POV: Will Google+ Dent Brand Facebook?

Google's intention to create a more open social ecosystem and integration of its properties with Google+ seems to be a killer strategy. Will it hurt Facebook?

Rajnish R, co-founder, Althea Systems

Google Search works well because the web is open and Google can crawl and index pages, track users clicking an article, and a whole bunch of other data that goes into the Pagerank algorithm. In short, the access to explicit user behaviour is the key to Google Search's success.

On Facebook, users share media and content. They 'like it', 'share it' with friends and make 'comments'. All this user behaviour data sits inside Facebook's closed platform and Google has no access to this. What Google is doing in the social space is exactly what it did in the mobile iOS space. The fear of a closed Apple eco-system, which shut out Google, forced the latter to move quickly on Android iOS. We know how successful Android has been against Apple. If I was Facebook, I would take Google+ very seriously.

Mahesh Murthy, managing partner, Seedfund

I have been at the 5,000 friend mark (the system doesn't allow more) on Facebook for some time. But, I'm no closer to understanding who a majority of these are and what I should share with each of them. Google+ is a set of cliques. There's no limit on the number of people who can follow what you say, but you have simple controls on what you share with whom. Google search, with a billion users, generates US$36 per user, per year. Facebook, with 800 million, generates US$4 per user, per year. With G+, Google will own the consumer's presence for longer chunks of time online -- and so, can take more of the money here.

G+ may not reach the 800 million users that Facebook has. But, it doesn't need to. Even if it reaches 100 million, those are likely to be the influencer users -- with as much media value as the other 700 million. If G+ figures out a solid monetisation strategy, then I'd be bullish on G+.

Vivek Bhargava, chief executive officer, Communicate 2

Google+ has garnered close to 20 million users in a few weeks. These 20 million users seem to be influencers. The number of Google+ v/s Facebook cartoons and jokes seem to indicate that the initial users of Google+ are a passionate bunch.

Google+ is a combination of the best features of Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Messenger and Google News, all on one platform. Having a small link saying +Vivek just makes me click on that link a lot more than I find myself clicking Facebook. But, what will really make a dent in Facebook is that its IPO is getting postponed, millionaire employees' stock is going under water, and it is no longer seen as hip being on Facebook. When one is moving at 1,000 miles an hour, a slight nudge can cause a fatal impact. Is Google+ capable of that nudge? Yes!

Karthik Nagarajan, national director, social media, GroupM

Facebook must take Google+ as a threat simply because Google+ has several unique features that the former doesn't. The launch of Google+1 signalled a commitment to not only bring 'social' more into the search results, but also showed the extent to which Google would go to be successful. Google, at that time, indicated its intentions by enabling the +1 feature to be shared across the entire web, and began to build on the outcome of the clicks on those buttons into the organic rankings.

With Google+, you can see Google using its understanding of the web with elements such as 'Sparks', 'Hangouts' and 'Huddle'. A majority of consumers use search and social for confirmation of a right decision and many move from one channel to the other to get more information.

Facebook must take notice of what Google is striving to do -- keeping people from leaving the Google network.

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