Why I’m Leaving Facebook
It’s been a rough week for me. See, it’s my job to stay on top of the latest social trends and report on them to my agency. It’s a job I take very seriously, and one I like to think I’m pretty good at. So naturally, when I heard that Google was launching Google+ I committed every act shy of a felony to make sure that I got myself an invitation. (A thank you to the wonderful Donna Tocci for the invite, by the way.)
Now I’m on. And I’m so very happy.
Why Google+ is Better (for me) Than Facebook
Okay, look. If you’re my friend on Facebook, you probably don’t even know I’m there. I don’t like to interact with other people very often. I don’t stalk people. I have started a Page for my blog a couple of times, and they never take off. I find Facebook status updates to be bland and formulaic. The photo browser bugs me. I have no idea how I became friends with the 20% of people in my friends list who I don’t actually know, and I get miffed when I see them post stupid stuff that clutters my feed. I hate Facebook’s ad schema. I hate the SPAM that pops up from people I trust. And I can’t tell you how much I hate the idea that Facebook could at any point give away my personal information to people I don’t know, and claim that I “allowed” them to do it.
I DO, however, use Facebook’s Groups function. In fact, the Digitas Social Practice has a private group where we swap links and talk about the latest goings-on in social media, and I love it. And I would use Groups for all of my friends, except that I know they don’t use Facebook the same way I do.
Enter Google+. Now new users are forced to bucketize their entire follower list from the outset. Let’s talk about how beneficial that is for a moment.
Imagine a Facebook environment where you never had to see another post about Farmville, because everyone only sent Farmville status updates to their circle of friends who played Farmville.
That right there is reason enough to join Google+, isn’t it?
Other Fun Baubles
There’s lots of stuff that gets lots of credit by the bloggers and news media, but one oft-overlooked feature is Google+’s handling of photo albums. These things are gorgeous. Just look for yourself:
Facebook can’t do this. I’m big on aesthetics, so this is a big win for Google+ in my book.
This is part of a larger theme, too, which is simply that Google+ has a much better user interface than Facebook. As a digital native, I find it incredibly intuitive. Red notification bubble in the top-right, filters on the left, simple icon-based navigation, @-symbol tagging, etc. I already knew how to use Google+ before I got my invitation.
Wait, let me repeat that, ‘cuz I think it’s really important.
I knew how to use Google+ before I ever got an invitation.
Can I say that about Facebook? Nope. Heck, I still don’t know all the ins and outs of Facebook — and it’s my friggin’ job.
Anyway, I will be keeping my Facebook account because I still need it to do my job properly. But I’m migrating all of the cool, fun, interesting stuff over to Google+. And if you’re anything like me, I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw you do the same. In fact, I encourage it.
See you on the Plus side. 
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You may want to wait until Google+ really exists before throwing good old Facebook completely under the bus. Google+ has the potential to clutter you to no end when it actually manages a full membership list (They in fact crashed this past week due to server overloads I believe). For what it’s worth, Facebook is an application of very limited value to the average user, but most of your complaints seem to stem from a lack of understanding of Facebook features. All posts, and indeed posters, are one click away from being hidden from your wall. I haven’t seen a Farmville update this calendar year.
I have found Google+ to be a bit baffling so far, and have essentially put off updating it at all out of frustration. This may be entirely on me, but your claim of it’s intuitive superiority strikes me as false. I can provide you with some information to help your confusion, however: Those 20% of friends whose origin confuses you? You friended them.
Tongue and cheek comments aside, I do look forward to hearing about Google+ and maybe finding the same value that you see.
JC — Great, on point comments here. Yes, I suppose I did friend that 20%, but I never put them in lists. On G+, their Circles would be, perhaps, “People I met at XYZ conference,” or whatnot. I apparently friended them prior to Facebook’s Lists feature (which I do use). The bigger problem, however, is my inability to filter my stream by those lists and having to, as you point out, either hide posts individually or hide users or sources entirely.
Google+ allows me to selectively filter my feed. What are my friends up to? There’s a feed for that. What are my coworkers reading? There’s a feed for that. How about my fishing buddies, which may be a combination of the two previous groups? I can see that feed, too. Facebook doesn’t afford me that opportunity, without including them in Groups (which are a hassle to set up for every circle).
Facebook crashes, too, by the way. ; )
Cheers!
–Matt
Love the blog topic Matt…Google+ is something to think about but I noticed I cannot connect to you there from your link menu above on this page. Is that on purpose?
Barbara,
No, not on purpose. I just haven’t gotten to setting it up just yet. On the list of things to do. In the mean time, here you go: https://plus.google.com/106123197599154760712/posts
I’ll have to cede the point on circles and their value in organizing groups and identifying people. Could this not serve as a double edged sword in the spread of Google+ as people will close themselves off right from the get go? This does seem to offer much better privacy options, and Google+ is clearly a beneficiary of allowing Facebook to tame the “frontier” of social media, but will this not slow the spread of information and limit the experimentation that results from Facebook’s chaos? Will this also hobble advertising potential for Google?
A hiccup on the road to world domination?
http://www.macworld.com/article/161331/2011/07/complaints_mount_over_googleplus_account_deletions.html
These issues may be unavoidable, but Google does have an unfortunate track record with deletions in their other awesome services.
Matt, I think you’re right when you say G+ is better for many reasons, in particular for, let’s say, “power users”…but I must admit that I don’t agree with some basic remarks you used to jump on facebook, i.e. when you say you hate spam from some friends and farmville ads, as you can hide notifications and “stalkers” whenever you want.
I’m not saying I’m a facebook big fan, but I believe some remarks must be better balanced. In any case, I retweet your post as I think it’s a good chance to think about both the platforms!
best
Stefano
@Stefano — Yes, and I’ve had this conversation with a couple of people since posting this story — of course you’re right: you can hide Farmville posts from your stream at your discretion. The point that I was trying to get at (albeit unsuccessfully) was that I am required to filter that content out of my stream on Facebook, as opposed to Google+, where the culture is such that users selectively send their OUTBOUND content to relevant audiences upon publication. I like this process much better. Facebook doesn’t do it well; G+ does it much better. That’s all.
Thanks for the share! Look forward to talking with you again!
–Matt
sure thing Matt! Let’s discuss in your next blog post!