As for Wikipedia, it does have an attractive layout, and it's pretty obvious how you can start editing articles. However, I think that anonymity is probably one of the biggest factors to encourage contribution. I hate how everyone on the web wants to know who you are these days. Until I can plug my brain into the internet, I think I will prefer to use it as a tool, not a genuine social space. I've made concessions here and there, but I resent it.
As for FB, the only thing that prevents me from deleting my profile is that it serves as an address book for people that I rarely contact. Geez, I wish someone would just make that: A "share your email address network". Old highschool friends could ask if you wanted to share emails, and you could confirm or deny. That's it. You wouldn't be obliged to look at their kids in Halloween outfits just because you want to maintain the option to contact them in the future. :)
- I tried searching your profile on FB, but couldn't find it, so I gave up. - Well, I check my inbox everyday. Here's my e-mail. - Yeah, I don't use much e-mail. - Sigh... ZUCKERBEEERG!
1) Pay us a monthly fee 2) Expect us to hound everyone and anyone whose contacts you give us In the end, neither of them are particularly attractive. G+ is kind of the hybrid lovechild of facebook and twitter. The one thing it excels at is access control, which appears to be the one thing people fuck up the most. Much like Google Search, it's an incredibly powerful platform that requires substantial google-fu in order to leverage properly. That alone will keep your mother-in-law off of it - which means it will likely become the platform of choice of the savvy. The savvy, unfortunately, have far less marketshare than the clueless Farmville players of the world.
I agree. I do enjoy the G+ access control. They did an amazing job there. I haven't checked yet, but if can't change your default stream, you should be able to. Obviously, I think there's value to a subscription model of content gathering. But even with their controls, the lack of anonymity does heavily influence my interaction. One upshot is that Google has been able to keep their ad network from becoming annoying, and I don't think FB values that as much. Can you imagine any other company with such market share being as subtle as Google with their ad network? Of course, they must be that way, but they usually don't find that line by pushing too hard.