I have always felt that Facebook is not a better social network than Google+ because of it’s features, but rather because of it is an incumbent and has 900 million users. Google+ almost always seems to be a few steps but doing things a little better than usual.
Today, it launched Google+ Events at Google I/O. The idea for the feature is pretty much borrowed from Facebook but the execution is ten times better.
It is similar to Facebook events in the way that we can add a event photos and updates from the event itself.
Why Google+ Events is better than Facebook events?
- At the moment Facebook does not have a great calendar app like Google Calendar. This is where Google+ Events scores because it integrates with your Google Calendar. For example, while accepting a invitation to an event, it lets your know if you are busy that day or have free time to accept.
- Users will also have the option of feature photos live. In today’s age of mobile phones and tablets, Google+ Events has a “Party Mode” which allows users to stream photos at that event live from their phones. The photos can later be viewed as a slideshow too.
- This indirectly means all the photos taken at the event are in a single place for others to view it at a later time.
- There are additional niceties to the feature like selecting a live theme for different types of events you might have, along with easy options to view photos and updates from participants directly.
Here is a video presentation of Google+ Events
I think it will be a matter of time before Facebook does the same with its Event’s page, but Google+ already has better mobile experience than Facebook (not to forget its very own Android OS running on millions of phones). So there is a real chance that Google+ will grow with time, as users will get social more from their phones rather than their computers.
Do try out Google+ Events and drop in your comments.