Is Google+ the new Facebook?

After the lukewarm response to Google Buzz, the search giant is back again - this time with the feature-packed Google+. Touted as the rival to Facebook, the new social networking place has the online forums buzzing. While most people are going gaga over its cool features like Circles and Hangout, some are just slamming it as a mere copy of Facebook.

While you still make up your mind whether to love or hate Google's latest offering, here's what the experts are saying.

Expert talk

Danny Sullivan, searchengineland.com
The terrible name is a bad start. Google+? Google+! I can't even question or exclaim about the bad name without it looking bad in writing.Pronounced "Google Plus," the product is officially written as Google+ - making placing any punctuation after the name fairly awkward. And Google+ looks like and quacks like Facebook in several ways.

Ben Parr, mashable.com
No matter what Google says, Google+ is the company's response to the rise of Facebook. The two companies are in heated competition for talent, page views and consumers. While Google controls the search market and has a strong presence on mobile with Android, it hasn't been able to crack the social nut. Its most successful social product, YouTube, had to be acquired, and it still ranks as one of the most expensive acquisitions in the company's history.

Mark Hachman on PCMAG.COM
Put simply, Google+ is a social network for geeks. But users used to Facebook's minimalist interface may find Google+ jarring. And, sad to say, Google's "field trial" suffered from overcapacity, an issue which may or may not have rippled into our evaluation on Tuesday afternoon. I and other PCMag.com staffers experienced numerous annoyances, which resulted from either poor design decisions, alpha glitches, or the overcapacity issue - I don't know which.

Brian Womack, bloomberg.com
With Google+, users easily share information based on the circle of friends they think would most like to see a photo or read a message, such as immediate family or people who like a certain hobby or sports team.

Ryan Tate .defamer.com
Really! Dump Facebook and tell all your friends about your new, richer social network. It's like Facebook but with much better groups (purportedly), so you can segregate your relatives and friends into different "Circles" that get different streams of information from you. You can name your circles and add whoever you want to each one; the relationships can be one way, so you can receives shares without sharing back. There are some other features, but that's the only one you need to care about. Google is touting Plus as a big improvement over Facebook.

Marshall Kirkpatrick , readwriteweb.com
With Google+, users such as immediate family or people who like a certain hobby or sports team. Once users sign up, they have a profile page with security settings that let them share or hide personal information, such as education or job descriptions. Contacts are suggested based on user e-mail accounts.

source: Hidustan Times