If all else fails, I can say I held out for quite a long time before I jumped on the Google+ bandwagon. I couldn’t ignore my curiosity much longer, though, and when I opened my old Gmail account and found a message saying five people had added me to their circles, well… I kind of couldn’t resist. I didn’t know what to expect, though; I feared something too much like Facebook or, even worse, something too much like Google Wave and Facebook. Google+ pleasantly surprised me, though. I’m still learning how to use it, but so far there are a few things I really like about it.
The Google+ Stream
My Google account is already connected. It took literally no time at all to sign up. It pulled in my Google profile info and picture, and bam! I had a Google+ profile. (I’d like to see them take this a step further and allow some integration with services like Feedburner so that all new blog posts are automagically sent to Google+.) This also made Google+ easy to use because I already knew how to use Google’s other apps.
I can organize people I know into circles. Unlike Facebook, Google+’s privacy set up is simple and easy to use. You simply choose whether someone is family, a friend, an acquaintance, or someone you’re just following (like a fellow blogger, for example). Every time you post, you can decide who can see it.
Posts can be edited. How many times have you posted something to Facebook and then immediately smacked yourself in the forehead — either physically or mentally — because you misspelled something or pasted the wrong link? I know this feature may end up being abused, but I still think it’s really helpful.
You don’t have to accept anyone as a friend. Google+ works almost the same way as Twitter. You can follow anyone you want on Twitter… and on Google+, you can add anyone you want to your circles. You just may not see everything they post. There’s no pressure, no, “Why hasn’t Sally accepted my request?!” It’s just a simple way of staying connected to the people you care about.
Google+ is clean and yet gorgeous. I love its minimalist look. It makes it easy to focus on what’s important: the people in your stream. There are no ads. No clunky chat screens. It’s just you and your people. I have a feeling they took that cue from Twitter as well, but you can argue that Google has always used a clean design on their products. Either way, I love it.
Admittedly, there are a few things I haven’t explored yet. I’m interested to see what the Google+ pages are like. I am also curious about the videos. Are they connected with YouTube? I wouldn’t want to add a video to Google+ if it also didn’t go to my YouTube account. I also noticed that you can add pictures, and webcam chat, but have yet to try either out yet.
Google+ is a little slow; my cousin posted a picture of the ring her boyfriend got her last night and after refreshing her page a million times, it still didn’t show up. I have a funny feeling the stream is faster than profile pages. I also don’t like that you can’t create a vanity URL, something like plus.google.com/elizabethbarone. Still, this is a relatively new addition to the Google family, so I think any kinks will be worked out relatively soon.
What do you like about Google+? What do you wish would change? If you’re on Google+ and would like to add me to one of your circles, do it!
You have a habit, and you have to support that habit. Paperbacks and 