Google+ v Facebook. Inside Google+ — How the Search Giant Plans to Go Social | Epicenter Google, the world’s largest search company, is formally making its pitch to become a major force in social networking. The product it announced Tuesday is called Google+, and observers might wonder whether it’s simply one more social effort by a company that’s had a lousy track record in that field to date. ‘On Facebook I overshare. On Twitter, I undershare. If Google hits that spot in the middle, we can revolutionize social interaction.’ — Shimrit Ben-Yair, product manager in charge of the social graph. Parts of it certainly seem to appear similar to what we’ve seen before. The second important app is Circles, an improved way to share information with one’s friends, family, contacts and the public at large.
But as I learned in almost year of following the project’s development, with multiple interviews with the team and its executives, Google+ is not a typical release. The parts announced Tuesday represent only a portion of Google’s plans. Some think the battle is already lost. Peter Fleischer: Privacy...? _predicting_the_present. Charges Deceptive Privacy Practices in Google’s Rollout of Its Buzz Social Network. Google Inc. has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it used deceptive tactics and violated its own privacy promises to consumers when it launched its social network, Google Buzz, in 2010. The agency alleges the practices violate the FTC Act. The proposed settlement bars the company from future privacy misrepresentations, requires it to implement a comprehensive privacy program, and calls for regular, independent privacy audits for the next 20 years.
This is the first time an FTC settlement order has required a company to implement a comprehensive privacy program to protect the privacy of consumers’ information. In addition, this is the first time the FTC has alleged violations of the substantive privacy requirements of the U.S. “When companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them,” said Jon Leibowitz, Chairman of the FTC. According to the FTC complaint, Google launched its Buzz social network through its Gmail web-based email product.