Google+

Overall Opinion: It was a very good platform for topic based conversations sad to see it die. You like Google+ communities as well? Here's an alternative, tribyo.com - Tribyo. Tribyo is an interest based social network. Come join to connect with like minded people.

Pros: -

Cons: -

Overall Opinion: Facebook certainly wasn't the first social media platform, but it's hard to argue that its impact on the online landscape hasn't been seismic. Anyone trying to compete with them is bound to face a steep climb to victory, but if any company has the resources and innovation to compete with Facebook, it's Google. Google+ is designed to usurp Facebook or at least find a competitive position within the social media ecosystem. While Google explores some truly compelling ideas with the design of Google+, they don't do enough to distinguish themselves from the competition, and the sizable existing install base of Facebook means that users looking for a platform to interact with all of the important people in their lives are unlikely to find it with Google+. But in the intervening years, extensive workshopping has turned it into a program that offers its own unique values. When Google+ was first introduced, its claim to redefining the social media space was predicated on the inclusion of "Circles". Where Facebook friends were largely a homogenous mass, Google+ would allow you to categorize the people in your life into a variety of intersecting categories. This meant that you could cater your messages and posts to the people who would be interested in them. It's a clever and savvy function that works just as intended. Segmenting your friends groups is easy, and the ability to categorize friends into a number of different circles only makes it more robust. That said, this level of segmentation is very specific, and it's likely that a lot of users will see it as an unnecessary distinction for most of the exchanges they make on their Google+ feed. The removal of Hangouts, Google+'s chat functionality, in recent years has further reduced Google+'s value as a social media platform. While Google+'s depth doesn't greatly distinguish it from other social media platforms and its comparatively small install base makes it a feasible alternative to the Facebook giant, Google has tried to carve a niche for themselves through increased breadth. New features have been implemented at a dramatic pace, trying to distinguish Google+ as more fun and spontaneous. At the forefront of these additions was Communities, designed to create topic-based forums where users can discuss their favored interests and Collections, which essentially tries to muscle in on the market curated by Pinterest. Google+ is also supported by a photography editing suite, a method for discovering local businesses, and Google+ Pages, which business owners and popular personalities can use to connect with their customers. When Google+ was first introduced, it had clear designs to dominate the social media landscape, and it saw Circles as the innovation that would get it there. Now that Circles has not proven the game changer they were hoping, Google seems to be more interested in offering a huge range of features. The problem is how many of these are made redundant by existing, more popular, and more specialized social networks. If you're looking for a social media platform that puts everything in one place, Google+ might be the right choice, but it could also be a lonely place to share.

Pros: A user interface that shows off all the polish customers can expect from a Google product A wide range of features including some very clever ideas

Cons: Stretched thin by the prevalence of so many features and a lack of unifying principle Deprecated user base makes it a far less attractive platform