Ok, so I’ve told you about Circles, but what else does Google+ offer? Well I said in my last post that while it closely resembled Facebook 2.0, there are some of elements of Twitter as well. It gives you the option to “follow” people and see their status updates (as long as they are public) without them having to friend you as well. So celebrities or companies can amass followers on Google+ in much the same way they can on Twitter, without the burden of the 140 character limit. I found it funny that one person that Google+ suggested I follow was Facebook founder Mark Zuckenberg (Yup, he’s on Google+ too) It’s just an added layer of connection that I think can help improve social media.

Google has made it clear the group connection is central to the Google+ experience, and that’s clear in two of its other features, Huddle and Hangout.  Neither is revolutionary but they’re integrated nicely into the Google+ experience. Huddle is part of its mobile service (An Android app is available now, Google says an Iphone app is on the way and most devices have mobile web access).  Huddle is simply a group texting feature, basically a mobile chat line for a group of your choosing. The ability to have a real-time group dialogue is definitely a step up for the social media experience. While group chat has existed on the web before, I haven’t seen it used this seamlessly with social media, or in mobile.   Hangout takes it one step further, by allowing to to engage in a video conference chat with as many as 10 people at a time. (This is not a mobile feature, at least not yet). Installing the video chat plug in was easy, and while I couldn’t find anyone to chat with (I’m just not that popular apparently), I liked the setup and it worked well on my IMac. Again, another feature we’ve seen on the web before, but now combined pretty smoothly into the social media experience.

It’s truly surprising (more…)

It’s no secret that Google has been trying to get in on the social media game for some time now.  But try as they may, none of their past efforts (Orkut, Last year’s Google Buzz) have been able to climb Mount Facebook.

Why?? In my opinion, as well conceived as those other sites were, they just didn’t bring anything new to the table.  But I think they might have finally got something with their new social media site, Google+.  It’s in the very early beta stage right now, and so far it’s by invitation only.  The hard launch is coming soon. Google sent out invites to just a handful of users. If you’re lucky enough to know one of those people, they can invite you in too (as long as Google is allowing it, the invite feature has worked intermittently since I signed up)

The good news is for once Google is not just copying Facebook, although they have taken some of my favorite elements from the social media giant (and a few from Twitter too). Google+ is in many ways, Facebook 2.0, with a dash of Twitter thrown in as well. If you’re a fan of Facebook’s clean look, you’ll recognize a lot here. But Google+ has clearly upped the game, with some cool new features that absolutely have the potential to catch on.  Whether it will be enough to lure people away from Facebook and make it the go-to social media site, well that remains to be seen.

Perhaps the feature with the best potential in Google+ is “Circles”. It’s so simple, yet very smart. Quite frankly I’ll be surprised is Facebook isn’t working on a similar feature. With Circles users  can still use social media while still allowing them to dictate a level of privacy of their own choosing.

Up until now social media has basically been one giant status update buffet. Everyone sees everything, whether it’s your dad or some old high school buddy you rarely talk to, unless you send a private message. What Circles does is allow you to direct status updates, photos or links with targeted groups of your friends, but not others, if you so choose.  You put your contacts into groups. Want to post some pictures of your night out on the town, but rather your mother not see them? Want to tell all your family about your latest job interview, but don’t want your coworkers to find out?

Well Circles addresses this much needed concern. You can place your family or friends in different Circles (basically different groups of people) as you want. Google+ sets up a few basic groups for you like Family and Acquaintances , but you can add or customize them as many ways as you want.  Moving people in and out of Circles is requires only a few clicks and drags, it’s very simple. (more…)