Facebook has reached over 750 million users now, no small accomplishment when you consider that the United States only has 350 million people itself. Facebook now has more than double!

The key selling feature for Google+ right now is it’s ability to filter through that mass of people by allowing you to put people into “Circles” which is essentially a clever short hand for “circle of friends.”

The thing is, Facebook had this first.

If Google execs used Facebook

I imagine a day where 2 or more Google execs were sitting around discussing their Facebook profiles and how they rather like that they can set status messages or share links where only certain friends can see it… or maybe even exclude certain people.

More so, that they could put people into lists and include or exclude the entire list.

I also imagine, being that they’re smart execs, probably said to themselves “I just wish it did more and was easier to use.”

A real world example

My wife uses Facebook as does most of the people in the world but recently found herself in a bit of sticky situation with it. She had a job that she enjoyed and worked with people that she liked, thus, many of those people were in her Facebook friends list.

After a while, another company approached her to work for them. This company was very appealing to her because what they do is what she loves to do… photography.

In excitement, she opened up her computer, ready to share with all of her friends and family but then… hesitated.

She couldn’t put that on Facebook. Her co-workers would see it and then… it would be awkward.

I helped by explaining how she could put current co-workers into one list and post the status such that the new list would not be able to see it.

But her fears had already changed her mind.. between “going to all that trouble” and the paranoia of something going wrong and they could still see it.. she kept it to herself and off of Facebook.

If you had the choice

Now, if my wife had Google+ and Facebook, which is how it would most likely play out even if Google+ does do well, most people would have both, at least for quite some time…. if she had both, she’d rush to both to share that news.

Here’s where Facebook would lose out. In Facebook, she’d have to make the list, find the friends, make sure she doesn’t miss anyone, start sharing the status, click the little icon, type in the list name, hit the button and then hit share.

In Google+, she’d just sign in, choose a Circle and share.

See the problem?

In Google+, sharing with a list of friends is second nature. In Facebook, it’s a second step.

Conclusion

When people start setting up their Google+ accounts, they’ll be splitting up their friends from day one. In Facebook, most people haven’t done that. In fact, most people don’t even know that they can do it, much less how to.

But in reality, Facebook did it first… and in some senses, still does it better. It’s just not simple. Which is a shame because Facebook prides itself on simplicity.

If it’s not simple to do, it’s not worth doing.

Google recognized it’s importance and gave it time and effort and based their social network around it.

If Facebook had been doing that all along… well, Google+ would still become a reality but would it have the same selling power?

Facebook, you’ve coasted on the friends concept and let the Friend List functionality slip through the cracks for too long.

If my wife has to choose where to share sensitive information, she’ll do it on Google+ where she knows who is and isn’t reading it.