switched to Twitter for that. I suspected that many people on Facebook thought I was clogging up their stream with my news links. Facebook is too personal. People want to see the latest drunk party photos in their stream, not political and tech news articles.

The problem with Twitter is that I'm not sure anyone is reading my tweets. Every time I open up the Twitter app, I have 50+ new unread tweets and pretty much ignore all of them as I scroll to the top. Things move too fast on Twitter. Tweets get lost. Twitter is no Google Reader.

Because Twitter exists in a middle ground where, unlike Facebook, you don't follow people you necessarily know if real life, G+ has a better chance of gaining marketshare against Twitter than trying to convince grandma to move over to G+.

I agree that feature wise, Google Plus has more overlap with Twitter. So why do people keep comparing it to Facebook?

Because it feels like Facebook. The feeds seem like Facebook feeds, the mobile app seems like the Facebook app. Google and Facebook feel like competitors.

If Google Plus had focused on text messages or had no photos or was just more stripped down in general, it would probably feel like Twitter. The way Google Buzz felt like Twitter.

I'm not so sure. For what I use, at least, the only thing missing in Google+ vs. Facebook is an API so that my blog posts can get cross-posted to my Google+ stream. I still can't be bothered to use Twitter. It's always been a waste of time for me. But with Google+, I may well end up closing my blog. I don't have to put up with ridiculous message-length limitations. I am actually following people that I would never bother following on Twitter. I can't be alone.