My Thoughts On Google+

So, not long after I blogged about not being in, I got in!

I have to say, after repeated failed attempts by Mountain View to break into the social networking arena (Wave and Buzz, I'm looking at you!), G+ seems to just get it right.

In a nutshell, it's a full on assault at Facebook, and manages to take a few jabs at Twitter as well.  The core concept of G+ lies in how you decide who you want to share with.  G+ has Circles that you can place people into (and yes, you can place one person in multiple Circles), and when you post something, you can select, quite easily, what Circle(s) you want to share that post with.  You can even share a post with just one or two people, everyone on the web, or no one at all.

Also, you can select from a list on the left side of the page which Circle you want to see posts from at the moment.  By way of a for instance, if I just want to know what my gaming friends are up to, I select my Gamers Circle, and just posts from them are displayed.

Unlike Facebook, someone can add you to a Circle without you having to add them.  Think of that as someone following you, like on Twitter.  That means that if you make a post public, they can see it in their stream and comment on it.  They can share with you as well, but if they're not in one of your Circles then it won't appear in your main Stream (which avoids people being able to add clutter you don't want to see).  Instead there's a special stream called Incoming which houses posts from people who are following you.

It's very slick so far; already I've more or less stopped using Facebook and rely on G+ when I need to share things with people.  Even if a person isn't on G+, you can STILL add them to a Circle and share with them so long as you have their e-mail address.  If they aren't on G+, then they'll simply get an e-mail with what you wanted to share with them, as well as an invite to come join the service.

I'm having a blast with it, and would encourage everyone to give it a shot.  Should you do so, my G+ profile can be found at http://gplus.to/EvoAnubis

See you there!

Google+: Let Me In!

So, G+ has been in a limited field trial for about a week now.  Thanks to my buddy Matt, I have an invite.  I just can't use it, 'cause Google won't let me yet!

G+ seems to have features I'd really like to have, mainly because when I share my thoughts on FB, there seems to always be an issue, and that issue wouldn't be there if certain groups of people couldn't see those posts.  Yeah, I'm fully aware that you can group people on Facebook, but the process is so annoying and tenuous that I'd really just rather start from scratch.  Other than that, I really liked FB.  G+ is Google's answer to that (much in the same way that Buzz was their answer to Twitter), only much better done.

So, yeah, I want in.  Patiently (okay, not so much) waiting for this invite to work....

Oh, as a sidenote, once I actually do get in, I might actually start posting more regularly...like I said I would.  The problem was that FB was my main hub of online social contact, and it didn't make sense to have to have people going all over the Net to find what I was talking about.  With G+, that changes.  For those that don't know, Blogger is soon to be rebranded as Google Blogs, in an ongoing movement by Google to bring everything under one umbrella (YouTube, however, will not be affected).  Because of that, things will make much more sense to post here rather than as a note on FB.

Anyhoo, waiting for that invite to work.  When I have a G+ profile, I'll post it here and a few other various places.  See you all there!