@gojeffcho My reason for being attached to G+ is I like targeted sharing, and I like Google's philosophy towards passive sharing in search.However, as Jeff pointed out, Facebook also has targeted sharing so I felt the need to classify why I prefer one system of sharing over the other. I believe that circles on Google+ better allow me to control who can and should see my content than Facebook, and that Google+ circles are more versatile and flexible as a mechanic. I'll expand more below.
— Shawn Drape (@shawndrape) January 10, 2012
First, some background on the two mechanics and how I use them. In Facebook, there are what they call smart lists. They can be created around your networks (university or city), or around who you talk and interact with most frequently. They came out after the Google+ service and were touted as a better way for most people to organize their friends (the implication being that no one wanted to put people into circles). However, the lists in Facebook I have created are as follows: Close Friends, Family, Acquaintances, Alumni, Kingstonians (used mostly for when I am actually heading to Kingston), and then everyone else I assume is in one massive list called friends.
In Google+, I have two types of circles. I have circles which denote how close people are to me, for the purposes of restricting access to personal information. These are the circles which most closely relate to Facebook: Family, friends, acquaintances, co-workers. Then I have circles based on interest, which Facebook doesn't really have a mechanism for: Tech/Developers, Torontonians, Gamers, etc. These circles are the ones I use to filter myself for the benefit of my followers.
The fact that Google+'s circles allow me to target my posts not only by familiarity but also by interest speaks to the flexibility that I mentioned above. It means that I can post my tech questions and opinions to that group without boring my family, and I can post hilarious pictures of the dog to the family without boring, well, everyone else on the planet. I have no issues with other people seeing the content, but I prefer to focus content towards them that they will appreciate. I also make sure to keep enough content public so that people I haven't filtered yet (or I haven't followed back yet) get a taste for my interests.
I anticipate two counter-points to my above arguments. One, that Facebook lists allow me to target based on content just as well as Google+ does. While this is true, there are two things that Google+ has over Facebook in this regard that make Google+ a better system for it. Namely, the ability to modify circles for any person any time their name appears in a post or on a comment and the ability to search through the system based on interest. The second counter-point is that Google+ circles don't do a very good job of filtering content since a follower can't choose the content they want (onus is on the creator).
To the second point, I must concede. It's not a perfect system by any stretch. However, I feel based on my current usage that it is both enough for my current needs and has the potential to expand further in that service. I don't feel that Facebook is even interested in raising the bar of content filtering given their preference that everyone share everything as openly as possible.
Those are my main reasons for preferring Google+'s method of targeted sharing, and that doesn't even get into my tertiary reason for using the system: being able to send e-mails with comments and pictures from Google+ to those who aren't using the system. If you have any comments or critiques, I look forward to hearing them.
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