Facebook vs. Google Plus – Which is the Better Social Network?
Approximately three years ago, Google entered the social media scene with a service that many thought could be the Facebook killer. Given the name Google Plus, or G+, the service integrated the Google user ID into a social network that allows members to post text, photos, videos (ala YouTube), instant message, and participate in live video conferencing (known as Hangouts), among other things.
Along with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, Google + was developed to build a mass user base of members interacting and engaging with each other’s thoughts, opinions, photos, videos and lives.
Due to my personal experience on Google +, I recently posted the following message on Facebook.
“I hereby declare Google Plus dead. You may now ignore it in good faith.”
Naively, I thought my post might get a few likes and comments. Boy, was I in for a shock.
The post became one of the hottest topics ever to grace my personal page, with over 100 likes and more than 300 comments!
The Google + post received many more responses than the Facebook post.
You can read the original post here.
My fan page on Facebook has over 37,000 likes as of this experiment. However, Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm being what it is, only 1820 people purportedly saw my post. To keep things fair and balanced (re: cheat), I posted the same message to my personal page which has approximately 7500 followers.
This was by no means a scientific study. I made an off-comment remark about Google + and the fans came out of the woodwork.
I discovered two things along the way.
1) Most of the sharing I was doing on G+, I was doing incorrectly. Some “social media expert”, huh?
I shared my content exclusively to my circle and extended circles because I didn’t realize that public sharing worked the same as it did on my Facebook page. My bad.
2) Google + is not dead. In fact, the members of the site are HIGHLY engaged with each other.
The responses and reactions you see on Google + tend to be more adamant about their platform than Facebook users are. They are more passionate about using Google +. Some even take a superior attitude about G+ over Facebook, claiming that the latter is only good for memes about cats and bacon. (That’s a running gag I never get enough of …)
As for Facebook users? They aren’t nearly as passionate about the site. Is it because of the privacy issues and bad press? Is it because the site is confusing and its features are changing more often than you change your pants? Or is it because it is SO big that there are just so many varied uses? Whatever the case, Facebook users seem to be laissez-faire and G+ users are more evangelistic about Google’s platform.
Robert Scoble made the point that most of his friends are on Facebook, but Google + seems to be a superior platform for sharing photos.
Scoble also attempts to make a case from the numbers.
He says…
Let’s look at Trey Ratcliff, though. His latest post at Facebook has 234 likes.
Same post of his over on Google+ has 232 plus ones. Pretty equal, right?
Except he has 7.7 million followers on Google+ and 619,000 followers on Facebook.
In this case, as a percentage of followers Facebook wins hands-down. But is this just a case of quantity over quality? And does it really matter?
I think what it comes down to is personal preference. Some like Facebook, others like Google +. Some people live to tweet and others Instagram their lives away.
It’s like the Mac vs. PC debate. I’ve used both platforms since the beginning of time and find each to be useful for different tasks.
I will use Google +, perhaps more often than I did. But I don’t see them taking over in the social media space and knocking Facebook off their top spot. There are too many people invested in the content and relationships they have created on Facebook.
I think I will still spend much more of my time on Facebook as I continue to build relationships through Google +. I’m glad I learned something and appreciate the passion behind those who took the time to share their opinion.
To the passion issue, G+ is (right now) in the cult stage. If you are there and use it, then you are one of the cool kids who is bucking the system (how ironic, seeing as Google IS the system) by not being on Facebook.
Thank you, we all searched for an explanation that is as simple as possible. #not
I think we spend far too much time worrying about which is better and could use all that time to focus on connecting and building relationships with people.
No matter where Joel Comm posts, I’ll be there.
Yo.
Facebook used to be a wonderful free marketing platform, but over the years they did lot of stuff to force marketers to use their paid advertising options.
Few years back if you post something on your page and someone share it, it was much easier for his friends to like your page. People used to like pages like crazy. Facebook said – why free advertising for everyone, what’s in it for our shareholders?
Now, your fans friends have to visit your page and then like it.
Things are different if you use sponsored posts – you will see a big LIKE button. The problem is even if you get thousands of likes – this means nothing. Only the reach matters.
Google Plus is a different monster. And I’m not sure if it helps SEO. So they say – worth a try. Thanks for this post, Joel!
It’s good to see the testing. I find different benefits on each platform and really like both. Thanks for writing up this post!
Hmmm.. for me I tend to use G+ more than FB. It’s more convenient. I can even update in inside my e-mail, because I use Gmail. :))
I heard there was a debate about Facebook and Google+ but i was too busy growing my followers from 340 in March to 1500 followers in July with about 3-4 re-shares of others posts. On Google+ i can interact and make intelligent comments about Science, relationships, food or even cats and photography. Facebook is dead for those of us who like to treat people as human beings rather than Quotes and LIKES. 🙂 I;ll have to circle you +Joel Comm so we can chat.
It doesn’t happen often, but once in a while a post on G+ will crush the same thing on FB. I once posted the same commentary and link about Bill Gates’ frustration with Windows 8 (it was sarcasm) and got hundreds of +1s and shares and comments on G+ but only a smattering of the same/similar on FB.
Only thing it seems to have boiled down to is that G+ users are geekier 🙂
Interesting results. Thanks for sharing them. Most my conversations seem to happen on my FB profile (vs Fan Page), but I do post on Google+ as well (just not as much). I think wherever your peeps are hanging are where you want to be as well as wherever you enjoy spending your time.
Thanks for compiling this info.
🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience Joel! That was certainly a great discussion, and I’m glad that the result was enlightening for you. There’s nothing wrong with Facebook for those who are able to make it work for them, but as you saw, Google+ is clearly working for other people.
I must admit, Joel, this was fun to watch and I will continue to interact with you wherever you are. I think there are different benefits to each platform. I tend to use G+ more for posting my original work and find I get far more interaction and sharing there. I found your results to be quite intriguing and your shameless cat promotion will fit in on either platform. I do agree with Bill Davis that G+ers may indeed be a geekier bunch and I’m kind of a geek at heart so I fit in. I’m obviously a hangouts and communities fan too so I realize that makes me a little biased. Enjoyed taking part.
If you want to learn more about Google+, follow +Mark Traphagen. He’s one of the top people on G+, is very generous with how-to information, and a really nice guy to boot.
I love both Google-plus and Facebook. But Google+ creates more confusion! It’s not yet stream-lined. Every time I created an account in YouTube to publish different videos in related fields, G+ created a new account.
What I don’t like about G+ is the fact that it has little privacy stop gaps, it breaks through privacy by going into you phone pictures and video with out really asking!. Also be carefull what you take pictures of with your phone. Careful not to share any thing confidential.
Google+ is what I use – Facebook is too problematic and mochy ….
Isn’t it much like discussing Facebook vs. Twitter? People on both Twitter and G+ are, indeed, more committed, so disavowing any of them would be a big mistake. 🙂
I don’t think Plus is a cool factor anymore. Google was cool 15 years ago but now they are just another conglomerate trying to take over our lives. Still I use all three as most enlightened people do. My Plus is more for tech friends and business relations, Facebook for family and regular friends, twitter for anybody. While I am an old fart, I was still one of plus’s beta testers and first members. Had a lot of fun talking to nobody. Plus does seem to be gaining people, and it is nicely tied into all other G products. There is room and purpose for them all.
Google+ is like sitting down to a gourmet meal with a group of your closest friends. The company is great, intelligent, witty, stimulating. Each course is delightful and nutritious. At the end of the evening you are satisfied gastronomically, intellectually and spiritually.
Facebook, on the other hand is like diving into the public swimming pool when it’s filled with lukewarm beef stew. If you keep your mouth open long enough, you will be fed, but it won’t be the type of experience you would recommend to others.
Either social media site has got some specific roles to give to their users. Working with either Facebook or Google plus is a matter of personal preference and with purpose. if an individual experiment with either platform he will find areas where either will likely suit his purpose better.
I am one of those people who has a facebook, twitter and google + account and I hardly know anyone who uses G+, so I barely use it either. I don’t have many circles, but have plenty of followers on twitter and even more friends on FB, so that is how I structure my social media. I agree that everybody prefers a different platform, but I can’t see G+ ever beating facebook.
It depends what you’re trying to win at. It depends on your target market. I’ve seen ranking for a blog post go through the roof within 5 minutes of posting it on G+, especially if the person searching has the blogger in a circle. It’s a combination of the power of Google to rank its own stuff high and their “private results” default in search.
I think you need some updations regularly. Have a look her I reallly liked your post but I think you missed of some features. You can have a look here – http://www.factoinfo.info/2015/01/google-plus-is-better-than-facebook.html and notice the changes
Yeah praising google for its policies is always a plus point
For me it is not dead it is more than good. Google plus is working excellent with my pages… I have thousands of likes and followers.
google + will always rock…for sure
I think Google Plus works well for SEO and i have come across so many Google Plus Profile containing a url of a post which is a good one. I go fr Google Plus
Thanks Joel for this post personally I am getting more engagement from google plus than Facebook, facebook you may have high edge rank but the engagement is low comparing to google plus
Read your post and some clear point about G+.
Accutally I use google+ only for share my blog post about seo tips and tricks (Which you can check just click at my nane) and for personal purpose I use Facebook. But as fb blocked id very fastly so I thinking to go G+ fir personal too.
What do you think about this?
I love both Google-plus and Facebook. But Google+ creates more confusion!
Thank you for this amazing post
Thanks for sharing them. Most my conversations seem to happen on my FB profile (vs Fan Page), but I do post on Google+ as well (just not as much). I think wherever your peeps are hanging are where you want to be as well as wherever you enjoy spending your time.
Thanks for compiling this info.