I think it is still soon to say if Google+ will dethrone Facebook as The Social Network but one thing is for certain, they are cleverly learning from the decisions of others before them. And the +1 button is the perfect example of that. The diference between the +1 button on Google+ and the Like button on Facebook is the implicit meaning behind each one of them.

How many of you have seen their friends on Facebook asking in the comments something like “Where’s the dislike button”? The Like button is great and it is a simple and great way of letting people show their appreciation for someone else’s post. But then someone is sharing some news about how some disturbing event has affected their life and you feel like an ass for pressing that Like button.

Well, the +1 button is more subtle than that. It’s more of a support button, a “I hear you” button, which is good for “liking” and “disliking” alike. And I suspect that these little things that Google has studied and improved are the ones that will dictate the supremacy of Google+ over other social networks. Just have a look at how Chrome was able to emerge as a great browser in the face of such strong competition. No, IE6 doesn’t count.

Much has been said about the new social network in town, Google+. With that flow of novelty, a new feature (although it appeared a few weeks before Google+) entered the spotlight as well, Google Takeout, a page that allows you to download all (or most) of your data currently hosted in Google Servers.

Many took this opportunity to praise Google and criticize Facebook for, once again, being a privacy monster and not giving people access to their data. Apparently, what those people don’t know (or failed to noticed when it was unveiled almost a year ago) is that Facebook already has the option to download all of your information currently hosted on their servers.

I already did this a couple of months ago and if you want to do it too just follow these steps:

1. Login to your Facebook account
2. On the top right corner, click on “Account” and then on “Account Settings”
3. Look for the option “Download your information” and then click “Learn more”
4. Then follow the instructions on the page

It’s quite simple. They prepare the archive with all the stuff and then you’ll be notified when the archive is ready to be downloaded.