Features Google+ beats Facebook At (part 3)

This is part 3 to a series of posts on features that Google plus does better than Facebook. Part 1 (photos) and Part 2 (open development) can be found at these links and I hope you enjoy this series. I really wanted to write about Google “Hangouts” today, the video group chat feature that has the potential to deal a serious blow to Skype. But I am devoted to writing about what is truly the most important feature first, so maybe hangouts next… now it is time for:

Google+ is better at Privacy than Facebook

You already knew that right? I know. But here are ways and reasons that may not have crossed your mind yet. I call them the granularization of privacy (my word) in Google+. Everyone is talking circles, and rightly so, the ability to define groups of individuals to share certain items with is a simple yet novel approach to the online sharing quandary. What I see is that Google+ has a chance to be THE SOCIAL NETWORK, not a niche site. I think LinkedIn should be worried, as should Facebook.

Google+ could replace both LinkedIn and Facebook for Most Users

Lets be honest, the things you share and the info you put forth on Facebook is significantly different than what you do on LinkedIn. So basically you have two separate networks for two separate purposes. That means maintaining and updating information in each of them whenever something changes, it means checking messages from both regularly, etc. In short you are maintaining two different CIRCLES of contacts with two different services. Sometimes sharing completely different information, sometimes the same information. With Google+_ you are able to do just that, all within the walls of one network.

Each thing you share is a grain of information, and with google+ you are able to precisely and easily manage whose eyes see it. Facebook fails to do the same, as they push to have everything more and more public, they redesign security settings and leave them open by default so you are required to consistently monitor changes.

By Design Google+ has privacy that you can rely on.

This is not a setting, this is you telling the network exactly which individual you want to share this piece of information with. It is not up for debate and the settings can not be changed in a way that changes that fact. That is privacy that you can rely on.

In the span of 1 minute you can post a picture of yourself accepting an award from the State house for running a few family businesses, and share that with the your customers, friends, family, employees. And then post a video from your liquored up karaoke party where you sang AC/DC and share that with your friends only. Done, no worries, no security setting menus to navigate through. Basically no bull shit.

Facebook is likely to have to change to keep up, consider this quote from the Fortune story on the privacy differences between the two:

…it’s much easier to manage Google’s privacy options than Facebook’s. Reviews of Google+ mention its superior ability to manage personal data, better transparency on how that data is shared and the option to delete all your data… If better privacy is in fact a big factor for many people, then Google+ could easily become so popular enough that Facebook will be forced to improve its own privacy policies.

Implications for businesses are huge.

Privacy is a strong word, it stirs up emotions, but on a level that relates to marketing it can be less strict and more of a tool. Think for a moment of a company Google+ page with various different customer Circles, they could be leveraged to:

• Deliver offers to select groups of customers, by geography or other factors.
• Test out different marketing pitches and campaigns.
• Send customer groups to different landing pages and monitor effectiveness.