Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Blogs Google Watch
    • Blogs
    • Google Watch
    • Search Engines

    Google’s Template for Facebook Killer Lies in Real Life Social Network

    By
    Clint Boulton
    -
    July 9, 2010
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Google may be rewriting the playbook for Facebook, if a fat slide deck traversing the Web is an accurate template of what the search engine has in store for its alleged Facebook killer Google Me.

      In late June, news trickled out via Twitter tweet from Digg CEO Kevin Rose that Google was working on Google Me, a social software service designed to ratchet up the rivalry the search engine tried to start with Google Buzz.

      While speculation ran from the notion that Google Me was simply an augmentation of Google Profiles to a a full-on social network combining orkut and Google Buzz, no one had any concrete information.

      Through the first week of July, that fact hasn’t changed. However, Paul Adams, a senior user experience researcher at Google who worked on Google Buzz, has rolled out a 216-page slide deck called the “The Real Life Social Network.”

      The gist of his presentation is that while Facebook is great for sharing, its construct is that humans have one big social circle.

      Adams argues, perhaps obviously so, that people have multiple social circles and therefore need to have multiple privacy walls.

      In one example, he explains that Debbie has been friended by some of the 10-year-old students she teaches how to swim.

      This is a questionable choice right out of the gate; it’s OK to be friendly with the kids, but it’s another to allow them to friend her on a social network where adult content is rampantly shared.

      Indeed, Debbie also has Facebook friends who enjoy romps in gay bars in Los Angeles and post pictures of their escapades on the social network. Where the 10-year-olds can see them. How awkward!

      Adams notes on slide 14:

      Facebook itself is not the problem here. The problem here is that these are different parts of Debbie’s life that would never have been exposed to each other offline were linked online.

      Adams notes on the next slide that the online social profiles and networks we create online don’t rightly sync with our real-world networks.

      This is very true. Where else would these 10-year-olds meet Debbie’s friends but on Facebook, a no-holds-barred real for interactions?

      Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants you to believe that people have one identity and that therefore everything anybody puts on Facebook is grounds for sharing with anyone else. Anyone with two identities is being disingenuous.

      Unfortunately, that’s an obtuse view blind to (accidentally or deliberately) the fact that people have one identity, but different groups of friends.

      This sort of hucksterism won’t wash in Washington, D.C., or with users like Debbie who face a conundrum: how does one manage the multiple social circles they’ve collected over the years that typify their life experiences?

      In Facebook, they can’t. Ironically, Adams said Facebook is not the problem, but neither he nor Google believe that for a second.

      Adams exposed a fundamental design flaw that shows Facebook has a narrow view of social interactions and Google wants to leverage this for its own social designs.

      He even noted that Facebook’s approach creates opportunities for Google. in his presentation, Adams argues that people tend to have four to six social groups, with two to 10 people in each group.

      Perhaps Google plans a social network where people’s relationships are properly vetted and bucketed. Maybe that’s what this purported Google Me effort is all about, but I don’t know. No one knows. Except Google.

      If you’re in their social circle, they might tell you. For now, we wait and we watch. In the meantime, Adams’ deck should keep you busy:

      The Real Life Social Network v2 View more documents from Paul Adams.

      Avatar
      Clint Boulton

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×