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!