Four Good Reasons to Try Photo Sharing on Google Plus
Guest Post by James Martell
We’ve waited long enough, don’t you think?
Google has had several false starts with Google Wave and Google Buzz, but it appears that Google Plus just might be some serious competition for Facebook.
At the moment, Google Plus is accessible by invitation only, so it’s hard to predict just how many Facebook fans will be willing to make the conversion. Based entirely on the response from habitual pic posters, however, I think Facebook ought to be sitting up and taking notice.
Charlie Sorrell offered some insight from his listening post in the Gadget Lab at Wired.com; “It has been said that the biggest feature of Google Plus is that it’s not Facebook. However, there’s another feature that may be of interest to all you Gadget Lab photo nerds out there: the photo integration. It turns out that G+ is a pretty sweet way to manage and view your shared photos.”
Since photo sharing is the most commonly used application on Facebook, it makes sense that Google Plus should launch with its photo sharing applications up and running. The question I wanted to answer, though, is how Google can improve on Facebook’s well-established and familiar photo gallery function.
Conveniently enough, I found four answers.
Google Photo Images Will Upload Faster.
The difference in loading time per picture between Facebook and Google plus isn’t impressive. Google won’t require you to toggle or configure pictures before loading them on Google Plus, while Facebook will. For the causal user, this will amount to no difference at all. However, if you come back from your Alaskan cruise with 200 pictures to post, an extra second or two per picture will make a difference.
Google Photo Images Will Look Better.
The difference between the visual display on Facebook and Google is very impressive. Google will accommodate high resolution shots of up to 2,048 pixels, so kittens on a laundry basket will look more adorable and your latest experiments in digital infrared photography will look like they came from NASA.
I have a friend and colleague in Brooklyn named Vinny, who recently attended the 4th of July fireworks show over the Hudson River. He took plenty of pictures with his Android and was able to upload them to Google Plus directly from his phone quickly and easily, and with stunning results.
Google Photo Images are Android-Friendly
As my friend Vinny discovered, you can easily access and upload to Google Plus directly from an Android. As several thousand annoyed consumers have discovered, iPhone and Blackberry users aren’t so lucky yet. Google has assured us that the iPhone and Blackberry apps are on their way, but Google’s favoritism may have been a good thing for the Martell household.
My son Justin loves his Android, and has been using it to educate me about the shortcomings of my iPhone. I may not be a fast learner, but I have finally decided that my next phone will be an Android, so I won’t lose much sleep if Google takes it’s time developing an iPhone app.
Google Photo Images are Easier to Share (or Not)
You and I are both aware that photo sharing is wildly popular, and we also know that it should be done responsibly. Google knows better than to promise a perfectly safe method of photo sharing, but they have come up with a few improvements over the Facebook model, and one in particular that has my attention.
Facebook allows you to categorize your visitors as “friends” or not, but Google allows you to place people in circles. The circles let you to share certain images with certain people and other images with others.
Of course, Google offers the same opportunity for tagging and re-sharing pictures, so you still shouldn’t post anything you don’t want your boss to see. However, using selective “circles” could keep your co-workers from getting too much information about your escapades at the Comic-Con last summer.
This Should be Interesting..
Google Plus is much more than a new Google photo gallery, and it will take more than photo sharing options to get folks to switch from Facebook. However, if the photo sharing options are any indication, Facebook could have a fight on its hands.
Google plus’ photo gallery will appeal to nearly everyone who posts snapshots. Grandparents will be able to safely post and share birthday party pictures, and whether the shots come from camera phones or infrared digital cameras, they’ll all look like they could be posted on the National Geographic site. Sort of.
So, is Google Plus the new Facebook killer? David Seaman from BusinessInsider.com weighs in with a measured response; Google Plus “.. will be a huge success, and Facebook is in trouble – although by no means obsolete.” It appears that only Facebook
can decide whether Google Plus will kill it or just make it stronger.
Hopefully, Facebook will respond with equal amounts of innovation and marketing savvy. If they do, then both the Facebook faithful and the Google groupies will be able to enjoy the same outcome; more toys for everybody!
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James Martell is well known as an affiliate marketing specialist in outsourcing and SEO. He is a sought after speaker, affiliate marketing trainer and podcaster. James is host of the longest running affiliate marketing podcast on WebmasterRadio.FM (since 2003), and creator of the Affiliate Marketers “SUPER BootCamp”, where he teaches others how to make money with affiliate programs. James lives in White Rock BC, a seaside suburb of Vancouver on west coast of Canada with his wife, Arlene and their 4 kids.
Read MoreCribbed Content for April 18th
Some good stuff going on this week… and I’m going to throw in something fun that has some social media implications…
- Scott Jangro jumped into the podcasting world with a good set of rambles. He gets fairly personal, talking about the inspiration his daughter has given him & some general rambles about what’s going on in his life. I really like this type of podcasting. Great first effort… PodPress FTW! I hope more are coming.
- My new favorite term is Internet Rubbernecker. I may just changed this weekly post of mine from “Cribbed Content” to “Internet Rubbernecking”. The term was apparently coined by this article over at Wired.com (if it’s from somewhere else, my apologies – I’ve never heard it before). The article points out (yes, go READ it first) that this YouTube lash back video is probably not the best legal move the scorned wife could have made, but it makes me wonder how strong a factor the internet’s court of public opinion might now sway the case? Food for thought in this day & age of social media run rampant.
- Mark Wielgus from 45n5.com called out Joel Comm’s latest AdSense eBook marketing as shady and deceptive. The background basically is that all the ads say just $9.95 for this eBook but once you buy it you’re automatically enrolled in some other program that charges you $29.95 per month. NOT COOL and I have to agree with Mark’s assessment in his video.
I’m keeping it short & sweet this week and ended on what I hope is an uplifting note. Everyday I go to work and I have to reconcile two facets of myself to get through the day – the part of me that went to college and got my degree in theatre so I could make a living on my own terms – writing and telling stories and entertaining people – and the part of me that wants a better life than my parent’s had with more money and gadgets and opportunities and keeps me working in marketing- sitting at a desk all day working a set schedule on someone else’s terms. I know I’m not the only one out there with this daily grapple.
Earlier this week Sam Harrelson recorded an Affiliate Fortune Cookies episode that I just got around to listening to last night. In it, he describes his own college decisions, how high school superlatives have affected him, and how all that attempts to reconcile into who he is today. It was a tough listen for me only because of the state I was in on Thursday – wondering if this blog is worth putting so much energy into and assessing why I do this. This brought me to a good place and I’m okay with where I am… so if you’re finding yourself at a crisis of faith regarding your career, definitely give this a listen. At least you’ll understand that it’s not just you.
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