Myspace was once the most visited website in the United States, even surpassing Google itself. But in 2008, Facebook entered the scene and “killed” Myspace. Membership to the once most popular social networking site in the country quickly declined as Facebook dominated the social networking world, even being the subject of a feature film.

On Tuesday, June 28, Google launched its own social networking site, Google Plus (G+). Originally only offered to a select group of Gmail users, G+ was opened to all Gmail users over the age of eighteen on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

“I have heard of Google Plus and all of its wonders,” Karan Mathur, junior, said. “But I am happy with Facebook as it is.”

Mathur made a Facebook account in eighth grade and said he has had minimal problems with the service.

“Sometimes the chat messaging breaks down, but I’ve had no issues with creepers or stalkers so I feel it’s safe enough,” Mathur said.

However, Eileen Huang, junior, said Facebook’s changes prompted her to make a G+ account, despite being under the age requirement.

“I like Google Plus a lot more, and as long as you make a Gmail account that says you are over eighteen, you can use it,” Huang said. “There is a group video chat option called a ‘Hangout,’ and you can put people into different ‘circles’ so that you share different things with different people like you would in the real world.”

Shortly after G+ launched, Facebook integrated a video chatting service via Skype and group chatting options into its existing chat.

“I think Google Plus’s new features may have encouraged Facebook to make some changes,” Huang said.

Maddie Kaleel, senior, said she made a G+ account before Facebook’s most recent profile change because it seemed cool, but still prefers Facebook.

“There are more people on Facebook, and even though it’s making changes I don’t like, it’s what I’m used to,” Kaleel said. “But Facebook is going to make a radical profile change into a timeline format soon, and if the new features are as complicated as they sound, then I will probably switch to Google Plus.”

Mathur said he is interested to see what the upcoming Timeline feature will be like on Facebook, but thinks a lot of the changes made are unnecessary.

“It is a free service though so they can make whatever changes they want,” Mathur said. “I don’t know for sure what the Timeline will be like. Twitter has a similar feature so I hope they don’t copy it. #lame.”