I recently wrote a post for Bloggertone on whether Google+ is just ‘another’ social network. I discussed some of the great features that Google+ has to offer and I’d like to expand more on that here.
Basically Google+ is attractive for one of the reasons that made Facebook so attractive during the MySpace / Bebo era – it’s really clean visually. The human eye likes whitespace and despite Facebook being relatively clean, Google+ has it beat on that front hands down – plus (so far) there are NO ADs.
1. Circles
One of my favourite features of Google+ is Circles, which allows you to group your contacts, so for example I have a ‘friends’ circle and a ‘marketing people’ circle. You are also able to put contacts in multiple circles, so some people in the ‘marketing’ circle might also be in the ‘friends’ circle. The circles you create are completely private, so while people you’ve added will receive a notification advising them you have added them to a circle, they won’t know the name of the circle.
Circles do have a limit of 5,000 people per circle, but that’s unlikely to be a problem for most of us any time soon.
2. Sharing
Having contacts divided into groups like this means that now when I post something I can target exactly who sees it. This is a feature I’ve felt Facebook has been lacking for a long time, and it’s the reason I never connect to anyone in my professional life on Facebook, I drew the line in the sand, and for me Facebook was personal. Now however I’m able to connect with everyone I want and decide who to share each post with.
You can share every post with one, or more, of your circles, or else type in an individual’s name to send them a private message.
As with Facebook, putting @ before a person’s name will turn their name into a hyperlink – but here you can also do it by putting a + before their name (naturally).
Once you’ve posted something you have options to edit it, disable sharing (so others can’t repost it), disable comments or delete it – but currently you can’t change who you’ve shared it with.
3. Real People Only Please
Currently Google+ is for ‘real people’ only with a handful of companies being allowed to set up a business page as part of a beta testing group, both Ford and Mashable News are among those.
4. Other Standout Features
Goolge+ also has hangouts and huddles.
Hangouts are group video chats which up to 10 people can join. This is going to be a very popular feature I believe, and has an advantage over Skype as video chats between more than 2 people is currently a paid feature on Skype.
Huddles are group text chats and are being pushed as a way to organise nights out etc. without having to send 10 individual texts.
I think both of the above will be particular popular with the current school / college set. Although there are rumours that Dell is considering using the hangouts for customer service, so only time will tell how businesses will take advantage of these features.
5. +1
The +1 button when used inside of Google+ acts as a ‘like’ button.
The +1 button when used outside of Google+ on blog entries, news stories etc. acts as a bookmark and will then show up in your +1 tab on your profile. This will allow you to create an aggregated list of content to recommend to those who visit your profile.
6. Search Will Be Affected
The +1 button is everywhere and is being used 2.3 billion times per day. This is essentially making Google more intelligent as people are telling it what content on the web is interesting. Not only that, but now Google will have access to more of your social circle (it doesn’t have access to Facebook) so will return search results based not only on the +1 recommendations but also on your specific social circle.
These better quality links will result in an even higher click through rate for those at the top of the search results.
7. Still Waiting For…
Vanity URLs: Currently Google+ aren’t allowing vanity urls to be set up so currently the urls contain a lot of numbers. There are various ways around this, one being to use http://www.profiles.google.com/xxxx the xxxx being the part before the @gmail.com of your email address – of course this means that everyone will then know your email address. There are also some websites, including www.gplus.to that are offering to create vanity urls for Google+ but unless you know the company I wouldn’t recommend going there. I suspect Google themselves will offer vanity urls before very long.
Verified Accounts: There is talk that Google+ will follow in the footsteps of Twitter and allow certain well know people to ‘verify’ their account, thereby indicating that they are who they say they are, and given that ‘Mark Zuckerberg’ already has 3 Google+ profiles, Google will hopefully roll this feature out quickly.
Business Pages: As mentioned these are still in beta testing but hopefully they will be rolled out soon enough as well. If they integrate with other Google products e.g. Maps, Local, Deals etc. they will be powerful pages for business, and as always, the early adopters will have the advantage.
With 13 million people and counting on Google+ they certainly look set to make life uncomfortable for Facebook, as to whether it will be a ‘Facebook killer’, only time will tell.
Let me know what you think of Google+. Please also +1 this post if you liked it and don’t forget to add me to your circles!
Sarah – Thank you for the great Google+ overview. It sounds like Google looked at FB’s shortcomings and added the missing features to G+.
Question: Do you know how the process works for “well know (<= typo) people to 'verify' their account, thereby indicating that they are who they say they are" on Twitter?
Hi Steven
I think Google were definitely reviewing FB, and Twitter, to see how they could ‘do it better’ before they launched.
The verified accounts is just something Google are considering I believe, there’s no definites about whether they will introduce it, or how one would go about getting verified if they did. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it though and I’ll let you know if I hear anything.
Sarah
Thanks for the clarification on the difference between Huddles and Hangouts, I’d been wondering that. One other thing I can’t find is where it shows on my profile which content online I’ve +1’d?
Also interested in the Google News Badges and how that can develop in terms of differentiating between those with genuine knowledge and spammers.
Hi Will
Glad to be able to offer some clarification. With regards the +1 it appears as a tab on your profile between the videos tab and the buzz tab.
I’ve not read much about the Google New Badges, but at the moment I don’t see the appeal. I find it pretty hilarious that Google’s 2010 April Fool’s joke (of introducing badges to Google Reader to show ‘how well read you are’) has now become an actual feature of Google News … are they hoping people won’t remember?
Sarah
Great synopsis Sarah. I believe the Huddles and Hangouts features in particular will be another warning signal for the mobile operators out there.
Hi Lorraine,
Glad you enjoyed the post. I think you’re right, the mobile operators will have to be careful as huddles in particular could easily eat into their business. Although in Ireland at least the operators make their money off the line rentals as most people get free texts at this stage, but we’ll see what happens.
Sarah
Sarah,
Nice, Clean, Concise Google+ post. This one stood out among too many I’ve come across. Actually incentive for me to start making my circles!
Thanks!
Ted
http://www.TedCurtin.com
Thanks Ted! Glad you found it useful and concise. As you say, there’s so much noise out there at the moment, so I did make an effort to only highlight the more interesting aspects, no point in writing a novel!
Enjoy circle making.
Sarah
Some great tips Sarah. Among other things, I didn’t realize that you could @ someone simply by using “+”. Thx for sharing
Thanks for reading Aaron, glad you found some useful tips.
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Great post and great blog with a nice score.
I’m a newby to G+ so this was useful.
What about Darren Clarke on the weekend….make mine a Guinness please!
See you at HUG?
Cheers,
Mark
Hi Mark
Thanks for reading. Glad you found the post useful. We’ll have to link on G+ if you’re on there.
Not a golf follower I’m afraid! Definitely going to try make it to HUG, have some other things I’m trying to work around so I can make it, but will hopefully see you there!
Sarah
Thank you for posting this! It was incredibly helpful to this novice to better understand Google+. I’ve had no time to research it and now I officially “get it.”
Glad to be of help Erin. Thanks for reading!
Sarah
Sarah
Great post. Someone invited me to Google+ last week. I must accept now.
cheers
Doncha
Thanks Donncha. Glad you liked the post. Hope you enjoy G+. It does seem to be gaining popularity at a ferocious rate!
Hi Sarah, thanks for a great article, the best I have read so far on Google+.
Thanks Orla! Considering the amount being written about G+ that’s a big compliment. Glad you found it helpful.
Sarah
Thank you Sarah for answering many of my unasked questions about google+! BTW – I have been wondering what might replace Facebook in much the same fashion that Facebook replaced Geocities. What’s your opinion? Do you think google+ will overtake Facebook?
Also, what place does a 2nd Life like site have in the future of social networks?
Thank you again.
– Michael from Tokyo
Hi Michael,
Thanks for reading. Sorry for the delayed reply – your comment seemed to get lost in transit.
There is a general feeling among some of the top people in the social media industry that Google+ could indeed be a big competitor for Facebook, I believe a lot will depend on how good their business pages are when they are rolled out. With regards overtaking Facebook, it will be tough given the stronghold Facebook have, but I do think that Google+ could give them a run for their money.
I think 2nd Life has probably died a death, user numbers have been consistently dropping over the last few years – the last reliable figures, released in May 2010, showed only 54,000 concurrent users. Linden Labs also laid off 30% of its workforce last year.
Sarah
Thanks Sarah, a really helpful post explaining Google+
[…] there is a lot of dialogue regarding Goolge+ and how it compares to Facebook and Twitter, implying that these 3 are the social network […]
[…] Goolge+ you have the option to share your post with specific circles (learn more about circles). Make sure to share your post only with those who will find the content to be of interest and / or […]
Thanks for the intro to Google+. Note that Facebook has a similar feature to Circles, where you can organize your friends in lists and just post to certain lists. It’s just missing the fancy circle user interface that Google+ has.
-Matt
Hi Matt
Glad you enjoyed the post. While Facebook does have a similar feature to circles, it is very clunky to use and not as intuitive as the G+ circles – most people aren’t even aware that Facebook has this feature, never mind knowing how to use it. G+ has made it very easy to share certain status updates with certain people, in a way Facebook doesn’t.
Thanks for reading.
Sarah
You are right that most people don’t use or even know about that feature of FB. For the record, after you create your friend lists, you just have to click the lock icon beside the share button to post your status update to the desired list of friends.
Hope this helps,
-Matt
[…] recently wrote a post on Google+ and its features. I specifically commented on the Circles feature, which allows you to easily share posts with […]
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