Following life's usual ironic fashion, Google's latest attempt in social networking seems to be blowing up Facebook, leaving some people scratching their noggins and wondering what the %@#! it is. As you may already know its called GOOGLE+. But, what you may have not known is that GOOGLE+ is projected to have the potential to "topple" Facebook. Will history prove consistent? Or will it be "third time's a charm" for Google after their last two major failures, Wave and Buzz (heard of them?)?According to Google's Official Blog: "Today, the connections between people increasingly happen online. Yet the subtlety and substance of real-world interactions are lost in the rigidness of our online tools."In this basic, human way, online sharing is awkward. Even broken. And we aim to fix it."
In a sense both sites will be similar because GOOGLE+ is also basing its other features off a primary news feed, only they are labeling theirs the Stream. From there, the other four core elements will be called Huddles, Hangouts, Circles, and Sparks.
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| What Sparks may look like. |
Now to the first, and maybe the coolest of the social elements, a Huddle. Huddles are usually meant to be short and quick meetings to convey some sort of information to several people, and that's essentially what these 'Huddles' are. They are group chats, in which all participants in the 'Huddle' can see what every other participant is saying. This could prove to be useful, when arranging an outing, party, vacation, you name it. It surely will be easier than juggling multiple friends over multiple text conversations. Okay, now from Huddles to Hangouts we go.
Hangouts are about, well, hanging out with your friends. According to Google's demo, "Until teleportation arrives, it's the next best thing." Its basically a big group video chat in which everyone participating can see everyone else's live video; as if everyone is sitting in one big room. It seems like its just basic video calling. The difference is that you can have more than two calls in each chat, which apparently not all major services offer. We will see how that works.
Now on to Circles. What are they? Well, they basically give you the ability to separate your friends into groups such as 'Band Mates' or 'Relatives'. " For example, you might want to catch up with your pals about your drunken Saturday night out, but you don't necessarily want your parents in your chat. You can keep your conversations separate by putting your contacts into 'circles' such as 'Work crew', 'Unimates' (www.pocket-lint.com). A simple click and drag is all you need to do to separate your friends into your specific 'Circles'.
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| What the 'Circles' page may look like |
As of right now GOOGLE+ is currently testing the product with a soft launch, and only some are being invited to try it. To register for an early trial you can go to Google's sign-up page.
So, what do you think (thanks for reading this far)? Are you going to give it a try? Upon review, it does seem to have some new features that could be pretty handy for our cyber generation. Circles, Hangouts, and especially Huddles could all have their own social niche they satisfy. Sparks could be really entertaining as long as it stays away from ads and things. However, it may be good to give it a second look considering it would most likely involve giving your information to Google, the world's #1 search engine and an information giant that is strapped with the power of the dollar. Besides, is it worth all the time waiting for your friends and contacts to slowly make the transition, if they even do? Is Facebook too far rooted in our time for any major change in social media sites?
ATTENTION: if you subscribe by email you will get your SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEW GOOGLE+ at the end of the day (can't just throw it online you know?). You will be able to start your account before the actual release. I will personally send the link to every new subscriber on the list. thanks for reading :)
Source: http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/40785/what-is-google-android-iphone-apps
7 comments:
ahhhh! can I say that I've become a tad overwhelmed by the web? I want to decompress from technology, me thinks.
yea i know right? it does't seem worth the transfer from the FB. cool features, but its not like people aren't getting along fine already.
alex
Nice write up of all the new features. I for one think that the new Google+ service is great. All the features really a great response to all the flaws of Facebook.
P.S. Alex let me know if anyone wants an invite to test it out for themselves. Just send me email addresses and I'll send out invites.
you can do that? i would like an invite. haha i kinda wanna do another write up on it after playing with it. let me know.
Although, it is cool that there is a TON of cool features all in one place, I feel like they are just completely mimicking everything that is already out. The new Google+ is basically Facebook, StumbleUpon, and Skype put together. It's pointless to cancel all your other accounts and transfer them in order to accommadate yet ANOTHER new social networking site.
definitely not a fan.
thats what i think too, but some people are loving the new stuff. hmm...
This is a well written post. I'm still scratching my head to see what's better about plus, or even worth the time (as was mentioned earlier)...we'll see if it lasts.
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