As someone who lives and works online, I was eager to try out Google+ the moment it launched. I held out longer than most to join Facebook and didn’t get an account intending to share personally, but more to familiarized myself with Facebook for clients needs. I understood it’s power for businesses, and building and maintaining relationships with customers. Same with Twitter. But even though I was drawn in out of necessity, I couldn’t help but to start sharing my life over both services.

Now that I’ve managed to score the elusive Google+ invite and check the service out first hand, I have to admit… I was surprised. Mostly, because it really isn’t a complete rip off of Facebook as most would assume. Yes, Mark Zuckerberg is right. Google+ is validation of Facebooks vision. But as it’s been pointed out… Facebook was validation of Myspace’s vision, and look at Myspace now.

I found with Circles, Google+ is making it easier to share different content with the right people I intend it to be seen by. Yes, Facebook has lists, but it’s not as easy and upfront as Circles. For me it’s powerful to be able to separate with ease what’s appropriate for people I have a professional relationship with, and what’s appropriate for those I joke around with. It’s sharing in the same way we do everyday. We don’t have the same type of relationship with each person we interact with, so why should we with our social networks? It’s not a totally new concept but it is emphasized in Google+.

Hangouts is a cool feature allowing you to video with up to 10 people and even watch Youtube videos. Even though Facebook launched one on one video chat, the two are completely different concepts. I already use one on one video chat in Gmail quite a bit, so as soon as I installed Facebook’s video chat I tested it, but other than that I don’t see myself using it much. Where Hangouts is different is that it gives you the ability to do just that, hang out, bump into and interact with your people online.

Despite all of these features, where I feel Google+’s real advantage over Facebook is expectations. Google+ has the ability to change and adapt without as much scrutiny, because people aren’t invested yet the way they are in Facebook. This, coupled with Google’s interest in user feedback is what I believe make it the first real threat to Facebook. After all, I’ve always felt when Google launches a new product it’s like they are running it by me. With Facebook I feel like they are telling me what I want. That being said, after I post this blog, I’ll make sure I update my Facebook Status, not my Google+ Stream. Wonder how much that will change in a year?

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