Has Facebook copied Google+ with new photo viewer?

facebook-photo-lightbox.jpg

Facebook has begun rolling out a new way to view photos that has the very same ‘lightbox’ look as Google+, with a huge photo in the centre and darkened edges.

Now if you click on any photo it’ll pop-up to fill most of your screen and the background becomes dark. You can then scroll through photos with the arrows at the sides or ‘tag’ or ‘like’ a photo with the buttons that are in the bottom left hand corner.

Comments now sit on the right side of the photo and there are a couple of cheeky ads and sponsored stories at the bottom of some images too. I find it hilarious my face is currently helping to advertise French Connection and Danepak bacon. Nice.

Many online commentators (and Google+ advocates) have been moaning that the new photo viewer looks like a rip-off of Google+. Admittedly it does, but who cares. It makes our photos look better and we’re not giving up the social network in favour of Google’s offering anytime soon.

Do you have the new photo viewer yet and most importantly, do you like it?

Becca Caddy

6 comments

  • SHut up you’re all a bunch of losers who obviously use facebook. But the fact is Mark zuckerberg is a parasit who lives off other peoples ideas. Facebook is popular not because is good but because it was the first social network who offered what people wanted and that’s it. Google+ is not copying facebook or twitter, I mean, how many ways are there to make a social network? Obviosly not much. BUt facebook is copying everything Google+ has and that’s pathetic.

  • @Tim – I was more referring to the fact so many articles/blog posts/tweets have cropped up today along the lines of “Ahhh Facebook you’ve copied Google+” so I was just addressing that.

    Otherwise I don’t think we’re right using the word “copy” when it comes to why Google+ came about. Much more complex than that.

  • Nice article Becca – I will be checking this new feature out. I love the fact that photography is getting better and better in social. On the Google+ front I also like the fact you can watch video clips without clicking them which I think is quite a nifty little feature.

  • When I first read the headline, I assumed it was a joke.

    The whole concept of Google+ is to copy Facebook and Twitter.

    The whole reason for Google+ is that Google finally faced the fact that in 2010 Facebook overtook Google as the most popular website.

    Facebook’s new photo viewer layout is not very different to that of Google+ — because of course Google copied Facebook in the first place. So obviously, after any minor changes to Facebook’s image viewer it’s still going to look like the one on Google+.

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