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Google+ - Will it spark interest or run around in circles?
Alegis
ImpeckableRegistered User regular
ImpeckableRegistered User regular
What is it:
GoogleBook, or MyGoogle or Googlester - Google+ is Google's attempt to control more of your data provide more social networking opportunities show more ads in your face to people worldwide.
It's still closed beta but they've revealed a bunch of vids on their approach and there's a list you can sign to find out if you ever get an invite.
Interactive fancy demo + "PUT ME ON THE INVITE LIST, DAMN IT!"-link
http://www.google.com/intl/en/+/demo/
How to Import FB contacts via a middleservice
How to post to a FB status from google+
There's an exploit to invite people into google+ by adding their e-mail to a circle and then send a message to that circle. Seems to work sometimes. Sometimes it doesn't. Results may vary.
If you got android, check out the google+ client in market.
google+: DESIRES AND HOPES: INCARNATE
So google seems to have learned from the Buzz disaster and try to flaunt with a system with a simple interface and easier limited sharing options. Google already owns your data anyways. Why not trust them? It's perfect!
You can probably expect good mobile support.
ars technica's take on the project
In this thread we pray to the Google Gods to send out invitations
List of people you can add to your PA circle and share your deepest secrets with:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=144504
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But we had buzz (twitter) and google wave (very slow email and/or facebook groups). Was there something before Wave? I think there was.
In short: I don't know what the problem is that google are trying to fix. And I think this is why their products don't succeed in this sphere.
Also, the circle feature for refining things down is something Facebook has been missing from the start. Every complaint I hear about Facebook revolves around people not posting anything because they don't want X family member, Y co-worker or Z dog to see it.
Something that's designed from the ground-up with that in mind can only be a good thing.
https://medium.com/@alascii
Although limited sharing is present in FB (friend groups, select privacy option when sharing something) seems better integrated in google+ and we can likely count on them to be more clear with the different privacy settings this time.
Generalising here, but your Mum already has a Facebook. She isn't going to be signing up to another service any time soon.
If FB has any sense they'll just wholesale steal all the good interface ideas Google come up with.
never really got off the ground
I actually signed up at this link: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googleplusenuk/
and now Im worried thats a fake since it doesnt match the invite request thingy above.
But since it only asked my name and e-mail, and I use the two step authentication, I dont think they can do anything anyways.
Either way - I never have joined Facebook. I want in on this. This looks taylored to what I want.
It's https with the google domain name. I'm pretty sure its just as authentic.
In that case I have signed up twice.
So hopefully I get an invite in double the speed!
Their earlier one is still around, is big in some countries (Brazil in particular), but is one they purchased instead of developing in-house - Orkut.
As far as what Google+ is fixing, I think the answer is "privacy." I'm in the closed beta and while it's hard to judge with so few people that I actually know using it, it seems to have gotten the concept of having a fluid manner in which you show some things to some people and not to others down pat. You can define any number of "circles" which overlap with one another in any manner you deep appropriate, and anytime you share something in your stream (links, photos, comments, whatever), you choose which circles/people can have access to it. Additionally, it errs on the side of privacy instead of public - for example, unlike Facebook, you can designate who's actually allowed to tag you in pictures, and you can require authorization before the tag appears. And you can make it so only certain circles can see the tags and...well, you get the point.
I think that some of the names (Sparks in particular seems...off) could use some tweaking, they need to introduce some shortcuts for "common" behavior (for example, there's no method to 'private message' someone from their profile - you have to go to your stream and make a comment that only they can see), and it completely lacks any sort of bulletin board system on a person's profile which I think is something they'll need to fix in order to not drive people away who really enjoy that feature of Facebook (perhaps something which defaults to the profile owner either authorizing posts before they appear or permitting certain circles to post with impunity).
I haven't been able to poke around with some of the features due to lack of friends with webcams and such, so I can't comment on them. I question whether I'll use some of the features, but for the core product, it's basically.....well, it's Facebook minus all the distasteful things about Facebook that have been bugging me with all their privacy updates (and you can save photos from it!), plus the idle paranoia that Google knows everything about me.
e: Oh, and this is also a competitor for Twitter, by the by. One of the default circles is "Following" - you can add people to circles without them adding you, and if you have them in your Following circle, you'll see stuff in their Public stream in your feed. It's rather seamless.
I guess I could try for Beta to see what the attraction is though and the demo does look pretty slick though, so kudos there.
I don't think it will necessarily be a hard sale, but they won't kill FB quickly, if at all.
In some respects, I think I'd be a lot happier if this just muddles along rather than actually becomes successful.
This is actually facebooks big weakness right now, yes your mum has a facebook account that she logs into once a month however do kids really want to be on the same networks as their parents and uncles sharing all their drunk photos there. Facebook won't fall from being beaten, it will fall from being too big.
I have a hard time seeing a social network being anything else going forward, whatever UI you put on it. I liked the idea to start with, but for some reason it didn't stick.
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My sister just got an account.
Google+'s Circles is pretty cool and seems like a nice solution to that. I'll give it a spin.
I am so keyed into google for the other services they offer that it will be nice to keep it all under one roof. The only thing I am not so hot on is the new black Nav bar at the top of all the pages. Would much rather have it white, but that is such a small issue...
Hopefully it'll filter around soon enough.
Just post your email, and I'll invite you.
And I made a search engine for Google+ with CSE: http://www.mkronline.com/googleplus/
Saves having to type in site: all the time.
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or
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I'm really itching to try this thing out. Beta invites are like a drug to me!
<dankon!>
Edit - Nevermind, got an invite. Thanks!
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Oculus: TheBigDookie | XBL: Dook | NNID: BigDookie
Whats the feeling out there? From reading everything it just sounds like they are setting up fancy ways of doing mailing lists with friends and groups. Does it offer anything new that regular people will use?
Regular is the important part. Stuff like Wave and Buzz were wonderful for a small subset of geeks but Facebook spans grandmothers to the programming elite. What can G+ offer the people who don't even know what the internet is but have a Facebook account so they can look at cat pictures send by other family members and write happy birthday wall posts to people they dont even know?
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