Story of the week: Social networking

Story of the week: Social networking
July 3, 2011 9:43 pm by Maryam Nabi .0 0.In the world of social networking, it was out with the old and in with the new last week. Google unveiled its latest crack at the market, while News Corp said goodbye to MySpace.

Google+ opened to limited access early in the week. From competitors and bloggers to privacy-concerned users, the initial reactions around the Web were mixed.

Comparisons with Facebook were a prominent feature in much of the Google+ coverage. In Business Insider’s review, Ellis Hamburger compared photos of Google+ and Facebook side-by-side to show “how uncannily alike the two products are”.

PC Mag’s John C. Dvorak took the resemblances further and asked why Google didn’t just clone Facebook. But Scott Rosenberg of Open Salon found Google+ “a useful alternative that’s worth exploring” for users who want an alternative to Facebook’s platform.

Robert Hof of the Forbes blog The New Persuaders pointed out that “advertising is the key reason Google’s so hot to make a splash in social” and addressed a couple of ways Google could use its “Circles” and “Sparks” features for ad targeting. And ZDNet listed the five things it loved about the new service.

Meanwhile, News Corp ended its hunt to find a buyer for its once market-leading social networking service, MySpace.

The BBC’s Rory Cellan-Jones’ wrote that MySpace should be a reminder that social networking is “not the road to riches”. He advised that the “success in social networking is an ephemeral business and the owners of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter should get out now while the going is good.”

Bloomberg BusinessWeek highlighted how “mismanagement, a flawed merger, and countless strategic blunders have accelerated MySpace’s fall.” Even Sean Parker noted MySpace’s wasted potential: he told Jimmy Fallon at the NExTWORK conference in New York that MySpace could have been Facebook if it had simply responded faster, PC Mag reported.

As MySpace goes through yet another round of lay-offs, it’s hard not to get nostalgic for the social networks that have come and gone. Still, as users hunt for Google+ invites and await its public release, sharing personal information isn’t letting up anytime soon.