Facebook rolled out a number of new privacy refinements over the past week, many of which replicate the concepts within Google+.  Not all of it is new, but it’s certainly positioned differently.  It’s positioned in a way that came off as more appealing when Google did it.  Simple items like renaming “Everyone” to “Public” as a privacy setting on new posts is an example of this.

Facebook, often criticized for being too loose with sharing user data, despite an abundance of privacy settings, also took license from Google’s social network to open more up for sharing.  The new tagging capabilities allow users to tag people they’re not “friends” with and brands they don’t “like,” something that was not possible before.  The new tagging abilities are tempered with approval options from the “tagee,” but it appears Mark Zuckerberg may have taken some inspiration from his time on the new network.

Also worthy of note is the new Messenger smartphone application from Facebook, which provides quick access to Facebook’s messaging system.  This move also follows in the tracks of G+’s dedicated Huddle app.

They say that in racing sailboats, the strategy of the leader should always be to mimic exactly what the boat in second place is doing.  Assuming their equipment is comparable between boats, this should always result in the first place boat maintaining the lead. Perhaps that is what Facebook has done here, but what does it really mean for G+?  Facebook’s reaction time is fast!

The noise G+ raised has certainly settled down a bit, but I wouldn’t count them out yet.  Google is a marathoner, not a sprinter, and while Facebook has done far better than their predecessors, historically, the social networking game has been one of sprinters.   Besides, I think G+ is still missing a trick somewhere between LinkedIn, Yammer, Salesforce, and Campfire.