It is what you make of it.

Had been planning a post on "Self Important Arrogant Web Socialites"....you know the FB homepage top-news-post-owners who invariably dominate your entire home page and irritate you to no end with their irrelevant updates! Updates that speak about what they did when...and how...in details! Updates that scream out their achievements (mostly over-exaggerated...and nothing more than what you may have had easily achieved a lot earlier in your life but never blown the trumpet about!). Updates that speak of the number of times they visited the loo and the loo-reforms that they wish to bring about... blah blah blah. Those are our very own Self Important Arrogant Web Socialites...SIAWS.

But then i thought...why go into such treacherous waters and invoke the fury of so very many SIAWS.... n i chose to write about the latest Google Chrome Adverts....i love them. Simplicity redefined!

check the "Dear Sophie" ad... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4vkVHijdQk ...Daniel Lee, Dad.

This ad features a proud new father who uses the web to share memories with his daughter as she grows up.....


This advert touches so many emotions...so many of them.
It reminds you of your Dad... it reminds you of the day when he got for you the toy you'd been throwing tantrums for... It reminds you of the times when he chided you for the mistakes you made and then made it up with a hug. Your mind floods with memories of your own childhood and you wish you could look back at them again...together with your dad.
While watching the video you decide that you too will record memories to share with your kid. The Mom or Dad in you wakes up to a new dream!
Its the magic of Simplicity and Love!

Edward Lewis, Dad.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5NKYKE6U2c ...this is another version of the same advert "Dear Hollie".....and this one ends with the lines... "I've been emailing you all your life. One day we'll look back at these together."

More than the content, its the style that has caught my attention. In this materialistic world of artificial effects nothing attracts more than the simplicity of emotion and thought. A simplistic approach to marketing...Google seems to have played just the right cards!
 A merger of technology with the most basic of all human emotions...humanity. That has played the pivotal role in the conceptualisation of this advertisement...that is evident.

It is true...technology is not supposed to be your life...it is supposed to be a part of it only. You are the Master and Technology is your Power.
And, yes....the Web is but a medium of expression and Technology enables efficient sharing of that expression. Anyone with a fair amount of knowledge as to how to express him or herself can use the Web to his or her advantage. No Web user is better than the other when they start out... but it is how well you can use your Power that determines who becomes a better Master of the Power-tools provided to him/her.

"The Web is what you make of it."

Google has come up with an apt Tagline.
No one is more important than the other on the Web. you create your own identity and maintain it. It is unwise to make technology your life...for after all it is but just Virtual. Technology is an aid that helps to make real life living more delightful...more joyous and more loving.... just like Daniel Lee and Edward Lewis. They have created a storehouse of memories that they wish to share with their kids when they grow up. they never intended to or will never even wish to bring their children up in the virtual world... its more like a virtual album of real life memories....

They've used the Web in their own way...and have generated smiles.

SIAWS...do something worthwhile....make someone smile...not a smiley but a real smile!

Ah! Maybe someday my Blog will have some similar effect on me and my readers!! :) ..........lets smile...together!

Lets "Google" it: G+

http://www.aliweb.com/ was one of the earliest internet search engines... then suddenly one day someone said...."dude! lets google it."

...And since then the world has been doing so. Under the desk in class...in the exam hall when the invigilator is not looking...or for more legitimate work like making project...writing codes...looking up anything for any work on the face of the Earth. Competitors came n remained...but could not really become the master of the Search market. The star of Google shone brightly above them all. 

The USB was its basic simplicity and uncluttered features. The homepage itself shows how simple the engine is. new features were added and loved by the people...Google was still simple!

The Google mail service was a blockbuster! Gmail hit it off with the people...reason: again uncluttered simplicity of features.

The web browser, Chrome...people like it for its...once again...simplicity...and yes speed! Many users prefer Firefox and other browsers for their work but Chrome has actually managed to solve many of the problems that Firefox had and its users hadn't even noticed. And this makes Chrome faster than other browsers. Simply speaking...Chrome lacks complexities!

Aha....does anyone remember a social network called Orkut?

It was very popular...until Google started introducing Facebook like features in it.

Too many features....too many attempts to give the users a FB like feel...the users quietly switched over to the original one. Faithful Orkutians, like me, became regulars at Facebook.

Orkut lost its simplicity and consequently, its market.

Then began the War....

And....

                                                                         

Google recognised the threats. This led to Google introducing newer services. Google converted its features into separate services and grouped then under a users Account. Now any person having a Gmail account automatically had a Google Account and could easily access all the services provided by Google. Blogger, Docs, Picasa....and so many other services. So far so good!

Google came up with Wave. Like most other Google services this too was a "by invitation only" service at the beginning. But unlike Orkut and Gmail this "by invitation only" formula didnt work for Wave. Instead of becoming a much coveted service, Wave met with a cold response. People who didn't have Wave invitations chose not to Wave. They had other options....Facebook and Twitter were always available.

Google Buzz was yet another failed attempt to beat competition. This time it was aimed at Twitter.

And now....there is a new Project. A brand new Social Network by Google:

The most basic problem that this social site may face is that this is again a "by invitation only" service till now. It may turn out to be a super hit but then again it may meet the same fate as Wave. This service is reportedly similar to Facebook...with some added features like Circles, Sparks and Hangout. 

Circles are basically groups in which the user can divide his friends and all sharing, posting and commenting is done with the group you select. So as far as security and privacy is concerned G+ is a step ahead of Facebook. Sparks is a news-based stream and Hangout can give good competition to Skype.

But then again, reviews say, that the service is quite complex in itself and requires a lot getting used to. A user needs to really have patience to sort out the Circles and set his network up while getting used to the complexities on the way.

When you come to think of it...Facebook does have groups these days and sharing with only one group is possible. if you chose to make the group private you can easily ensure that no one else in yours friend list sees it.

But then Google hasn't Invited me to use G+ yet...so i wouldn't know the G+ experience and how its better than FB.

"the biggest hurdle for the web giant is that a collection of cool features doesn’t make a network. People do."

Its true. People currently using this service are people who already own a Google Account. Only those who have a Google Profile can really participate fully in the G+ activities because as mentioned earlier Google has converted all its significant features into separate services available to all Google Account holders. There is no easy way to pull in contacts from Twitter...let alone Facebook. It is necessary to extend the online activity of a user to a broad section of his/her actual social graph. The survival of a Social Network largely depends on the networks it either creates or takes advantage of....so "Surviving Solo" is not a idea that'll help a Social Network survive.  

Interesting and new features, enhanced security and privacy, good looks.....G+ has it all. All it needs is a market. You need people to create a super hit social network... the question is, can G+ do it?

source of information and images: Google search engine