CNET - Google is accelerating efforts to make its new social network look like a more open and attractive alternative to Facebook.
The latest: Google will allow users to export a list of Web sites that they've recommended through the "+1" button.
While only a modest change, it highlights how Google is trying to use openness--the ability to extract your data from its servers with the click of a button--to differentiate itself from its far larger and more established rival.
"When your users can leave you you're going to work as hard as you can to keep them," Google engineering manager Brian Fitzpatrick told reporters during a video conference today using Google Hangout. A service announced last month called Google Takeout makes it easy to move to rival services.
Facebook, on the other hand, has taken a different approach to who owns user data. Last week, it blocked a tool written by developer Mohamed Mansour that allowed users to extract contact information their friends have shared with them.
This week, it blocked another by Open-Xchange, which allowed people to reconstruct their Facebook contact list on Google+.
It's not exactly a new debate: Google tried to ratchet up the pressure on Facebook to be more open last November, although the discussion at the time was about searchability rather than the possible threat of Google+. An early round in the skirmish took place as far back as 2008. More
The latest: Google will allow users to export a list of Web sites that they've recommended through the "+1" button.
Brian Fitzpatrick tells reporters on a Google Hangout video chat today that openness makes Google work hard to keep users from leaving.
"When your users can leave you you're going to work as hard as you can to keep them," Google engineering manager Brian Fitzpatrick told reporters during a video conference today using Google Hangout. A service announced last month called Google Takeout makes it easy to move to rival services.
Facebook, on the other hand, has taken a different approach to who owns user data. Last week, it blocked a tool written by developer Mohamed Mansour that allowed users to extract contact information their friends have shared with them.
This week, it blocked another by Open-Xchange, which allowed people to reconstruct their Facebook contact list on Google+.
It's not exactly a new debate: Google tried to ratchet up the pressure on Facebook to be more open last November, although the discussion at the time was about searchability rather than the possible threat of Google+. An early round in the skirmish took place as far back as 2008. More
