Yesterday I wrote a post about how much I love social media. Since I love it so much, I spent a good portion of my day watching a live stream of the F8 conference, to learn about all the new changes coming to Facebook that are supposed to revolutionize the social network. Not to sound too much like a geek, but wow! These were some pretty intense changes they announced (in case you missed it, here is a recap of all the changes: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20110181-93/what-facebook-announced-at-f8-today/). Now, there is still a lot to digest and I don’t want to be too quick to judge all of these changes, but there was one thing that popped into my mind as I watched. If Google+ is every going to become a real threat to Facebook, they better do it now!
It is no secret that the public opinion of Facebook has been on the decline lately. People have been getting upset over the numerous functionality changes and cosmetic changes that they have been rolling out. Just as you get used to the changes, another seemingly minor one comes out. Annoying as it may be at first, these changes really didn’t have a drastic effect on how the site worked, so people just complained, but continued to use the platform. But that is not the case with the changes announced at yesterdays F8 conference. These are profound changes that will require a significant amount of effort and time for people to get used to. Enough time and effort to compare to signing up for an entirely new network? Possibly. And this is where Google+’s opportunity lies. Before, no matter how annoyed people were with the changes Facebook made, they felt like they really had no other option because they didn’t want to start all over. But if the new Facebook changes will require almost the same amount of effort to understand and get used to, whose to say people wont take this opportunity to leave Facebook and start using Google+?
For the record, I am not saying that these changes are going to be the end of Facebook. I actually think they could be really cool, and have a profound effect on the way we use the Internet. As I said before, it’s still too early to tell. But what I am saying is that if Google+ ever had an opportunity to make a real play at taking Facebook head on, the time is now. Lets just say I don’t think it is a coincidence that Google+ opened to the public just days before the F8 conference.
What do you think? Do these new Facebook changes give Google+ an opportunity to become a real threat? Or will these changes only help to solidify Facebook as the go-to-source for social networking?