Google+, a free service that has smart and thoughtful solutions to some irksome limits entrenched in other social-media sites, mainly related to privacy settings and how to share links and posts with groups.
Google+ seems aimed at people who are more interested in sharing things with people or groups with similar interests rather than simply amassing the biggest number of online "friends." Its seamless integration with other Google services you may use, from search to online documents, makes it easier to share things online.
Privacy settings- deciding whom you share different posts with - seems to be top of mind on Google+. That's a relief after Google's earlier debacle with Google Buzz, which had arrived unsolicited and initially created circles of friends automatically based on whom they've corresponded with on Gmail. That meant your boss could see lists of people you've been corresponding with for a new job.
With Google+, no one gets added automatically. Once you sign up, you add people - similar to how you follow people on Twitter. Then, rather than throwing everyone into the same bucket, you choose a circle to put them in.
Google+ seems aimed at people who are more interested in sharing things with people or groups with similar interests rather than simply amassing the biggest number of online "friends." Its seamless integration with other Google services you may use, from search to online documents, makes it easier to share things online.
Privacy settings- deciding whom you share different posts with - seems to be top of mind on Google+. That's a relief after Google's earlier debacle with Google Buzz, which had arrived unsolicited and initially created circles of friends automatically based on whom they've corresponded with on Gmail. That meant your boss could see lists of people you've been corresponding with for a new job.
With Google+, no one gets added automatically. Once you sign up, you add people - similar to how you follow people on Twitter. Then, rather than throwing everyone into the same bucket, you choose a circle to put them in.
Four standard circles: "friends," "family," "acquaintances" and "following." You can follow anyone without being accepted, whereas Facebook requires the consent of both sides. You can create new circles.
However, the privacy settings aren't perfect. Although you can choose to share a post with a limited number of people, the recipients can re-share the post further. It takes some digging to figure out that you can disable re-sharing by clicking on an icon to the right of a post. Google+ is in very early testing, so these types of settings could still change.
Unlike Facebook, Google+ also lets you edit posts after you post them and decide for each post whether to allow comments, a feature I liked.
Two other features, the ability to group video chat via webcam, called a "Hangout," and the ability to chat with a group, called a "Huddle," have proven to have so much appeal that Facebook quickly followed suit. The company said Wednesday that it will also roll out group chatting and video chatting by teaming with Internet phone company Skype. It will be interesting to see if Facebook ends up adding other Google+ features.
For example, you can't search ... yet. And there are no addictive third-party apps such as "FarmVille," which people have sunk countless hours playing on Facebook.
all in all...Google+ = Mature Facebook.
Do we need one? time will tell...
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