Facebook vs Google+
The article discusses a study that examines both Google+ and Facebook. The study focused on the total number of shares that occurred on each platform and concluded that, while Facebook currently has 29 billion shares per month and Google+ only has 2 billion shares per month, Google+ could overtake Facebook by May 2016. The study also concluded that the total number of accounts reported by each platform didn’t accurately reflect the number of users due to inactivity, with Google+ having over 75% inactive users. Overall the study concluded that with its current growth trajectory, Google+ could overtake Facebook, in terms of activity, by 2016.
Social Media Growth Trends
This is related to the course material because every user has the choice to either use Facebook or use Google+. The decision to choose one platform over the other is a factor of two primary things, the features and experience of the platform, and the number of your friends that use each platform. Because Facebook was made available before Google+, many internet users were already using Facebook by the time Google+ was released. This made existing users reluctant to switch platforms because, Facebook users’s friends were still using the Facebook platform. However as younger people get older and are selecting a social media platform, they will be less impacted by this because they will know fewer people currently using a platform. This will allow the quality of experience that both platforms provide to be more important in the decision making process.
There are two equilibria in this scenario, one in which all users use Facebook, and one in which all users use Google+. All other situations are not equilibria because a user will switch to whichever platform more of his friends use. Of the two equilibria, whichever platform provides a better experience will give a higher payoff. The growth of Google+ indicates that it provides a better experience and that the userbase is transitioning to that equilibrium.