I have had the opportunity to use Google+ for the last two weeks. In that time I have found a service that provides me more engagement than Facebook or Twitter. There are a huge number of sites out there producing tutorials on using Google+ this post is more about my own personal thoughts on the new service.
The most important tool for me is “Circles” this allows you to build communities of interest around what ever topics interest you. One of my Circles is entitled “Tech Journalists” I can imagine people building communities on interests such as Music, Theatre, Books. Circles also means you can better control the flow of information flowing through your stream.
Another nice tool is “Hangouts” with this tool you can start a group video chat and have up to 10 people chatting with you. You can make a public Hangout or one just for the members of your particular Circle. Having tried this I found the audio and video quality to be similar to Skype but this will of course depend on the quality of your Internet connection. I can imagine lots of uses for Hangouts especially in areas such as elearning even Tech Support and of course keeping families connected. This tool will I believe be a big threat to Skype particularly as Skype charges for it's group video option.
Engagement is to me the most important reason for being involved in any Social Networking environment. I have already found that in the short time I have been using Google+ the level of engagement has grown. Added to that Google have both an Android and now an Iphone app available allowing you to post messages comments and post pictures from where ever you are. The Iphone app is better than the comparable Facebook app and more stable.
At the time of writing this Google+ has around 20 million users. The service is still in beta and invite only but even with that it has grown very fast. Google itself is still pushing out changes as it assesses user feedback. I must say that I really like Google+ and I have noticed my use of Facebook and Twitter has dropped. If Google continue to build and integrate their other disparate services with Google+ I can see this becoming my online home.
If you want to try Google+ but have not been able to get an invite just drop me a message via my Contact Form and I will endeavour to send you one. As Google+ keeps evolving I will keep updating.
Update on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 6:13PM by
Daryl Hunt
As Google+ has a rather long and convoluted URL and vanity URL's are not available I decided to create a sub domain and point it at my Google+ profile. the address is
http://www.gplus.darylhunt.net
It is far easier to remember this than the Google+ URL. If you want to connect with me just click on the above URL and it will take you to my Google+ profile.
