Facebook vs. Google Plus: Chat

Both Google + and Facebook allow users to chat in real-time, however, which one is the best?

	Facebook	Chat
Chat	Yes	Yes
Voice Chat	No	Yes
Video Chat	Requires a Plug in	Requires a Plug in
Group Chat	Yes – but doesn’t work on all accounts	Yes
Send and Receive Files	No	Yes
Go off Record	No	Yes

Facebook recently added video chat to Facebook in hopes to dumb down the turn to Google + because of its hangout feature and the fact that Google Chat from Gmail which powers the chat in Google + has had voice and video chat for a while now. On Facebook, if your friend doesn’t have a webcam, you are out of luck.

At the same time as they rolled out video chat, they rolled out group chat. It doesn’t work for all accounts. Unfortunately, I am one of the ones whose group chat doesn’t work and my only options are Clear Window and Report as Spam.

Google’s chat takes chat another step further that will not only render Facebook obsolete, but also Windows Live Messenger for a large amount of people. All that is missing is the ability to copy/paste screenshots and share pictures in that way and Windows Live Messenger is completely obsolete.

In Google’s chat you can transfer documents and documents quickly and easily in real time.

Imagine having a conversation that wasn’t stored up in the cloud somewhere that can be accessed for history purposes. Off the record in Google Chat puts incognito into chat.

Overall, Google’s chat far surpasses Facebook chat for its seamless integration and extra welcomed features. The only issue with it is that it still acts independent to Google + requiring you to invite your friends to use it. When you set up chat, it allows you to choose which circles can see that you are online… this should work out of the box which is where Facebook’s chat takes the cake. however, once your chat in Google + is set up, it far surpasses all of Facebook’s latest failed efforts.