Google+
What is Google+
I’ll be blunt: I don’t have the foggiest. The closest I can describe the current incarnation of Google+ is that it is a Twitter and Facebook mash up.
Sharing content is trivial (plug any old URL into the Share box, and Google+ will try to guess what you are trying to share), and so is “resharing” posts by others. And unlike Facebook, there is no pretending that everybody is everybody else’s friend, much like on Twitter, you can follow someone (by putting them in a circle). very much unlike Twitter, you can share content with only this circle. Everybody who subscribes to your stream gets to see what you make Public (and explicitly so; there’s some good coming out of the privacy nightmare that was Google Buzz).
Should you put someone into a circle you define, you can post something for this circle, and this circle alone (unless you add multiple circles, of course).
You don’t have to worry about your boss seeing something, or about your significant other finding out that you are inquiring about gifts for him (or her).
But, most importantly, Google ranks your Google Profile (which will, eventually, become a Google+ Profile) rather high for searches for your name. My profile is less than a day old, and already ranks number 1 for a search for my name.
That means that I am control of what everybody else sees at first glance.
What Google+ is Not
A Facebook killer. It is, maybe, a Twitter killer, but I doubt that. Both of these services have a vibrant ecosystem, and very invested users. Google+ is not going to change that. Then again, MySpace was the dominant force of social networking once, too, having snatched the crown from Friendster. What do I know?
Most important, though, is that Google+ is not finished. There are a lot of missing features, broken features, and useless features (Sparks stands out, though it can turn into something very worthwhile, once Google’s +1 button spreads across the web, and more people start using the Google+ social component).
Effects of Using Google+
I’m a teensy, tiny blip on the web radar. I write and publish content that has an audience, or so Posterous tells me, but it’s a tiny one. I get maybe 4 visitors to this site on a good day. I have published one link on Google+, and readership has exploded. Of course, right now the Google+ audience is highly engaged, and a lot of my being added to circles has to do with being lucky (Satish Talim’s blog post definitely takes a good share of the blame), rather than being a force of my own.
So, take this with a grain of a salt. It’s early, and Google+ is full of early adopters who are by nature a highly engaged crowd. I’ll have to watch the trend, and see if Google+ has a large effect, particularly once I start feeding content into Google+, both original-to-Google+ and from outside of Google+.
Afterword
There are a lot of features I’d like to see on Google+ (permalinks to posts, better integration with services I use, particularly Twitter and Posterous, muting Circles from my stream, and better data on who is following me, and better integration of the Google+ bar with my other Google services, particularly mail), but Google already provides a feature Facebook never will implement: Easy connections, and fine-grained control with built-in privacy.
Most of all, though, Google+ is something for me that Facebook never was, and Twitter still is: Fun to use, and giving me loads of fresh, new content I never would’ve found otherwise.
Addendum: Yes, a social network type of thing needs a certain critical mass. But Google+ isn’t just a social website, it’s Google reinventing itself. And critical mass has been reached: Everybody with an email address can receive G+ Notifications, and everybody with a Google Account will have a Google+ Account once the roll out is complete.
