The Future of Social Networking

[Black Mage]

Just wanting to hear other people's thoughts on the future of Social Networking. Lets review:

Recently Google+ has been growing at a fast rate.
If you noticed, Google has also stopped indexing Tweets(as of July 2).
Google has introduced the +1 button which is similar to the Facebook Like.
Facebook has banned advertising of Google+ on Facebook.
Facebook has been introducing new features(different chat style + Skype integration).
Rumors of a social network by Microsoft in the making and possible partnership with Twitter + Microsoft.


Obviously social networks are not sitting together around a camp fire, roasting marshmallows and singing 1960's peace songs. It's more like the Berlin Wall is going up and allegiances are being formed.

It seems like social networking is in the direction of saturation where there are more and more big name competitors. Now this is good for us because with competition comes innovations and better features for the users. But can social networking be on the path of becoming less of a big deal/relevant in the future? What are other people's thoughts on recent developments?

[fontis]

To be fair, Google+ seems a long way away from beating FaceBook.

I mean, there is no real incentive behind using Google+ so far. It just seems to be a Twitter replica with a bit more flashy options like showing off pictures.

The fundamental flaw is found in the fact that you can't simply write on the wall of other people. So basically, for now it's just a flashy way of saying "LOOK AT MY STUFF I'M SHARING".

I hope this changes, because I do think it LOOKS better, it just lacks a lot of the "social" attributes you would expect it to have.

[LowSky]

Actually Google+ has some great features. For one it has a better use of social circles. Unlike Facebook I can set up how my family/friends/co-workers/everyone else sees me right from the first accept. I don't have to find hidden menus just to hide something from one person.

I have much better control of who sees what and how they see it. Also it syncs well with other Google services really well. I think Google did a great job deciding not to purchase the companies of Facebook or Twitter and doing their own thing. The thing they knew is there is little to no real value to these companies, its all perceived. Google has real revenue that exceeds the costs of it free services.