While I have never been a big fan of Facebook, I love following some really interesting groups on it. It is the one feature I have always complained about missing on Google+. Not any longer, Google+ has not started rolling out “Communities” feature today. The new Google+ Communities feature should show up over the next 24 hours on your account.
While some might say that Google+ Communities is yet another borrowed idea from Facebook, but it really is very different.
How are Google+ Communities different from Facebook Groups
- The big difference is that on Google+ Communities, the discussions can be separated under different categories. Nothing like that exists on Facebook Groups. Actually it resembles the old school forum style discussion groups. Google Groups itself is created on similar lines, so maybe they are leaving room for more integration in the future.
- The privacy model is very similar to Facebook groups. It allows Private communities, public communities where all posts are public and finally hidden communities which are not indexed publicly.
- Hangouts can also be held between community members. This is going to be a big deal for DIY (Do it yourself) communities. Unfortunately on Facebook groups, only text chatting works.
Facebook has a very irritating feature that allows users to add their friends without permission to a group. I was not able to check if Google+ had omitted this one as Google+ Communities is not available on my account as yet.
Google+ Communities Video
Google+ is a place were we search for things based on interest, while on Facebook it is a lot more about searching for people we know. This could really give Google+ a lot of great traction as communities are perfect for finding like minded people instead of just people you know.
Has your Google+ account got the Communities feature? Do drop in your first impressions in your comments.
(via Google Blog)