Eight time Academy Award winner, “The Social Network”, follows Mark Zuckerburg as he creates the phenomenon that is now known worldwide as Facebook; but you guys already knew that, didn’t you? So, what is this I have been hearing about a new social networking site: Google+? How could another site possibly stand up to Facebook?

     It can’t.

     From what I understand, one must be invited to join Google+, because apparently not everyone is good enough (quite yet), whereas Facebook is open to everyone and their moms, literally.

     After weeks of trying to gain access to a Google+ account, I was finally successful. I realize that it seems to mimic Facebook’s appearance almost exactly. The homepage is a cleaner, less blue version of the Facebook homepage.

     Since I have been an avid Facebook user for years now,   I’ve been finding it very difficult to adapt to the Google+ interface because it reminds me so much of Facebook;  the copycat method does not sit well with me.

     Although Google+ does imitate Facebook, I have to give Andy Hertzfeld (head designer) major props for making the layout appear much neater than and more put together than Facebook’s.

It is made up of five main components –Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, Instant Uploads and Huddle.

Circles allows the user to group their friends into different categories such as family, friends, etc. One can post updates to certain circles only, rather than allowing the post to appear in everyones “Stream.” With Sparks, the user can select things they are interested in, and related posts will be pushed to their Stream, similar to a site known as StumbleUpon.

 If you are in a Hangout session, you might as well be using Skype or ooVoo, as it allows you to have live video chats with up to ten people. With instant uploads, if your Google+ account is synced to your phone, the pictures taken with your cellular camera will automatically be uploaded to a private album from where you can decide who to share it with. Hudldle allows you to text an entire Circle of friends from your phone.

Everything that Google is trying to do with their new + feature has already been done at some point on the web, whether it be on Facebook or elsewhere.  Go on and see for yourself; which do you prefer – Google+ or Facebook?