The estimated reading time for this post is 6 minutes
The best way I can describe Google+ is if Twitter and Facebook had a baby, the offspring would be Google+. On Google+ you see a stream of comments, linked articles, photos, videos and other assorted posts you can comment on, vote +1 or share with others. Seem familiar? If you’re on Twitter and/or Facebook, Google+ will seem quite familiar.
Should you even care? Who wants another social network? You should care and you might just want another social network.
Google does best when it makes its offerings exclusive, as it did with Gmail and Google Music. If you’re not on the inside, you’re on the outside. And lots of people want in.
But that’s not what is appealing about Google+. After all, once you’re in, you have to want to stay in. And Google+ has lots of reasons to stay in.
Circles – Google starts you off with a few circles, Friends, Family, Acquaintances, Following. You can create more: Work Buddies, Tech Peeps, Obnoxious Low Life People, Celebrities I Will Never Meet, etc.
You can see posts in your Stream from just one Circle or from all of your Contacts. You can also post to just certain Circles, all your Contacts or the Public. Even if you post just to one Circle, your post can easily be shared so don’t mistake posting on Google+ for private communication.
Google has promised that people won’t know what Circles you put them in. Don’t rely too heavily on that promise though. I foresee a day when a scandal erupts by someone accidentally revealing Google+ Circle information. Just follow the basic rule of the Internet and you’ll be fine: don’t put anything on the Internet you wouldn’t want the world to see, because someday they probably will see it.
From the beginning, you organize contacts in a Circle. On Twitter you can make Lists and in Facebook you can form Groups, but those were more recent additions and not everyone takes the time to go back and organize their contacts.
Hangouts – Hangouts is a cool feature, sort of like a chat room, except up to 10 people can join by video, audio and/or text. You can click on the green Hangout button to start a video chat of your own, or join a Hangout someone else has posted. If you have a bunch of friends on Google+, it’s a fun way to have an online visit. In fact, Hangouts might be the killer feature of Google+ so far.
Facebook proudly announced its “awesome” new feature of video calls last week. If you watched Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement, you may just have witnessed Facebook Jumping the Shark. Facebook’s new feature of video calling is a great way for Facebook friends to connect, but a week earlier, Google+ launched Hangouts with group video calls, making Facebook’s announcement seem outdated.
No Ads – Of course this will change, but for right now, it’s a refreshing change from Facebook’s often creepy targeted ads.
Easy Sharing – Sharing is incredibly simple. Write a comment, paste a link, add a photo or video, then choose the people you want to share it with. Pick individuals, Circles, or Public. Assume that anything could go public and hope your post goes viral! You can disable resharing by others, but again, I wouldn’t count on this feature keeping anything you want to share confidential.
I expect that a “Share on Google+” button will become standard for websites. Perhaps Google will integrate its +1 buttons with Google+ so a +1 vote become a way to share information even more easily. I realize then the +1 button would become similar to a Facebook Like button, but that would be a very handy feature to have for Google+.
Data Liberation
Whether it’s a swipe at Facebook or a useful feature, Data Liberation is a unique function of Google+ that allows you to download your photos, Profile data, Stream data, Circles and Contacts to your computer. Try doing that with Facebook. You may never use this, but you can take comfort in knowing that the feature is available.
What You Need to Know
Google+ is still invitation only while it’s in beta testing. Google opens and closes the ability to join Google+ throughout the day. If you receive an invitation and try to join when invitations are closed, wait an hour or so and then try joining again.
You will need a Gmail account to join Google+. Invitations can be sent to email addresses other than Gmail, but you can only join through a Gmail address. If you don’t yet have a Gmail account, no worries, Gmail accounts are easy and free to set up.
Helpful hint: if you already have a personal Gmail address, you might consider setting up a separate Gmail account for Google+. You can always forward the incoming mail from your Google+ Gmail account to your personal Gmail account. You can also copy your contacts from your personal Gmail account into your new Google+ Gmail account to make finding Google+ connections easier.
Your Google Profile will be seen by either anyone in your Circles or the public. You will most likely end up adding people to your circles you don’t know well. You can be more certain that your personal email account won’t be broadcast to the public by using a new Gmail address for your Google+ account.
Google+ can be a bit addictive. As with StumbleUpon and Shnap, you can lose hours checking out the website, finding new people to add to your circles, seeing who is in others’ circles, reading posts in your stream, etc.
After you get a Google+ account, you should grab a short URL with your user name. Here is a great blog post showing you how to do this: How To: Create A Short URL For Your Google+ Profile, With an estimated 10 million people already signed up for Google+, you need to get your user name before someone else does!
You can also have fun by creating a Google+ icon image for yourself. Head to this handy website: +Me to make an image using the Google+ logo. You can also make a profile picture for Facebook saying you moved to Google+.
Google+ Mobile – Google+ seems even more like it’s in the testing phase when you try to use it on a mobile device. The features of Google+ are severely limited when you’re away from your computer.
Android has a Google+ app, but you can’t share others’ posts or use Hangouts on it. Instead you can join or form a Huddle with others who are using the Android app, but you can’t join a Huddle from a computer or non-Android device.
Apple has not yet approved the Google+ app for iOS devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch), but there is a mobile site you can get to from Safari m.google.com/app/plus which you can then save as a bookmark. Again, the functions are very limited but perhaps the upcoming app will fix that.
For more helpful information on joining Google+ and setting up your account, check out this helpful blog post: 10+ Practical Tips for New Google+ Users.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a big fan of Facebook. But since I’ve joined Google+, I find myself going on Google+ more and Facebook less.
If I haven’t yet convinced you why you should join Google+, check out this informative video that is sure to sway you to sign up today!
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Have you tried Google+ yet? Are you still looking for an invitation? Are you sticking with Facebook and Twitter? Let us know in the Comments section below!
* Image by Mac Morrison
I have a gmail acct, and I joined Google+ after receiving an invite, but I don’t like using my gmail account…and don’t want to pass that email out to friends. Any chance they’ll let you use other email addresses with Google+ or is that going to be the only option? If so, I think I’ll pass on using it any more.
Hi Kathy, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! Great question. Google insists that you use a Gmail account to register for Google+. I don’t foresee Google changing that requirement as it means more people will register for Gmail.
I can understand that you don’t want to have to maintain another email account just for Google+. One of the great things about Gmail is that you can forward all of the incoming email from your Gmail account to another email account, even to another email provider, such as Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.
So you don’t have to let the Gmail requirement prevent you from signing up for Google+. Just use your Gmail account and forward the incoming email to your personal account.
Thanks so much for your visit and your comment. 🙂
Yay, this is the one thing I do have. I am on Google + but have spent very little time to see what all it can do. That might be my weekend project.
I will use this article to walk me through the steps.
Who knows if we need another social platform or if this will blend all that is good from the others but I guess only time will tell.
Thanks for sharing this and I look forward to using it.
Hope your day has gone well.
Hi Bill, See, you’re getting to be quite the techie! 😉
Time will tell how people use Google+ in the long run. Right now it’s the hottest thing in the Social Media world, but where will it be six months or a year from now? It’s too soon to tell, but it’s off to a strong start.
Make sure you block off some time to become engrossed in Google+ this weekend. The minutes can pass pretty quickly when you’re on the site!
Thanks so much for your visit, comment and tweet!
Carolyn,
I have read that it might take over Facebook and Twitter, but I personally don’t think so. How much willingness does Google have when it comes to social media…? I guess they can’t beat Facebook. Google is getting too big and they’re unlikely to take risk. Big companies don’t usually do that. But you never know.
I visited the home page and I saw that they’ve exceeded the capacity. You can’t sign up even if you have an invitation. What a bummer. I’d love to try it!
Hi Mouh, Very interesting perspective that you have on Google+. Google has expanded into many areas, some successful and some not. This isn’t Google’s first try at social media, but it’s the one that’s off to the strongest start.
I respectfully disagree with you, though, about Google. You may very well be correct, but Google is first of all an advertising medium in my mind. That is how they make money and social media is fertile ground for advertising dollars.
I read a book you might enjoy called Free: The Future of a Radical Price http://www.amazon.com/Free-Future-Radical-Chris-Anderson/dp/B00342VEP6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1310593745&sr=1-1 about how Google makes money when nearly everything they offer is free. The book is fascinating because it explains that employees are encouraged to come up with new ideas for Google, without regard to how they will generate income. Innovate first, worry later.
Google+ doesn’t have ads yet, but as soon as it’s out of beta and made available to the public, ads should be numerous.
Time will tell if Google+ will be successful, but Facebook shows that advertising revenue can be generated through social media. But is there enough interest in both for both to be popular a year from now?
Thanks so much, Mouh, for your visit, thought-provoking comment and tweet! 🙂
I think I can wait for Google plus. They don’t seem to do so well copying other people’s ideas. Gmail was slow taking off because of invitations and their IM program still doesn’t match MSN. I want to see some competition for Facebook though!
Hi Mike, Yes, you can wait for Google+, but aren’t you the slightest bit curious about the site?
You’re right, Gmail isn’t nearly as popular as Hotmail http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/ but perhaps Google+ will entice more people to sign up for Gmail.
I’m glad to see Facebook get some real competition too. It isn’t good for any one company to dominate in any tech field. Competition leads to innovation to stay ahead and that’s good for everyone!
Thanks so much for your visit and your comment! 🙂
As you know, I’m on the site but have not had a lot of spare time to play around with it to be honest with you. I have so much going during my day as it is and then on the weekends I am either playing catch-up or going through training if I’m not trying to just relax some. I’ll eventually go through it and I love the connections I’ve made so far.
Will definitely take your advice about the URL and photo though. Better jump in there now while I can.
Thank you so much for sharing this Carolyn. So far, your post is the most informative I’ve read on this subject. Great job!
Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, I’m glad you enjoyed the post! It doesn’t take much time to catch on to Google+, especially if you read the helpful blog post I mentioned in the article, 10+ Practical Tips for New Google+ Users. But it’s easy to spend hours on the site exploring people’s Circles and reading the posts and links.
I hope you do enjoy it when you have a chance to explore it!
Thanks so much, Adrienne, for your visit, comment and wonderful tweet! 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
Google+ seems to have pretty cool features, but i don’t think it will compete with Facebook or Twitter very soon because people largelly think about Google as search, Facebook as friends and Twitter as microblogging. Of course, it would be nice to see competition between Google+ and Facebook.
Hi Jocuri, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! You and Mouh above may very well be correct about Google+, only time will tell. But I do think people regard Google as more than a search engine by now with Google Maps, Google Earth and Android being successful extensions of the Google brand.
Whether Google+ can be a successful extension as well remains to be seen, but I’m very glad they are trying. It won’t be easy to knock Facebook off of their #1 position in social media, but Google+ just might be the one who can do it!
Thanks so much for your visit and comment! 🙂
Carolyn,
Now that is the best way to describe Google+ (O:
I recently joined this popular social site and I am slowly checking out its features. And you are right hangouts seems to be really cool.
I don’t have a Google+ button in my blog yet but I will immediately get on to it after this comment.
Appreciate the share.
See you around!
Hi Adam, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech!
Thank you, I honestly believe that Google+ has the right mix of Facebook and Twitter. The site will probably change to be more like one or the other and will probably continue to offer new features as well that distinguish Google+ from either of them.
I visited your blog post and really enjoyed the information you shared. I don’t know why CommentLuv didn’t link to your site, but here is the link for anyone who is interested in reading Adam’s latest blog post: http://endeavor-online.com/land-clients-by-referrals/ (Adam, I gave you a +1 on your blog.)
Thanks so much, Adam, for your visit, comment and tweet! 🙂
Hi Carolyn 🙂
I’m thankful to you for linking our post, Google+ is definitely gonna beat Facebook, but as this is the initial stages so we need to wait for some more time until Google+ gets some more changes and revamps in their UI.
Happy Blogging 🙂
Hi Sunil, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! The opinion certainly seems to be mixed on whether Google+ will be successful at unseating Facebook and Twitter in the social media arena. Hmm…I do believe I have been inspired for tomorrow’s Wonder of Tech poll.
I am delighted to link to your helpful site. Thank you for showing us how to grab a custom URL for Google+. It’s very helpful to be among the first to lay claim to such important indentifiers!
Thanks so much for your visit and your comment. 🙂
I don’t know who I want to see “rule” the internet – Facebook or Google; only time will tell. Gmail is still in beta, and it has been for about 6 or 7 years since it’s release … Google tends to approach things with precision. I do love the hangout feature as it groups multiple people together in a web chat for free! Unlike Skype where there is a charge for a conversation with multiple people.
This post couldn’t describe Google+ any better, thanks for such a wonderful description Carolyn.
Hi Vitaly, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech!
I agree with you, I enjoy the Hangout feature too, it makes the connection seem much more real and engaging.
If Google+ stays beta and invitation only for 6-7 years, everyone will have received an invitation, so that would be a bit silly, though Google eventually dropped the invitation requirements for Gmail and Google Voice.
Shouldn’t there be some sort of maximum time a product can be in beta? Zynga games are still in beta 2+ years and many millions of dollars later.
Thanks so much, Vitaly, for your visit, comment and tweet! 🙂
I cannot say who’s going to take over whom, for all you know may be there will be third one! Who knows!
But strategically, its great move by Google. And its well done too.
Think about it, Google makes all its money thru search (AdWords), and advertisement … but lately the trend is moving towards Facebook, where many of the search, discovery happens thru social conversation. There is no way Google can let that happen… the only way is to do (yet) another social network. Social Networking is kinda matured these days, and a lots have been done, and wrongly done by Google themselves (Orkut, Wave, Buzz), MySpace, Friendster, Facebook and Twitter. So obviously Google learns from all the mistakes done so far and have delivered a solid product. Yet to see how they grow against the 8000lb Gorilla!
(Last but not least, Carolyn, I can’t appreciate you enuff on being an early adopter)
Hi iRewardChart, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech!
I completely agree. With all of the ad revenue Facebook generates, Google must be very anxious to get a large share of the social media market. The personal information people reveal in social media has to be like catnip for advertisers (not that any of that information is shared…;-)).
As for being an early adopter, well, I’m just willing to take on such monumental tasks for my dear Wonder of Tech readers. \:D/
Thanks so much, iRewardChart, for your visit and awesome comment!
Wish I had read this post sooner, Carolyn! I might have created a separate account for this, but I suppose it doesn’t matter so much. I like having my accounts all linked, but I think I might get carried away checking those notification in the top bar all the time. =P
Loved that link to create a Google Profile pic! =) Snazzy! Thanks for sharing that!
And that link to create a short URL is SO useful! Thanks so much! Super informative as ever! =)
Hi Samantha, Welcome back to The Wonder of Tech! I’m so glad you found the article helpful. I don’t think it’s the end of the world if you use your personal Gmail account but some people (including me) have received more spam after signing up with Google+. I imagine Google will improved their spam filters even more (they’re already pretty good).
It can be very tempting to check out Google+ when you go to your Gmail account and see the number in the red box showing you how much activity there has been on your account. So far that doesn’t happen on mobile phones, so you may want to check mail from your mobile more often than from your computer now!
Thanks so much, Samantha, for your visit, kind comment and tweet!
I found this blog post very helpful – I was not aware of the functionality and sharing capabilities of google plus.
Thanks friend
Geoff
Hi Geoffrey, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I’m glad you were helped by this post. I believe we have only begun to scratch the surface of the functionality of Google+. Google will probably continue to add new features and people will probably figure out new ways to use them making Google+ a useful tool for people.
Thanks so much for visiting, commenting and tweeting! 🙂
I have gmail account but I never received any invitations yet with google+. Thanks to you for making me aware about google+
Hi Lisa, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Most people I speak with are unaware that Google+ exists. I’m thinking that will change soon, but Google+ is still relatively unknown outside the tech world.
Thanks for your visit and your comment!
Thanks Carolyn for the warm welcome. Well appreciated.
Hi Carolyn,
Hope you are doing fine. Somehow, my FF was not able to open up your site so now I am using IE to view it :). Sorry for not commenting due to that reason. I was under the impression that your site was down( but it was my FF causing problem 🙁 ).
Really great article. I am also a very big fan of G. But I don’t believe that G will be ever able to take on FB and T for the simple reason that FB and T dominate the landscape and unless until they make phenomenal mistakes.
Remember before FB, a lot of world was on Orkut( at least here in India). We still love orkut and hated FB but Orkut was practically neglected by G . It had thousands of users and could have won the social media war easily had G promoted it.
Most of the cases show that once a category is occupied and unless the incumbent does not make grand mistakes , it is very difficult to remove it. The incumbement then only has to work on copying what no.2 is doing to keep it away. FB launched video calling in days after G. Though G’s product may be superior but FB just needs to create similar product to survive.
That is true even though I like G’s products but still I have not sufficient reason to move from FB to G+. 🙂
Have a great day
Hi Ashvini, Thank you for letting me know about your difficulties accessing The Wonder of Tech on Firefox. I have been having difficulties loading this site as well as many other blogs on Firefox ever since the update. But I don’t have problems when I use updated Firefox on another computer so I’m not sure what the issue is.
Thank you for going to IE to access this site. I hope Firefox resolves the situation quickly!
I believe the battle between Facebook and Google+ will be a fascinating case study. Facebook will have to move quickly now to catch up to the Hangout feature of Google+ which makes Facebook video calling seem antiquated.
Another interesting case where the category was occupied but number 2 came in and overtook number 1 is in the smartphone category. The iPhone displace Blackberry but now the iPhone is in a battle with Android phones to see who emerges as number 1.
The iPhone staying restricted to one carrier in the US for four years and releasing only one phone a year (if that) may have given Android phones an advantage in this battle.
I appreciate your sharing this fascinating analysis with us. Your history of Orkutt, and Google’s failure to support the site in spite of its success, may very well indicate what will happen in the Facebook vs. Google+ battle.
Thanks so much, Ashvini, for visiting this site (through IE!), and for your insightful comment and for your awesome tweets!
Hi Carolyn,
I’m on Google+, but I haven’t had the time to do any experimenting or any reading at all. I guess I have to do all this when I get back home from my vacation. And then, I will just follow your steps (so I won’t have to make all the mistakes) 🙂
What I especially like so far with Google + is how easy it is to send messages to a few people, and how easy it is to filter the messages. It took me a long time to understand how to do this in Facebook.
Jens
Hi Jens, I can completely understand how you don’t use your precious internet time while you’re on vacation to visit Google+. It’s a much better idea for you to visit The Wonder of Tech! 😉
I also like how easily you can filter your stream and posting messages as well. It’s complicated on Facebook and it wasn’t available from the beginning.
I hope you enjoy the remainder of your holiday. The blogosphere will be very happy when you return, even though you have been great to post even while you’re away!
Thanks for your visit, comment and tweet! 🙂
The more I read about google+ the more I realize it’s going to be the next big thing. However I’m a bit hesitant of joining it myself. Google already has so much personal data about me, if I join google+ they will know everything there is to know about me. If you think the facebook ads are creepy personal, just wait for the google ads you will see once google combines all the data they have about you. I don’t think I have a choice though I will have to join in on google+ once everyone else does.
Hi Alice, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! I agree, once Google+ starts allowing ads, they will be very targeted. Some people find that creepy, others find it useful because the ads relate to things they’re interested in.
Google+ certainly is growing quickly. It will be interesting to see whether the growth will continue to the point where everyone is on Google+.. Twitter has grown tremendously but not everyone is on Twitter.
So don’t worry, you may not feel as if you have to be on Google+ anytime soon if you don’t want to be!
Thanks so much, Alice, for your visit and wonderful comment! 🙂
Just find this post. It is very inetersting for me. Will share it.
Hi Jane, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! Thanks for your kind words and for sharing this post with others. 🙂