Marketing Director

Google+ Copies Facebook: Or is it Us?





Besides having the heads positioned in an opposing fashion there is little to nothing that's different about these two profiles.

Similarities

  • The new 'banner' image is fully replicated.
  • Vitals directly below the profile pic.
  • The tabbed options look and function similarly but there are different.
  • Timeline style profile - industry standard.
  • Positioning of the top right settings and account menu - industry standard.
  • Position of logo on the top left - industry standard.
  • Position of search field: this is an industry standard.

Differences

  • Where Facebook has ads; Google+ has ominous white space.
  • Google+ has profile style tabs; Facebook integrates that into an extra row on the profile.
  • Google+ clearly displays the nav bar on the left hand side - industry standard.

Are we as humans that predictable that everything on the top of a web page should obey a certain order? Maybe, yes. Are we heading to a face off between these platforms? Yes. May other platforms out there be different and present differently? Yes. You be the judge of the majors by telling me - @kempedu - if you believe LinkedIn or Twitter are operating on the same user design principles for profile pages.


 



For me the most interesting contrast between all of these profiles is how they attempt to get new users to sign up. When I captured these shots I logged out. Facebook doesn't allow non-users to see my profile unless they login or sign-up. It's not hard to tell who understand that users are at the core of almost everywhere iteration of computing technology. The bottom line is...

Users Rule




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