# Wired Wednesday – Social Envy

- Link: https://exclusiveaccess.net/wired-wednesday-social-envy/
- Published: 2011-08-24T10:15:33-04:00
- Author: EAN

# It’s Facebook+ as Social Giant Adds Google+ Features

[[Facebook just announced with a blog post and big media splash that it’s now 
mimicking some Google+ features by letting users edit posts, and making it easier
to control who sees their updates and view their profile as others do.

Well, actually, [Facebook’s post](http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=10150251867797131)
makes no mention of its nascent rival from the search giant, but it’s pretty clear
from today’s announcement that the current king of social network and online identity
is paying close attention to Google’s attempt to create a different model for 
online identity and sharing. Google+ has done more than its share of mimicking Facebook
— the stream and the inclusion of games. But it has also taken steps to differentiate
itself from Facebook, most clearly in rejecting the binary Friend model at the heart
of Facebook.

This wouldn’t be the first time Facebook has made big changes to keep up with 
a rival. In December 2009, Facebook tried to shift its users to posting status updates
visible to the entire internet, as a way to compete with Twitter’s success.

This go-round it’s Google+ that’s being mimicked.

Here’s a rundown of some of the new features:

 * Photos you are tagged in won’t show up in your stream until you approve them,
   and you can reject any tags other people put on your own photos. Conversely, 
   you’ll also be able to tag a photo without having to be friends with that person.(
   A few things: You’ll need to turn on the approval system and tags you havenâ
   €™t approved won’t go to your Wall or to your friends, but they will go out
   to the Wall and friends of the person who tagged you. But if you don’t approve
   the tag, the tag will no longer be in the tagger’s stream.) Largely the same
   as in Google+, though Google+ seems to default to allowing tags to be made public,
   subject to a user blocking them in the future.
 * You’ll now easily be able to see how others view your profile. Just as you 
   can in Google+.
 * The settings for who can see every post is now visible on every post and image
   — like, um, in Google+. Over time this will include groups of people such 
   as co-workers, Facebook groups or Friends lists. Exactly like you can do now 
   with Circles in Google+. Posts visible to the internet are now called “Publicâ
   € rather than “Everyone,” just like in Google+.
 * You can now edit any post after the fact, something that’s annoyed users for
   years. This feature shipped with Google+.
 * You can now ask someone to remove a photo of you or go nuclear and block a person
   who tagged you in a photo you didn’t like.

Facebook says the new features will roll out to all users in the next few days. 
Which is a plus.