AgVoice | Google+ Vs Facebook: Its about consumer behavior, not tech! ' Part II

So then what does it take to compete head-on with a market dominator?

In the world of soaps or butter, it can happen. It takes doing, but it can happen. Because in that physical world, due to issues like distribution network and geography, multiple brands can survive together.

The challenge is bigger online. Everyone's a click away. If Ebay is one click away, do I need an upstart auction site, with lesser traction, to try out? No, I don't!

So what's happening here? Let's look at the consumer behavior analogy. Just because it is tech, things don't change, in terms of consumer preferences.

Think of it this way. You have your favorite pub, where you hang out. And whenever you go, there are always friends. Like the famous Cheers bar, this is the place where "everybody knows your name". And then one day, a new pub opens up nearby. Puts out flyers with your newspaper, puts some hoardings out there, offers a better brew of beer. So like many others, you walk in one day. Don't see any familiar faces. There are smiles, but not very personal, since they don't really know you. You have a beer. It's good too. And then you leave. Next evening when you are ready to hit the pub again, you think. For a moment. Okay, new or old. And then you reckon, "let me go where everyone knows my name". And you go there, meet your pals, do a few high-fives, hug a few, and settle down and gulp away your old favorite brew. Even as the folks keep coming by and greeting you, your favorite music keeps playing, and in short, "life's good". So who cares much about the new place anyway? And since all your friends think the same, life continues like before.

That's your Google+ vs Facebook situation. Now, in case your old pub had changed, stopped playing your favorite music, charged you extra for the chips, or something like that, THEN you might be tempted to give the new place another try. But otherwise, you stay put. Yes, that is what's happening here too.

The email game. From Hotmail and Yahoo and others, to Gmail now.

The reducing relevance of the portals. How dependent are you really, on Yahoo and Rediff, as a starting point now?

And then, you see the continuing dominance of Ebay and Amazon, in their respective categories.

So where does Google+ vs Facebook fit in?

In the cases of search engines and email, it was fundamentally ONE service. That had to be bettered. Like a better brew of beer. You get that. And you are one up.

So a search engine that delivered better results, an email service that worked little better. All of these were enough to upstage a leader. Sure, there was huge technology behind building that better mousetrap, but to the user, it was another mousetrap. A better one. Period.

In the case of the portals, it was different.

They had their legacies in the AOLs and the Prodigys of the world. Where they were the gateway to the World Wide Web, in a sense. And when people needed that hand holding to their ultimate goal. Of finding interesting things for themselves on the web.

Those days are gone. People have matured on the Internet; know what they want, and how they can get there. This is the reason for the reduced relevance of portals as portals. Rediff email may still have relevance, or Yahoo Finance may do too. But their relevance as portals has gone down.

So where a Facebook offers multiple things, does it face irrelevance like portals? No, I do not think so. Facebook is not just a motley combination of unconnected stuff put together, for each person to help himself. In a way, it is. But on the other hand, most of the stuff there, HAS a connection to connecting / sharing with others. And which is the key to a social network. The various features of a social network "live' together, and work together. Quite like the way, one lives with one's many relationships, many equations and interactions in society.

A social network, which helps me best to complete in the virtual world, what I am unable to do in the real world ' keep up with my relationships ' is valuable to me. And that is the preeminent position that Facebook has occupied in our lives.

As you can see, from a consumer behavior point of view, I do believe, it is a huge and uphill climb for Google+, no matter the initial registration base it has built. As a user, I am happy to see options, I am happy to see the leader challenged. And yet, in this particular battle, I do not see the challenger making much of an impact. I would be happy to be proven wrong, in the long run! | By Sanjay Mehta, Joint Chief Executive Officer, Social Wavelength

About the writer:

Sanjay Mehta has been an early internet entrepreneur with 11 plus years of experience at hands on level, in building and running a successful internet based venture (www.homeindia.com). Most recently Sanjay has served as the COO of Compare InfoBase Ltd. Previously he has also served as a director in an electrical and industrial electronics manufacturing and marketing business. With more than 20 years of experience in various leadership positions, Sanjay brings to the table a keen understanding of how businesses operate. He combines considerable prowess in the field of Social Media, Ecommerce, SEO, SEM and Web 2.0 with expertise in strategy, planning, business development, operations, sales and marketing