Google joins social network market

When it’s not outpacing Bing in search engine traffic, surpassing Apple in smartphone activations or providing millions with the pleasures of YouTube, Google ‘s next project poses a serious threat to beloved social network giant Facebook.

Launched June 28, the initial reception for Google+ as the anti-Facebook has been the subject for heated debates across media outlets and tech blogs.

Despite its invitation-based exclusivity, similar to Gmail’s original induction process, Google+ currently boasts more than 10 million users, according to The Chicago Tribune.

Although Mark Zuckerberg, president and CEO of Facebook, believes “independent entrepreneurs will always do better than companies trying to do a million things,” Zuckerberg is among the early adopters welcoming Google’s social utopia.

“I feel Facebook is getting old mainly because there is nothing innovative about it,” said Bridgette Montgomery, junior English major and veteran Facebook subscriber. “The original design was simplistic and easy to use. Modifications throughout the years made it visually busy and annoyingly complex.”

While total Google+ subscriptions only amount to a fraction of Facebook’s staggering 750 million users, Google’s unprecedented growth and popularity could signify a shift in social networking tides.

Pertaining to familiarity, Google’s ditches the blue “like” thumb in favor of a more colorful “+1″ button. Scheduled to be embedded in countless websites within the following months, the “+1″ icon will streamline content sharing among Google+ members and rebrand what it means to “like” something.

Similar in theory yet different in practice, Google intends to rise above social network norms by implementing “+1″ hits within search results. Hence, when a member performs a Google search, he/she will quickly view the links friends or family preferred based on “+1′s.”

Building on inspiration, Google+ is introducing revolutionary features such as “Circles.” In essence, users can categorize friends into groups, and thus, members can separate their public, personal and business relationships within the same medium.

Effortlessly obliterating Facebook’s recent Skype integration, which allows for one-to-one video calling, Google “Hangouts” enable video conferencing with up to 20 people. Friends can easily view who is conferring in real-time, and if vacancies are available, then they are able to join the party through the click of a button.

Additionally, Google’s “Sparks” encourages subscribers to discover and share stimulating content. Without the need to resort to external websites, members can enter their interests and Google+ will deliver relevant links which can then be distributed among “Circles.” By showcasing one’s interests with others, Google hopes to “spark” meaningful conversations.

So are people witnessing the rise of the Facebook-killer?

“It has great potential, but it has a long ways to go,” said Norma Martinez, sociology graduate and current nursing student. “I enjoy the categorization system, but since it’s invite only, many of my friends aren’t in the network yet. Some of its features require adjusting to and the current interface isn’t necessarily user-friendly. It will take some time to truly appreciate its capabilities.”

Jerry Aldaz may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.

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How to Set Up a New iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad

So you’ve finally splurged on a new iOS device for yourself, or gotten it as a gift from the Apple lovers in your life. Sadly, you can’t just open the box and start using it—it requires a bit of set up. Here’s what you need to do.

If you don’t already have iTunes, you’ll want to head to apple.com/itunes, download it, and maybe even rip a few CDs while you’re at it. When you’re ready to start using your device, though:

1. Grab your sync cable (the one that came with your device) and plug your device into your computer. If iTunes doesn’t start up automatically, start it up and click on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad in the left-hand sidebar.
2. When prompted, pick “Set Up as a New iPhone/iPod/iPad”. From there, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to automatically sync music, photos, apps, or all of the above to your device. Hit the Done button and it will start syncing your media. This will take awhile, so go get a cup or ten of coffee and wait for it to finish.
3. When you’re done, you’ll be able to use your new device. If you had music in iTunes when you set it up, you should see it in the “iPod” app on your iPhone or iPad, or the “Music” app on an iPod touch (note that your music won’t be in the “iTunes” app on your phone, that’s only for buying new music—yes, it’s a little confusing).

If you chose to sync any apps you had downloaded, those will appear on your device on the home screen. Now that you’ve got everything working, though, you can buy apps at any time from the blue “App Store” icon, or buy music from the purple “iTunes” icon.

It’s also worth noting that you can sync more than just music, photos, and apps to your device. If you plug it back into iTunes and click on it in the sidebar, you should see a row of categories on top of the main pane (“Summary”, “Info”, “Apps”, etc.). If you click on “Info”, you can sync contacts, calendars, and email accounts from Outlook, Apple Mail, and more. You can also sync your bookmarks from Internet Explorer or Safari.

By clicking on the Apps, Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, Books, and Photos tabs, you can selectively sync certain artists, playlists, or genres to sync to your device, if you don’t have enough room to sync everything. Whenever you make changes to your device’s preferences, just be sure to hit the “Apply” button at the bottom of the iTunes window to sync it again using your new settings. Enjoy your new device!

Emailable Tech Support is a tri-weekly series of easy-to-share guides for the less tech savvy people in your life. Got a beginner tech support question you constantly answer? Let us know at tips@lifehacker.com. Remember, when you’re just starting out computing, there’s very little that’s too basic to learn.

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You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
 

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