Google+

[shockresist]

For anyone that has it, what are your thoughts on it?

Personally I think its pretty good. it has a lot of features like fb but theres also some new features like circles, and hangout.

 

[Jatt08]

I think its pretty kool and simple, just like fb was compared to myspace. Bakki Time Dassu ... if anyone needs a invite lemme know! PM me your gmail or post it on here

 

[mithu]

I think its better than FB. Not as cluttery, and spammy. Love the hangout idea.

 

[Sue Sylvester]

For anyone that has it, what are your thoughts on it?

Personally I think its pretty good. it has a lot of features like fb but theres also some new features like circles, and hangout.

Circles isn't a new feature. Facebook has had lists for a long time now and there are some of us FB users that do use it. And honestly, a circle-centric system isn't ideal for 90% of normal users. To privately share something with a group of friends, you need to put them in a circle. However, your definition of that circle may differ from that of your friends and other people in that circle and this can lead to problems that many people won't realize for a long time. And maintaining circles for a period of time is work.


Plus, the people who are saying this is more secure and private than Facebook need to seriously take a second look. Google has just as many privacy issues as Facebook, if not more. (Remember Google Buzz lawsuits?) All Google profiles are public and anyone can see whose in your circles and who has you in their circle. Google may be simpler, but all that means is that you have less privacy control.

 

[Saleem]

[EDITED NAME] Sue, while I agree that Google has privacy issues like Facebook does, I think it's a different beast. One good thing about Google is that it's never been a walled garden that you can't escape. You can't export your facebook information, you can't even delete your account. You can only deactivate-- they still have your info. You can actually close and delete your Google+ and Google profile.

Secondly, while FB has lists, privacy in general was a backfilled feature for facebook. Lists are clumsy, not well-presented, and just do not offer a good UX. You can tell that Facebook has not put any emphasis on this, because key functionality (like reviewing who's in which lists, subdividing lists, editing lists) are still manual-intensive, inconsistent experiences on facebook. Google+ has the advantage of having privacy "baked in", so that you're adding people to circles as you add them to G+. While this is manual, it's much easier because it's as you add friends. Also if you think through your friends, clear segments arise. No one's forcing anyone to create a bunch of 5-8 person circles. Last, notice that Google+'s *beta* features are equivalent or better than facebook's so many years in.

10-person video chat is a premium feature that Skype members pay for (and Facebook hit back w/ their lame 1-to-1 video chat a week after G+ release).

Every gmail user sees the black bar at the top of their browser when reading email and using google search (and other tools). This gives them a notification every time they're added/friended or discussed on G+. This "toolbar" and its persistence is something that facebook would KILL for. This alone is a huge tool for Google+ adoption.

I think Google+ offers a good value proposition for some people, and it will be used in tandem with facebook. I think competition is good for customers and at the least, Facebook and G+ will improve. I think there's a possibility (maybe 20-30% with Google's investment) that some part of the US demographic (whether thats tech-savvy people or college students) will eventually only use G+ within 3 years.

 

[ami3000]

We should create a BTF Google+ circle.

 

[Pavan]

I think a major upside for Google+ is the possibility of the integration of all of google's services into it(documents, calendar, music, etc.). It would make it a central hub for almost anything an average person does on the internet (except btf of course).
Social networking now is also closely tied to instant messaging/video chatting features, something google is miles ahead of compared to facebook. if all that comes from this is both services are forced to one up each other (and better privacy), i think most users will be happy.

 

[Sue Sylvester]

Maybe you're right, Saleem. But Facebook is seriously not as bad as people think it is. People post work-related statuses and get fired, but then blame Facebook for lack of privacy? These are tools - use them within their limitations. And Google isn't as private as many people are led to believe. I mean, both networks have been accused of promoting smear campaigns against each other - people should do their research before blindly believing everything they hear. But this is one of those things where it's difficult to make a prediction. Only time will tell and the I agree, the competition between the two will force the spotlight back on the satisfaction of users instead of satisfaction of advertisers and developers.



One thing is sure - Google+ isn't blocked at work. I'd love to see work companies that rely on Google services for efficiency try to block it. Also, ami3000 still hasn't understood the concept of Google circles yet.

 

[hsdeol]

https://plus.google.com/106246056177889976095/posts


"The following are the changes May be implemented next week in Google Plus :[/size]
1.Ability to modify circles a post is shared with after posting it
2. Google+ Android App update for Reading sparks and +1 comments
3.Lifting of the 5000 circle cap
4.The ability to overlap circles
5.Easy private messaging option including to person who starts a thread
6.Google+ app for Windows Phone 7
7.Better integration of Google Chat with Google+
8.Fix issues with instant upload for photos
9.Ability to share with all circles, but with an “except” option
10.Ability to share Google Docs and Calendar with circles
11.Revamp Google Reader to make sharing easier
12.File-sharing integration
13.Addition of hashtags to aid searching
14. Faster updates to the no. of people following you
15.Revamped minor UI change"
[/size]
[/size]unofficial tho

 

[voxanimus]

the one gripe i have with google+ is the lack of a "natural" way to directly message people things. the "share with this person" tactic is weird, at least in my opinion.
but i guess the built in safeguards to personal privacy are a big selling point for google+. facebook retroactively enforced privacy measures, and even today cybersecurity companies have found that 10 out of the 10 top facebook apps are in violation of facebook's crappily enforced private information sharing policies.

and also, it might just be me, but not enough people i know post often enough on google+ to make it very useful as a social media tool for me.

 

[sgrewal30]

Google + is pretty nice. It's not as easy as facebook but im sure it will pick up. Facebook was confusing at first too. Can someone help me out with the privacy settings on your albums? I'm not familiar with Picasa Web Albums, and my lack of patience doesn't help much. Please n thank you!

 

[voxanimus]

Google + is pretty nice. It's not as easy as facebook but im sure it will pick up. Facebook was confusing at first too. Can someone help me out with the privacy settings on your albums? I'm not familiar with Picasa Web Albums, and my lack of patience doesn't help much. Please n thank you!

what do you need help with? if it's changing the settings of an already created album, from your google+ homepage click the little icon with the mountains
then "your albums" on the left
and then select the album whose privacy setting you want to change
and then either click "share" or "edit" to add or remove friend circles that you want to share it with. you can even add specific people that you want to share with if they aren't all in a circle or if you just want to share an album with one person.

 

[itsG]

The only down side is see is there is no wall-like feature if u want to share something with someone individually you would have to limit your status to solely that person(u don't need a new circle to limit stuff you can just wire peoples names) but then u would have to make sure tht person goes thru everything on their stream. Sooner or later that won't work because your stream will be so long you'll miss what someone wrote to u or ull be wasting a lot of time on it. Faecbook limits ur newsfeed to people u interact with more often so that way u don't have an extremely long newsfeed

But
Hangout is nice