Social Monkey

So, Google have launched Google+ which is growing in popularity every day.  It now has over 25 million users and is the fastest growing website ever.

A lot of those who are already signed-up are saying that the more they use it and get used to its functionality they are they preferring it to Facebook.  I have to say I agree.  I like the fact you can have ‘friends’ in different circles and not everyone can see the same status updates.  I am also finding it very user friendly for customisation, much more so than Facebook.

What I find interesting in all this is more about how this potential shift in social networking favouritism has the potential to impact on the big players; Facebook and Apple..

You may think it strange that I include Apple in this equation but I believe that if Google+ is a success that Google have the ability to become the major player in the Smartphone market.

It was with great interest the other day that a friend showed me a new Smartphone they had imported from Hong Kong, it looked very much like an iPhone4, only was lighter.  But it wasn’t an iPhone4 it was a Google android phone…  The reason he had bought it was that it was dual sim but he also likes its other features.  I liked it and I am a big iPhone fan.  Yes its display wasn’t as sexy and it didn’t have as good a camera or memory, but everything else was the same, especially its functionality for downloading apps and accessing social networking sites.  Although it seems that you are currently unable to buy these phones in the UK (I’m happy to be corrected if I’m wrong).

Google are also a major player for searching the web (98% of searches in the UK are done on Google).  This already makes them powerful, as websites are geared around Google ‘liking’ them to push them up in their rankings.  Google also now take social media tagging into consideration when reviewing a website and the Google +1 button adds even more clout to this.

In conclusion…Google are well respected for searching and website ranking and they appear to have finally cracked their push into social networking with Google+, so if their Smartphone can also become a major player then have they got what it takes to knock both Facebook and Apple off of their perches?