Googled Age

on July 19, 2011
Posted In: Blog

HAWM, Guildies. I’m going to be making an effort to use this blog space more often just for the heck of it. We all love best writing paper chit chatting on the comments, so hopefully I can give us all some more topics to discuss on top of that.

First off, I want to selfishly tell you all that you can now follow me on the only social media site I really seem to be enthusiastic about right now, which is Google+. Add me to your circles for frequent fun and nonsense that only the Phil Kahn brand can provide! Also T Campbell is there too, I guess.

Now then. Let’s talk about Google+ for a bit after the jump. If you haven’t a single fuck to give about Google+, then I suppose there is no need for you to proceed.

This is only tangentially related to fantasy fiction/gaming, I know. Hopefully we’re a group of people who like to discuss things besides that also. I’ve been having a hoot and a half bumming around on there, partly because it’s always fun to stomp around new territory and partly because I got that mad rush of poopularity that only Internet fads can provide. Overall, I’m really digging how easy it is to find people I want to find and how easy it is to share stuff. Not a big fan of being re-informed anytime one of my friends re-shares the same damn thing I saw already, or how comments threads just keep building and building in length until the whole page is filled (I’m looking at you, Wil Wheaton followers). You can mute posts outright, but you can’t mute comments on a post (a feature I’d like to see).

It’s too soon to say whether or not Google+ is a Facebook killer, or if we even need it to be. At some point, we as a society, are going to have to come to a place of personal comfort where we can live without keeping tabs on absolutely everyone. Or rather, conquering this silly notion that we all have that if we don’t read everything our friends post, we are terrible friends. This shit is supposed to be frivolous fun to tide you over until 5PM rolls around. While it’s a powerful social/promotional tool otherwise, this has the potential to replace Facebook’s role in our lives as a primary go-to for what our friends are up to… but honestly? I see a divide between the two forming quickly, mostly to the effect that Google+ is content-driven like Tumblr, and Facebook is status-driven like Twitter. Granted all four are both vehicles for status updates and content sharing, but, y’know, they all provide different enough experiences through their own strengths that we do have room for all of them in the greater online social scheme, especially for the sake of keeping the field competitive.

But those of us who compulsively add everything and everyone are doomed, of course.

I think my favorite thing about it though is the explosive cartooning scene. Ryan Estrada is showing us how it’s done on a damn near daily basis. Dan Mousavi is maintaining a list of cartoonists sharing their work on there as well. And good ol’ DJ Coffman is even doing exclusive comics for people bold enough to ask to join his Circle Jerks circle. It’s getting to be all over the place, and personally I am completely of the mind that we should fill Google+ completely with comics.

What are your impressions on Google+ so far? Who likes it/hates it? Things that need to be removed/added? Share your Google+ profile and connect with your fellows!