Google never stops trying to take over the world! As long as they abide by their motto, “do no harm”, I’m okay with that. Their anticipated big launch is Google+, a social networking site. I know what you’re thinking... Google Wave was a bust. Google Buzz was a bust. Will Google+ also be a bust?
I’m not so sure. They have a great premise here. I find that with Facebook, when I post a photo, I would love to have the ability to share that photo with only certain people. Facebook doesn’t work like that. If you post a photo, any one of your friends can see it.
From what I have gathered, as I am not a part of the beta yet, is that you will have the ability to put all of your “friends” into certain circles. Shocker, Google calls this “Circles”. One can put their friends into one circle, their co-workers into a different circle, family in another, and so on.
What a fantastic concept! I like to think of this as targeted sharing. Not everyone on my “friend” list on Facebook cares to read my many article posts on libraries. (I love libraries and think they are very important to society.) Nor do some people care to see my many many many posts of food that I am eating at a new restaurant! With Google+ I can designate which Circle gets to see what post!
Going along with Circles, another feature of Google+ is the Instant Upload. More and more people are taking pictures directly from their phones. Photos will instantly update from your phone to a private album on Google. From there, you can direct your photos who different Circles. No more looking for the cable that links your phone to your computer or having to use programs like Dropbox.
The next feature is Hangouts, I’m really not sure how this will work. It’s an “unplanned meet-up” on the web. One let’s a group of people know they would like to hang out and then wait for them to meet you online. I believe it will work similar to a chat style setting.
Sparks is a recommendation system. You type in what you are interested in, and it will recommend based upon your interest.
Another feature is Huddle, and I am very interested in this aspect. How many times have you sent out a text blast to your friends to see what is happening for the day or night? And don’t you wish that those same friends could see the responses from the others? Well now you can! Huddle turns the texts into a group chat.
Do you think Google+ can compete with Facebook? Do you think it will succeed or fail? What feature would you be most interested in?
Citation:
Google. Google+ Project. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.google.com/+/demo/
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