Google debuts their all-new social offering, Google+
After rumors filtering in for months, starting MG Siegler’s scoop at TechCrunch, Google has finally taken the wraps off their all-new social offering, dubbed “Google+”. So what’s in the box?
Google+ is a unifying service that will over time combine the social elements of Gmail, Google Talk, Buzz, and Google Profiles into one wrapper. The centerpiece of Google+ is a black bar that sits across the top of Google properties - part of an ongoing visual refresh of core Google tools. This bar provides shortcuts to Gmail, Calendars, Reader, and other Google properties as well as a new link to “+You” and a Notifications drop-down a la Facebook.
The +You link takes you to the Google+ stream, which is not surprisingly similar in concept and appearance to the Facebook News Feed. And much of the service echoes this overall homage to Google+’s predecessor - each + user has a profile page which is broken down into a Stream, and About Me page, Photos, Videos, and links to +1s and Buzz posts. However, apart from the overall interface, Google has set out to make some clear distinctions between the Google way and the Facebook way.
The core differentiation (and arguably the core of the entire network) is “Circles,” Google’s hybrid of Facebook Groups and Twitter’s follower model. Users can add any publicly listed user to any combination of their Circles (friends, acquaintances, or - as the tutorial suggests - “Epic Bros.” Adding a user will pull all of their public posts into the Stream. In turn, users can restrict which of their Circles (public, all circles, “extended” circles, or specific circles) a post goes to. Your parents never have to see your college party pictures again.
Besides Circles, Google+ includes a bevy of group-oriented features targeted at multimedia and mobile. “Hangouts” are ad-hoc group video chats that take place in-browser. “Huddle” is a mobile-targeted group chat within circles. Pictures taken in Google+ apps on Android (and eventually other platforms) will be instantly updated directly to the stream.
The service is available by invitation only during the beta rollout. More information is available directly from Google via the Google Blog and accompanying videos.
