My thoughts on Google+ after using it for about 2 weeks.

G+ is not that similar to Facebook. In reality its more close to Twitter but even then the similarities are few and far in between. I was part of the initial Google+ seed group and for the most part the last 2.5 weeks it has been one big pool party mainly consisting of tech journalist, tech bloggers, and other tech media. A lot of our suggestions have made it into new G+ releases. I had a feedback I submitted (most likely submitted by many more) get rolled out almost overnight.

One huge feature of Google+ over Facebook, Twitter, Friend Feed, etc is it's circles feature. I have a total of 14 circles now ranging from Friends, Family, Tech Journalist and Editor, Tech CEOs, PC Marketing Contacts, to Makers. I can pick 1 of these circles, any combination of them or just make my post public. I can also just tag a single user and the post will only be shared with them. In Facebook and Twitter, this is not an option and everyone any anyone can see your "Status update"

Another feature that separates it from other existing social networks is that you can not share a post I mark private. In the beginning this was possible but after a lot of people commented on it, Google removed this feature. In addition, if I make my post avaliable only to a specific group or groups and not public, you can share that post with your circles but Google+ pops up a small notification reminding you that the original author shared it with a limited group and you should consider that before re sharing it.

One of the biggest features is "Hang out" which you can group video chat with up to 10 people at the same time. Google switches the main camera view to who ever is talking. Most of the TWIT network has been using this feature on their daily live shows and I have got to participate in a few of them. It's the coolest feature of G+ IMO.

Google+ started out with just a few thousand members and I saw a report yesterday that set it to hit 10,000,000 members sometime today. Judging by the increase in people who have added me to their circles I can only imagine that this is close to accurate.

The first night or two while comment chatting with techies in one of Leo Laporte's post we coined the phrase "G+ing" (Pronounced GEE PLUSING)

If you haven't heard yet, Some time next month Google will be renaming Blogger and Picasa and they will be integrated into Google+. Lots of people in the tech media world seem to think the Google+ photo feature will completely replace Picasa.

If you have an Android phone, you HAVE to get the G+ app. Google+ is so addicting that many of us find ourselves G+ing while sitting at traffic lights, in meetings, and any where else we have a free moment. Huddle chat is also a very cool feature in the G+ app.

In the very beginning I thought G+ may be a Facebook killer, but the more I thought about it, they both have their places and each will have a separate user base along with those who chose to use both. The one social network that I see losing market share is Twitter. While twitter is great for marketing and advertising or following celebrities it long ago lost the "keeping up with my friends" feeling. For me Twitter has become nothing more than a user aggregated RSS feed.

So now that I posted my thoughts on Google+ if you want to circle me, here is the short link to my profile. http://gplus.to/charlesgantt

To clarify I was not invited to + by Google but was invited in the first round of private invites which were given by the original techies Google seeded with invites.

So far I'm not impressed with G+. Then again, I don't know many people that have it yet.

For some really interesting post, search for people like Tom Anderson (yes that Tom), Leo Laporte, Molly Wood, Sarah Lane, Robert Scoble, Trey Ratcliff, Jason Chen, Chris Pirillo, MG Siegler, and me of course. Also look at the people they follow and follow a few of the well known names. Very interesting post from that group.

Interesting post by Trey Harris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trey harris

The role of +-mentioning someone seems to be confusing people, so let's talk about it.

+-mentions are not the way you talk about someone. They're the way you talk to someone. If you use a +-mention, you're inviting them into the conversation; you add them to the list of people the post is shared with and you notify them that they were mentioned.

This works whether the +-mention is in the body of a post or in a comment, whether the comment is by the original poster or by someone else. If you just want to refer to someone, just type their name without the plus (or @, which works equivalently). If you want to link to their profile, paste the URL of their profile in without +-mentioning them.

Imagine it as a conversation among a few people at a party that everyone you know is at. You can say, "Oh, that reminds me of something John was just saying...." You can raise your voice and make eye contact with John as you say that to invite him to join the conversation. That's +-mentioning John. You can also say, "oh yeah, John had the same thing happen to him," lowering your voice when you say John's name; if he happens to be listening, he can still join in, but you're not explicitly inviting him to join in; that's typing John's name without the plus.

The place where people get surprised by this is when they share a post with a limited set of people, and then a commenter +-mentions someone not in the original share. If the original poster didn't disable resharing, the +-mention will reshare the post to the person being mentioned.

So, the rules to remember:
1. A +-mention is for addressing someone, not for referring to them.
2. If you want to make sure commenters to your post don't inadvertently reshare it further by +-mentioning someone not on the original share list, disable resharing of the post.

Remember, like all privacy controls, you can only be sure when sharing with people you trust not to violate your privacy. Anyone could cut and paste or take a screenshot and share with John, or the entire Internet, no matter what controls you put on the original.

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Nice little review there OneSlowz. I am enjoying G+, but I don't think it will replace my FB account.

Btw I sent you a friend request.

Nice writeup. I got a G+, but have never used facebook/twitter, or any other social networking site. I haven't really done anything with my account, as only a couple people I know have actually joined.

The only thing is that Google apparently has decided to keep the blogger name:

http://gigaom.com/2011/07/09/no-plan...blogger-brand/

Hmmmm.... maybe I'll get Google+ eventually. The only social networking I do so far is twitter (www.twitter.com/crennsmind), unlike the majority of the populus, I don't have Facebook, which is something I've been avoiding. What's sad is how much information they've gathered on me from other people and keep on trying to convince me to join.

It'll get better, just needs more users.

I H A T E G O O G L E

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Collinstheclown

It'll get better, just needs more users.

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Actually it has well over 10,000,000 users now. It its not only the fastest growing social network of all time, but it has to be the fastest growing website of all time. I joined when there were just a few thousand users and I knew 25 of them off the bat and recognized at least 100. I have almost every single tech journalist that's popular in a circle, lots of the tech CEOs, and even a huge photographers circle.

With invites freely flowing now, its expected to hit 50 million users by its public launch sometime next month.


TGS, why do you hate google? I use almost every one of googles major features. I use GMail exclusively now even for my TBCS email, Google Voice because it now blocks spam phone calls (telemarketers), iGoogle is my home page, I have an android phone so all of that is tied into Google. I have Google music to stream my music to my phone and work PCs. I use google webmaster tools for my site, Google Analytics for traffic stats, and I even use Google Buzz from time to time. Google+ is by far the most exciting thing to hit the web since facebook became public IMO. Not to mention Google search is the most accurate and reliable search on the net. Google.com has been the #1 visited site on the net for a few years running now.

And 13 of them are in my Circles.

GMail - Is the best
GVoice - Useless for me
iGoogle - I use everyday, hate the name.
Android - Awesome, Samsung Captivate here
GMusic - Need an invite
GWeb Tools - Don't use, my site is a joke
GAnalytics - Don't use, no need to monitor my low traffic site
GBuzz - Never bothered

You didn't mention GDocs, which is great IMO. Now that they have an Android app it's fantastic

Well its official Google+ gains 10,000,000 users and 36,000 businesses in just 2 weeks in CLOSED BETA!

http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/07...up-for-google/

Larry Page just posted this on his Google+ account https://plus.google.com/106189723444...ts/dRtqKJCbpZ7

Quote:

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We are in the middle of our quarterly earnings call right now. Here are the remarks I just gave. One key stat: Over 10M Google+ users!

-Larry
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Good afternoon everyone--thanks for joining us today

It’s exciting to be on the call today and to share directly with you the progress we have made in my first quarter as CEO

As you will have seen from our press release we had a great quarter--with revenue up by 32 per cent year on year and a new record for quarterly revenue at over $9 billion!

We have substantially increased our velocity and execution this quarter--a key goal of mine since taking over as CEO

It’s why I created a new, product focused management structure--with a clear leader responsible for each product area

This new management team is working together fabulously … and has already achieved a lot in just three months

First we launched Google+ to field trial invitation only

Our goal with Google+ is to make sharing on the web like sharing in real life, as well as to improve the overall Google experience
Circles let you choose with precision who you are sharing with. Not surprisingly this has been very well received, because in real life, we share different things with different people.
Hangouts allow for serendipitous interactions. Like in real life when you run into a few friends. It gives you seamless and fun multi user video and it’s really amazing!

Last quarter, we launched the +1 button in search results and ads--enabling users to recommend stuff they liked, and have those recommendations show up in the search results of people they know

This quarter, we released +1 buttons to the entire web, and many sites like Huffington Post, the Washington Post and Best Buy have added +1 buttons

Google+ is still only in field trial with limited access as we scale the system
Users have to be invited, sign up with a profile in order to use it

However, the growth on Google+ has been great--and I’m excited to release some new metrics for you today
Over 10M people have joined Google+
Great achievement for the team

There’s also a ton of activity
We are seeing over 1 billion items shared and received in a single day

Our +1 button is already all over the web
It’s being served 2.3 billion times a day

So while we have a lot of work still to do, we are really excited about our progress with Google+

Google+ is also a great example of another focus of mine--beautiful products that are simple and intuitive to use and was actually was one of the first products to contain our new visual redesign.

We also launched that beautiful, consistent and simpler design on our home page, Gmail and calendar with many more products soon to come.

Greater focus has also been another big feature for me this quarter--more wood behind fewer arrows

Last month, for example, we announced that we will be closing Google Health and Google PowerMeter

We’ve also done substantial internal work simplifying and streamlining our product lines

While much of that work has not yet become visible externally, I am very happy with our progress here

Focus and prioritization are crucial given our amazing opportunities

Indeed I see more opportunities for Google today than ever before

Because believe it or not we are still in the very early stages of what we want to do

Even in search … which we’ve been working on for 12 years there have never been more important changes to make
For example this quarter we launched a pilot that shows an author’s name and picture in the search results, making it easier for users to find things from authors they trust.

Of course when we started doing search, people thought we were crazy--they said there was no money to be made in search over and above a bit of banner advertising

Most new internet businesses have had the same criticism

Fast forward to today--it feels like we are watching the same movie again in slow motion

We have tremendous new businesses being viewed as “crazy”
Android
We actually have a new metric to report of 550,000 Android Devices activated a day!
That’s a HUGE number even by Google’s standards
Chrome
It’s the fastest growing browser
With over 160 million users

People rightly ask how we will monetize these businesses?

And of course I understand the need to balance the short term with the longer term needs because our revenues and growth serve as the engine that funds our innovation

But our emerging high usage products can generate huge new businesses for Google in the long run, just like search
And we have tons of experience monetizing successful products over time

Well run technology businesses with tremendous consumer usage make a lot of money over the long term

I think about our products in three separate categories

First, there is search and our ads products, the core driver of revenue for the company. Nikesh and Susan are going to talk more about ads later in the call

Next, we have products that are enjoying high consumer success--YouTube, Android and Chrome. We are investing in these in order to optimize their long-term success

Then we have our new products--Google+ and Commerce and Local. We are are investing in them to drive innovation and adoption

Overall, we are focused on long term absolute profit and growth, as we have always been--and I will continue the tight financial management we have had in the last two years, even as we are making significant investments in our future

I would like to finish on our people

Great companies are no greater than the efforts and ingenuity of their people

So continuing to hire the best, keeping them happy and well rewarded is crucial to our future

Many of you will be interested in hiring--whether we hired a few hundred more or less than you expected this quarter. But we will optimize headcount for the long term and the opportunities we see

So I’m happy with the investments we’ve made in people, though we’re probably even a little ahead of where we need to be with headcount growth at the edge of what is manageable now

It is easy to focus on things we do that are speculative (e.g., driverless cars) but we spend the vast majority of our resources on the core products. We may have a few small speculative projects happening at any given time, but we’re very careful stewards of shareholder money -- we’re not betting the farm on this stuff.

All of us at Google want to create services that people across the world use twice a day … just like a toothbrush!

And we strive to make those services beautiful, simple and easy to use

That way we can provide huge benefit to the world

We have made a good start but we are at only 1 per cent of what’s possible … Google is just getting started … and that is why I am here--working hard to lead this company to the next level
Thank You. And again, we had a great quarter.

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Oh and $9 Billion in 1 quarter? That's HUGE!

Also: http://xkcd.com/918/