A lot of people are out there saying that Gplus is going to make Twitter into Myspace, Facebook into Friendster, but the people I really see using it are businesses for networking. So how about Linkedin? Thomas Power, Chairman of Ecademy, (a UK company sometimes referred to as an alternative to Linkedin) recently posted on his shiny new GPlus account: I think he may have hit it on the head with Linkedin, but I'm not convinced Twitter or Facebook should be shaking in their boots. I recently read an article here on Social Media Today "Ecosystems (and Granny) Don't Move Overnight, Not Even For Google Plus." Pam Moore sums it up nicely:
1. Facebook has ruined it for other honest players. Our guard is up. Facebook has taken advantage of our privacy. They've taken advantage of my grandma and my mom as most people don't have a clue where to look for their privacy settings.
2. The ecosystem has a love / hate relationship with Facebook. Bottom line we love to hate them.
3. Aunt Marybelle, Granny & dad aren't going to move to Google+ before Christmas no matter what happens.
4. You'll still post the baby pics on Facebook for granny to see even if you live on Google+ all day with your geek buddies.
5. Even if they wanted to move, moving 750 million people can't happen over night.
6. Granny doesn't hate Facebook as much as you do.
7. Many businesses just invested in Facebook business pages, training for sales, customer service, PR and marketing teams.
8. Social media & marketing agencies are not going to push clients who have invested in Facebook to jump ship to Google+. Why would they when they have a multi-million dollar retainer developing, designing, and managing their online presence and ad placement much of which is Facebook. Agencies wouldn't think to push clients to Facebook until there is a majority and return on investment can be better justified even if intangible in numbers.
9. Yes, early adopters will obviously jump on both ships. However, to move an ecosystem we're talking about more than early adopters.
10. Similar to #1, we have been burned. We all know Google has a plan to monetize. We fear Google+ will start to copy it's virtual boxing partner, Facebook. These are 10 very interesting points about Facebook. I think
Twitter users are in a different grouping altogether. The Ashton Kutcher followers are not likely to get the same level of engagement with him on Google Plus. But, the Linkedin users - they are savvy, they are networkers. They are, dare I say it, slightly geekier than Granny. I think if any network needs to watch its back it's them.
You can reach Tammy on Twitter or on CrunchBase.