Technophilic

One need to socialize first!

2011-07-21T05:35:00.004+05:30

Yes! One need to socialize first to be socially known - but "only where" we care to be known!! - and this is what Google is striving for and doing - when it's about social networking!

Further to my previous post, where we discussed about - how Google might (and can) snatch the bite of 'social networking' pie from Facebook - seems like - we have another strong reason to believe that.

Agreed, after the failure of Buzz and Wave - Google+ came with a promising note - but all they need now is seamless integration of all tools 'under the hood'.

Evolution has always been part of our 'gene' and we are driven by it - with a hidden desire to adapt with present 'limitations' and keep a 'desire' alive to improve further...

This is what must have been the reason when Google finalized a deal with Zynga - yes the creator of "time killing" but revolutionary games on Facebook like - FarmVille, CityVille, FishVille, TreasureIsle, FrontierVille, CafeWorld etc. Google realized the points which needs to be looked at - to socialize first; to be socially known.

Though post the deal it wasn't so clear if Google+ is going to have 'Games' or was that a deal for 'Android' - but a post from Engadget folks helped:

This is said to be a snippet of recent Google+ code base, which seems to have reference of an 'under development' project related to 'Google+ Games'.

So everyone, if you are bored of Google+ and missing your pet somewhere in Facebook page - no worries, it will come back to your new home Google+ very soon! :)

Meanwhile, after reading this news; don't forget to share your happiness (if you are) with your reactions or comments.

What do you love?

2011-07-18T02:00:00.021+05:30

Nah! It's not a post related to a comical romantic flick!

Right in here, it's about wdyl (what do you love) - a nifty offering by Google.

Possibly many of us haven't noticed so far - but it's very much alive now! As the name goes, this lets you be close to what you 'love' - not just flat on 'what you see as a search outcome (prioritized based on been searched globally)' but 'prioritized' based on - what you would love to see - possibly.

wdyl can be called as the first step towards an integrated offering (existing layers of diverse services) - which google is nursing.

Well curious? lets do a search (in wdyl)... um - possibly with text 'google' (being good) - we will find an integrated result with all services into play - in one single page: google translation engine (will ask to convert the search into 57 languages - so far). Google trend (will give a popularity result of the search), Google Books (will give us a list of books been written) and so on ... SketchUp (a 3D modelling tool), Patent search (Search over 7 million patents), Google Moderator (a tool to find the best input from an audience - Facebook poll?) and many more...(rest of the offerings - are possibly quite known to us)...

As I mentioned in my previous post - it's not quite unusual "to realize" for not Google to be able to capture the major chunk of social networking domain and offer us an unique connected experience - provided it's all integrated down the lane - 'cause as today, we have diverse apps into play.

If we go by another instance, as I understand, same objective was there - when Google finalized the acquisition of photovine - A photo sharing tool!

Agree, Google already had 'Picasa' then why 'Photovine' ? - possibly cause it looks so far to be a product independent of Picasa, more of a social-sharing product as opposed to an online photo album with the sharing feature - which it is currently.

Photovine was bought just after the release of Google+, a 'tag' sharing offering which lets you search on the basis of you being tagged.

Tag sharing?

Okay, lets think about a situation where you have been tagged as "smart dude"/"sweet gal" (by whom - you know better!) - Photovine is to find out all those lucky ones, who were tagged "so" (read 'so' as tag-name) - If you think - who cares!? guess may come handy if you are into that business line, isn't it?

But that's not all - surprisingly - it seems Google has quietly launched Photovine this week - for the Apple iPhone - but yes - not for Android!!? This now allows iPhone users to take a photo from their phone and share it to friends in the app, sort of like the popular app 'Instagram'. As described above, the big difference with Photovine, however, is that photos can be shared into a pool of other pictures centering around user-created topics called "vines." - as they rightly say 'plant a photo, watch it grow'!!

Here is what the official app description states : Photovine is a fun way to learn more about your friends, meet new people, and share your world like never before. It all starts with what we call a photovine: a group of photos around a single, shared caption. Start a new vine with a photo and caption of your own or add your photo/take on someone else's vine.

While Photovine is not integrated into Google’s own 'android' or 'social networking' offering yet, lets be sure to see something happen in the near future - very soon!

To conclude, I feel - Google will take the social networking experience onto a very different level, once we have all the disconnected apps bundled into a single offering - it's going to be a matrix at the end. What do you think?

"Like" or "+1" ? or both!

2011-07-10T04:14:00.179+05:30

Possibly, it all started in the year 1999 when someone conceptualized “rating ones face” and launched Rate my face. Soon after, the idea inspired many … entrepreneurs took the idea, came-up with innovative additional features and continued inspiring its successors.

“Rate My Face” (1999) [inspired] “Hot Or Not” (2001) [inspired] “Facemash” (2003) [evolved as] “TheFacebook” (2004) [evolved as] “Facebook” (2005) [inspired] “Google+” (2011).

Since 2004, millions enjoyed the “wall”, “poked” on every decent opportunity;). Announced “what’s on mind” and “liked” what’s on other’s mind maybe because One of the key attributes of the mind is that it is a private sphere to which no one but the owner has access. No one else can "know our mind” – after all, unknown has always attracted human race! – And we “like” it.

Now, having mentioned “like”, the whole idea behind facebook “like” wasn’t so rich initially – until it became (one of the top) marketing and promotional tool (eventually) and yes this small ‘awesome’ (now like) button has went through a long journey of 2 years!

...

‘Nuff said, we all have been there, done that - when it’s about Facebook. Now we have something new to fall in love with, if we “like” (grrr +1) it at the end though – The Google+. While am navigating through to get a first hand feel of this “under trial” product’s offerings – first look was soothing, simple and neat UI - impressive - just like any-other Google offering. At present glitches are there but too early to scream as it's under trial phase and yet to be ironed out!

But meanwhile, undoubtedly, battle to capture the web commerce market has started with a bang!

"Like" vs "Google +1" - The battle

Google +1 is catching up, slowly - but a long way to go.

Loren Baker at BlueGlass said "With total respect for Google, +1 is no Facebook "like" until it is taken outside of the parameters of Google and onto blogs, news sites and websites; and into the LIVES of web users, which Facebook has been first to market."

With total respect to Loren Baker - point to think is, doesn't Google have enough reach in our lives anyways - traditionally? (barring this "social network" tag)? No online presence is for "free" unless we agree to pay by means of "personal information". As an example - Google already knows about - our emails (Gmail), our appointments (Google Calendar), our location (Google Latitude), our watching behavior (Youtube [includes broadcasting] - Google TV), whom we are talking to (Google Voice), our photos (Picasa Web Albums - which now includes face-recognition technology that can automatically identify me and you in new photos), our blogging platform (Blogger), they have a mobile platform (Android [bought Android Inc., in 2005]), an integrated hardware (OS) platform Crome Book, allows us to trace (and also be tracked) (Google Maps), knows what we listen to (Google Cloud presence - Google Music) and so much so our reading behavior (Google Books)...as we use most of the offerings - will it be too hard for Google+ to be an ideal platform for social networking? Lets see ... (but if you want; you may leave your views too...)

Btw, you may "Like" this post or "+1" it - I'll feel "awesome" anyways ;)