My thoughts on Google+ after using it for about 2 weeks.

G+ is not that similar to Facebook. In reality its more close to Twitter but even then the similarities are few and far in between. I was part of the initial Google+ seed group and for the most part the last 2.5 weeks it has been one big pool party mainly consisting of tech journalist, tech bloggers, and other tech media. A lot of our suggestions have made it into new G+ releases. I had a feedback I submitted (most likely submitted by many more) get rolled out almost overnight.

One huge feature of Google+ over Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed, etc is it's circles feature. I have a total of 14 circles now ranging from Friends, Family, Tech Journalist and Editor, Tech CEOs, PC Marketing Contacts, to Makers. I can pick 1 of these circles, any combination of them or just make my post public. I can also just tag a single user and the post will only be shared with them. In Facebook and Twitter, this is not an option and everyone any anyone can see your "Status update"

Another feature that separates it from other existing social networks is that you can not share a post I mark private. In the beginning this was possible but after a lot of people commented on it, Google removed this feature. In addition, if I make my post avaliable only to a specific group or groups and not public, you can share that post with your circles but Google+ pops up a small notification reminding you that the original author shared it with a limited group and you should consider that before re sharing it.

One of the biggest features is "Hang out" which you can group video chat with up to 10 people at the same time. Google switches the main camera view to who ever is talking. Most of the TWIT network has been using this feature on their daily live shows and I have got to participate in a few of them. It's the coolest feature of G+ IMO.

Google+ started out with just a few thousand members and I saw a report yesterday that set it to hit 10,000,000 members sometime today. Judging by the increase in people who have added me to their circles I can only imagine that this is close to accurate.

The first night or two while comment chatting with techies in one of Leo Laporte's post we coined the phrase "G+ing" (Pronounced GEE PLUSING)

If you haven't heard yet, Some time next month Google will be renaming Blogger and Picasa and they will be integrated into Google+. Lots of people in the tech media world seem to think the Google+ photo feature will completely replace Picasa.

If you have an Android phone, you HAVE to get the G+ app. Google+ is so addicting that many of us find ourselves G+ing while sitting at traffic lights, in meetings, and any where else we have a free moment. Huddle chat is also a very cool feature in the G+ app.

In the very beginning I thought G+ may be a Facebook killer, but the more I thought about it, they both have their places and each will have a separate user base along with those who chose to use both. The one social network that I see losing market share is Twitter. While twitter is great for marketing and advertising or following celebrities it long ago lost the "keeping up with my friends" feeling. For me Twitter has become nothing more than a user aggregated RSS feed.

So now that I posted my thoughts on Google+ if you want to circle me, here is the short link to my profile. http://gplus.to/charlesgantt

To clarify I was not invited to + by Google but was invited in the first round of private invites which were given by the original techies Google seeded with invites.

So far I'm not impressed with G+. Then again, I don't know many people that have it yet.

For some really interesting post, search for people like Tom Anderson (yes that Tom), Leo Laporte, Molly Wood, Sarah Lane, Robert Scoble, Trey Ratcliff, Jason Chen, Chris Pirillo, MG Siegler, and me of course. Also look at the people they follow and follow a few of the well known names. Very interesting post from that group.

Interesting post by Trey Harris

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Originally Posted by trey harris

The role of +-mentioning someone seems to be confusing people, so let's talk about it.

+-mentions are not the way you talk about someone. They're the way you talk to someone. If you use a +-mention, you're inviting them into the conversation; you add them to the list of people the post is shared with and you notify them that they were mentioned.

This works whether the +-mention is in the body of a post or in a comment, whether the comment is by the original poster or by someone else. If you just want to refer to someone, just type their name without the plus (or @, which works equivalently). If you want to link to their profile, paste the URL of their profile in without +-mentioning them.

Imagine it as a conversation among a few people at a party that everyone you know is at. You can say, "Oh, that reminds me of something John was just saying...." You can raise your voice and make eye contact with John as you say that to invite him to join the conversation. That's +-mentioning John. You can also say, "oh yeah, John had the same thing happen to him," lowering your voice when you say John's name; if he happens to be listening, he can still join in, but you're not explicitly inviting him to join in; that's typing John's name without the plus.

The place where people get surprised by this is when they share a post with a limited set of people, and then a commenter +-mentions someone not in the original share. If the original poster didn't disable resharing, the +-mention will reshare the post to the person being mentioned.

So, the rules to remember:
1. A +-mention is for addressing someone, not for referring to them.
2. If you want to make sure commenters to your post don't inadvertently reshare it further by +-mentioning someone not on the original share list, disable resharing of the post.

Remember, like all privacy controls, you can only be sure when sharing with people you trust not to violate your privacy. Anyone could cut and paste or take a screenshot and share with John, or the entire Internet, no matter what controls you put on the original.

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Nice little review there OneSlowz. I am enjoying G+, but I don't think it will replace my FB account.

Btw I sent you a friend request.

Nice writeup. I got a G+, but have never used facebook/twitter, or any other social networking site. I haven't really done anything with my account, as only a couple people I know have actually joined.

The only thing is that Google apparently has decided to keep the blogger name:

http://gigaom.com/2011/07/09/no-plan...blogger-brand/

Hmmmm.... maybe I'll get Google+ eventually. The only social networking I do so far is twitter (www.twitter.com/crennsmind), unlike the majority of the populus, I don't have Facebook, which is something I've been avoiding. What's sad is how much information they've gathered on me from other people and keep on trying to convince me to join.

It'll get better, just needs more users.

I H A T E G O O G L E

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Originally Posted by Collinstheclown

It'll get better, just needs more users.

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Actually it has well over 10,000,000 users now. It its not only the fastest growing social network of all time, but it has to be the fastest growing website of all time. I joined when there were just a few thousand users and I knew 25 of them off the bat and recognized at least 100. I have almost every single tech journalist that's popular in a circle, lots of the tech CEOs, and even a huge photographers circle.

With invites freely flowing now, its expected to hit 50 million users by its public launch sometime next month.


TGS, why do you hate google? I use almost every one of googles major features. I use GMail exclusively now even for my TBCS email, Google Voice because it now blocks spam phone calls (telemarketers), iGoogle is my home page, I have an android phone so all of that is tied into Google. I have Google music to stream my music to my phone and work PCs. I use google webmaster tools for my site, Google Analytics for traffic stats, and I even use Google Buzz from time to time. Google+ is by far the most exciting thing to hit the web since facebook became public IMO. Not to mention Google search is the most accurate and reliable search on the net. Google.com has been the #1 visited site on the net for a few years running now.