google+

google+

what is google +?
Google+ is an amalgamation of several services 

User Interface:
The overall layout of the Stream as well the Profile page looks very similar to what Facebook has. While Facebook boasts off a very blue theme, as all Google products, white, grey and green are the most prominent colours. The title fonts are in sky blue ( standard hyperlink colours). Google chat lies on the left sidebar similar to GMail. The stream is much smoother than it is in facebook, and the clutter free page is a welcome change. Of course, that is subject to future change when Google Plus eventually takes off and Google Adsense invades the stream page with targeted advertisements. But as of now, I like the simplicity of design.

One of the key concepts of Google Plus is Circles. It is similar to what Facebook has in groups – when you can group your friends into categories. But Google Plus has a brilliant advantage. Unlike Facebook, you can decide what to share and what not to based upon the circles created. So you might have some wild night out which you’d like to share with your mates, but might be too embarrassed to  make it visible to your work acquaintances or even your family members. With the circle-centric share,  control of privacy is set at the forefront of this social networking product. Further, there are default Circles created (more can be created/added/customised), one of them being – Following. This could be similar to twitter where you can follow celebrity Google Plus users ( I am following Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg and the like).

Privacy:
Just to reiterate what has been mentioned in Circles, you can decide what is shared and with whom. So you can share publicly (as you tweet ), or share with individual users, circles etc. Also, unlike Facebook where privacy setting as embedded a hundred feet below sea level, Google Plus enables you to edit them just by clicking on the link – Google Plus settings. Most importantly, on the profile page, you can view how your own profile would look like when viewed by a specific user etc.

+1:
A very smart rollout, the +1 button has  been termed as the Google’s answer to the Facebook Like button. And similar to the Like button, the +1 button works on web-links as a bookmarking tool, as well in your stream shared posts.