By Barbara Ortutay, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Online search leader Google Inc. is taking yet another stab at social networking, as it tries to go up against Facebook in this wildly popular and lucrative segment of the Internet. This time the project is called Google+ and it aims to make online sharing more like real life.
“We think people communicate in very rich ways,” said Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of engineering at Google. “The online tools we have to choose from give us very rigid services.”
Other social networking tools make selective sharing within small groups difficult. They don’t allow for the nuances that people are used to in offline communication and because they call so many acquaintances “friends,” said Gundotra in a blog post announcing the service.
Many Facebook users, for instance, find it difficult to limit their status updates to small groups of people so that their coworkers aren’t exposed to party photos or their parents aren’t privy to flirtatious posts on their “wall.” Though Facebook has tried to address this with a much-hyped “Groups” feature, it’s not clear how many people use it.
Gundotra’s criticism seems aimed squarely at Facebook, the world’s largest online social network. Facebook has become synonymous with online sharing since its founding seven years ago.
In a prepared statement, Facebook said only that “we’re in the early days of making the web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere.”
Google, which dominates Internet search with a firm hold on two-thirds of the U.S. market, has been experimenting with different social tools since late 2009 with limited success. “Buzz” was one major mishap. The product was a social network attached to Google’s popular Gmail service, and it wound up exposing email contacts that users did not want to share. Google eventually agreed to submit to independent audits of its privacy controls every other year for the next two decades as part of a Federal Trade Commission settlement.
Google shut down another attempt at online sharing, Google Wave, last August after unveiling it with much fanfare in 2009. The service, which let users chat, share files and collaborate on documents in real time, didn’t gain enough fans.
More than a year in the works, the project Google unveiled Tuesday lets users share things with smaller groups of people through a feature called “Circles.” This means only college buddies, say, or your favorite co-workers can see the photos, links our updates that you post.
Another feature called “Sparks” aims to make it easier to find online content you care about, be it news about surfing or barbecue recipes. You can then share this with friends who might be interested in it. In an online video, Google calls it “nerding out” and exploring a subject together.
There’s also a group messaging service called “Huddle” and a feature that lets users instantly upload photos that they take with mobile phones. The photos are stored in a private photo album on Google’s remote servers, and users can access them and share them as they see fit.
Altimeter Group analyst Charlene Li has high hopes for the friend grouping feature. She said that her biggest pet peeve with Facebook is its existing friend management tools. She noted that millions of people already use Google to share things with others via email, and Google+ looks like a natural extension of this type of sharing, making it more functional and organized.
“I think Facebook is going to have to up its game,” she said.
Google+ is undergoing what the company calls a “field trial,” so it’s accessible by invitation only and not yet available to the public. The company declined to say when it’ll be more widely available.
Lou Kerner, a social media analyst with Wedbush Securities, believes the game is over in the competition to become the world’s global social network. With 700 million users, Facebook has won, he said.
There’s a lot more to the social Web than just creating a successful social network, though, and Kerner thinks that with Google+ the search leader is trying to make its existing product offerings more social.
“I don’t think they’re seeing this as a direct competitor to Facebook,” he said.
Google+ does have its skeptics.
“People have their social circles on Facebook,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst with research firm eMarketer. “Asking them to create another social circle is challenging.”
And Google is still best known for its flagship service, online search.
“The whole idea of a Google social network…they’ve been throwing stuff against the wall for several years and so forth nothing has stuck.” Going to Google to be social, she added, is like “going to Starbucks for the muffins. Or, for that matter, going to Facebook for search.”
AP Technology Writer Rachel Metz in San Francisco contributed to this story.
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles — "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson — that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More