When does offering personalization go too far?

Can personalization go too far?

MySpace offers a lot of options for personalizing your page, but to the point where it became cluttered, flashy, and immature.

Facebook offers applications and games. At one point, they had separate pages for users - on for information and one for applications and boxes (think "What Disney character are you?" quizzes). Facebook, too, becomes easily cluttered.

Twitter offers personalization for one solid background with a set layout for everything else.

Google+ has very little style personalization and a lot of informational personalization right now.

Who has the right idea? How much should a customer be allowed to personalize their options?

Google renaming Blogger and Picasa

Google plans to rebrand the Blogger and Picasa brands as Google Blogs and Google Pics, according to a recent report by Mashable.

I don't think it's a very smart move on their part. Good branding doesn't necessarily equal putting a well known brand's name on every thing. Just read Ries' 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (http://www.amazon.com/22-Immutable-Laws-Branding/dp/0060007737).

I see the Picasa and Blogger logos, and their names are programmed into my brain. Google will have to reprogram everything in the consumer's mind now.

Of course, it's not that big of a deal and shouldn't hurt them too bad since the products are all very different, so it's not like Coke Zero stealing business from regular Coke.

But, still, Google Pics and Google Blogs aren't very memorable names. If they want to succeed, they'll have to bet on the success of the Google name. Luckily, they're already very popular, so they may not have to deal with any problems for a while, if at all.

Chat in the Google Facebook Wars: Facebook announces Facebook Skype Video Chat

It seems that some of the Google+ versus Facebook wars is revolving around effective chatting (video or text). Facebook announced today that it will partner with Skype to offer group and video chat.

Personally, I use Skype for video chat - not Google. And I don't chat very often on Facebook.

Do you want all your chat functions in one place combined with your social media? Or do you prefer to keep them separate?

8 Must-read articles on Google+

Obviously, Google+ offers the same social networking abilities that Facebook offers. But it has its own unique qualities, as well, and they could mean something for marketers, public relations specialists, photographers and reporters.

Here are eight, must-read articles on the uses and potential of Google+:

1) HubSpot has the low down on all of the Google+ features

2) PR News reports on the PR uses of Google+

3) The Future Buzz reports on the marketing and PR uses of Google+

4) Chris Brogan talks about 50 current and future possibilities for Google+

5) The Next Web gives some advice on how to turn your profile into a photography portfolio

6) Chris Brogan gives some advice on how to use Google+ as a blog

7) Sprout Social Insights reports on the possibility of Google+ business pages

8) Read StarBright Business' summary of the pluses and minuses of Google+

What do you think Google+ offers your business or brand?

A Google Makeover: Google+ is only the beginning

It's clever marketing, and it makes Google a lot more modern looking. That's right, Google is getting a complete makeover. You may have noticed that Google search has been getting a new look lately. You may have heard that Google+ is the new social network trying to surpass Facebook.

Now Google is switching up Gmail a bit too.

And all these aesthetic changes serve to build up excitement and talk about Google+, and they give Google a bit of a different brand image, too. Sure, Google is still fun and personable. You can still personalize the look of your Gmail, you can still personalize your Google home page, and you can still view those fun Google designs on holidays and special occasions. But now Google is giving itself a more modern look, setting itself up as a company looking to the future, a company that is the future.

Is Google making a good decision by changing its image?

Some pluses (and minuses) of Google+

Now that Google+ is allowing most anyone to sign up, I've had a chance to explore the new social network and find I like it much better than Facebook. Despite its name, however, it does have a few minuses that Google will likely fix as it adds features and changes to what is now the early, experimental version. It's already looking like they plan on adding gaming abilities.

But with the possibility of new features like games and applications, you have to wonder how Google+ will succeed if it decides to copy Facebook rather than capitalizing on what makes it unique.

That said, here are a few pluses and minuses of the current version of Google+:

+ Google+ is integrated with Gmail and all other Google functions. When you're logged in, the bar at the top of the page includes the typical "Web, Images, Gmail, etc" options, but there's also a section on the right of the bar that sends you notifications and allows you to view and access your profile and settings. So you can access your email and notifications, and you can post links and status updates - all on the same web page. This is the biggest plus for me.

+ Adding on to the previous plus, Google+ has a thing called "Sparks" that is similar to Google News. You add an interest to Sparks that will show up in your side bar and can click on it to view the latest news and web articles on that topic.

+ Its concept of easily arranging friends into "circles" is unique and fun

- When you invite people from you gmail address book by putting them in a circle, they show up in your circle whether they've accepted your invite and joined Google+ or not.

+It has a unique, clean look

- But it may lose that when it starts adding more features

+ It allows you to edit photos

+ It has video chat capabilities

+ Like other social media sharing methods, it allows you to share by giving you the ability to give a +1 to stories and other information/postings on the Internet, and it also provides a column in your account to view everything that you have given a +1 to.

+ It also has a column for Buzz posts

- Not that anyone ever uses Buzz. I only have one friend who uses it, and everything I post is automatically coming from Facebook and Twitter

- Posts are separated from Buzz and +1. The organization here is unclear, and since I already have all my Facebook and Twitter posts coming to Buzz, why bother reposting? Well, because otherwise I won't show up in people's streams.

- There's no ability to post from your phone, unless you have a smart phone and download the app for that. The webpage labels "SMS" as "coming soon."

- There's no way to connect Facebook and Twitter to your regular posts.

+ In a way, it combines Facebook with LinkedIn by automatically using your professional Google profile.

- Unfortunately, as it is in its beginning stages, I currently only have two people to be sharing things with.

Chris Brogan has made a list of 50 possibilities regarding Google+. Check it out here.

What are your favorite Google+ features? Have you joined yet? Will it beat Facebook?

Lessons in branding from Social Media success and failure

One of the keys to successful branding is finding a niche and being the first in to do something unique in that niche. We've seen this develop in different social media outlets.

MySpace allowed you to personalize your page, and it acted as a great center for musicians and artists to promote their work. Unfortunately,

this was never capitalized on, and with the high risk of being hacked, as well as with the rise of Facebook, MySpace has lost its appeal, much like one of the earlier blogging websites, Xanga, lost its appeal when Blogger and Wordpress came around.

Facebook was a cleaner version of MySpace and included more information options. It focused on relationships, and it was successful.

Twitter made its mark by only allowing 140 characters and by owning the word "tweet" in the consumer's mind. It also brought about new ways of getting information out with hashtags, @ abilities, and mobile options.

Now, Google+ is attempting to do something similar by focusing on the idea of "circles," "sparks," and other unique terms. Google Buzz didn't work because it was too simple, too out of the way, far less convenient than Facebook. It didn't have a point. Google+ seems to offer easier organization of friends, and it offers the extra plus of the ability to edit photos.

Will Google+ succeed? There's no telling right now, as it is in its beginning stages. It definitely seems to offer some things Facebook does not offer. We'll just have to wait and see if it's unique enough to stand out as a first, rather than a rehashing of Facebook and Twitter. It's already had enough of a demand to warrant shutting down invites for the time being.

What are some other firsts in social networking?