Can Google+ Really Compete With Facebook or Did They Miss The Boat?

With Facebook's presence heating up and no competition in sight, what can anyone do to try to stop them? More importantly, how will it affect your legal web marketing? Well, Google seems to think that they have a pretty good idea how to win social media enthusiasts with their new product Google+.

It's pronounced "Google plus" and, whether they admit it or not, it's their answer to Facebook. Those in legal web marketing know the benefits of incorporating Facebook to their campaigns, and Google also understands the value of Facebook. They had even previously tried to gain access to Facebook's vast user data and were refused.

What Exactly Is Google+, and What Do We Do with It?

Google+ is an online social networking platform offering ways to keep in touch with your family, friends, co-workers, etc. with a Google twist:

• Google+ is centered on what they call "Circles." What's unique about this feature is that it lets you create different groups for different people. Unlike Facebook's "like" feature, which allows all of your friends to see who or what you like, information is only shared among those included in the circle you specify. Members of one circle don't have a clue what's going on in your other circles. This allowed you to control your visibility in various ways.
• "Hangouts" is a video chat function and allows you to chat with more than one person at a time. Google describes it as the next best thing to teleportation.
• There's also a text feature of Google+ called "Huddle." It allows you to gather a group of friends for a text conversation on your mobile device. They can all see what you see on your device, eliminating having to forward information.

These are just some of the features offered by Google+, and it's currently going through a testing phase with a limited number of users and no set launch date.

How Will Google+ Stack Up Against Facebook?

With Facebook's vast presence and 750 million users, it'll be tough for anyone to compete with them, including Google - only time will tell.

Since Google is a tremendously successful enterprise known for being number 1 in a highly competitive market place, you can assume your legal web marketing strategy could soon incorporate this new social media presence.