Have you heard the latest buzz? No we aren't talking about the failed Google Buzz from last year. Although we are talking about Google. This past week Google launched Google+ (or Google plus) instead of attempting to salvage Buzz for its next big shot at social networking, Google decided to come up with something entirely new. However, unless you are one of a handful of invited people you cannot see it as of yet. I am one of the millions that remain in the dark when it comes to actually seeing the site. So I am not sure what I personally think of it. Therefore since, I have been tasked with the job of reviewing it for the blog (well I decided to since I am the owner of the site), I will have to rely mainly on what others have said.
PC Magazine had this to say about the new social Network site:
Google's new Google+ social network, currently in a "field trial," can't quite avoid the stereotype that the company's products sacrifice usability for new features. Put simply, Google+ is a social network for geeks.
Unfortunately, Google can't help exposing numerous options to share, hide, protect, and discover photos, friends, videos, posts, and all of the other minutiae that make up today's online social interactions.
- PC Magazine
While Tech Buzz had this to say:
Early reaction is that the interface looks a whole lot like Facebook's, just more Googley -- meaning it uses colors other than blue. Go with what works, I guess.
But one big difference Google is trying to press is the way it lets you categorize your friends. You don't have the same level of familiarity with every single person you know and connect with on social networks. You have your closest friends, family members, friends from way back, coworkers, neighbors, people whose names you mildly recognize, maybe even a few interesting-looking strangers, all connected to your profile. The way some networks call all of these people your "friends" sort of degrades the meaning of the word, and sometimes you may not want to share something for fear that not everyone will understand, or because you don't think everyone in your life needs to know.
- Tech Buzz
At the same time the Washington Post had this to say:
So on Tuesday, when Google unleased Google+, its newest attempt at social networking, I reacted to the news with what I think is a healthy degree of skepticism.
First of all, Google’s invite-style beta launches drive me batty. Let’s jog our collective memory back to 2009, when people were selling Google Wave invites for $70 on eBay — the mad scramble led those chosen ones to a platform that was largely confusing, pretty buggy and, well, mostly empty. (In the end, we saw how well that venture worked out.) The Wave’s problem was that it was just too antisocial, the next-door neighbor that couldn’t quite figure out how to join the party.
- Washington Post
Finally PC World had this to say:
Joining any social network introduces a balancing act of sharing vs. privacy. But, when I joined Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn, they were just Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn. They didn't take over my computer. Google+ is everywhere.PC World also said that the new social network borrows liberally from Facebook.
On one level, the integration of Google+ with the rest of the Google-verse is a benefit for the social network. But, on another level it is sort of creepy and difficult to manage.
Once you join Google+, it is instantaneously ubiquitous. Go to Gmail, and there it is--that '+Tony' at the upper left on the menu of links with the other Google services. Go to Documents, there it is again. Go to Photos, and...well, it's there, but now it says '+You' instead of '+Tony'. Go to Calendar, and...well, it's not there--but, you get the idea.
Click on your name at the upper right of any of the Google services to open the drop-down box for things like Account Settings, and you will notice a new entry on the menu--Circles. As you might expect, clicking it takes you to the Google+ Circles page where you can create and manage circles and drag and drop contacts into various circles. Interestingly, the drop-down box from Google Calendar does not have the Circles option.
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- PC World
On the right pane, Facebook will suggest other Facebook users you may know so you can connect with them. I am not sure of the algorithm used--whether it suggests based on who went to your same school, or who works at your same company, or some sort of association based on how many of your existing connections are already 'Friends' with the contact. I do know this, though; the people it suggests are Facebook users who already have Facebook accounts.
- PC World
If you visit the Google+ you can leave you email address (one would presume your Google email) so that they can contact interested individuals when they roll it out to the general public. I signed up for the notification and like most everyone else will have to wait on Google, unless someone who is already on Google+ invites me to join their network. So there you have it. That's all I can say or do at the moment when it comes to this new Google attempt to enter the Social Network arena.
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go ahead share your thoughts with me now, my ears are open. I'm always eager to hear what you think.
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