Friday, July 15, 2011

Google+ - I'm Invited

So we've all heard of Google+. It's supposed to be the "Facebook" killer. It's just another social media site. But this new site ties to your Google account. Currently, Google+ is in the beta phase, just like the email back in the day. You must be invited in order to access it.

A friend of mine was offering invites on Facebook. So I volunteered for one so I can test this baby out. To my surprise, with the invitation, I was not able join. So I gave up on being a tester. It's such an exclusive club for which I'm not invited.

Two weeks later, I noticed my boyfriend got in. What was so special about him that he could join and I was left out? Two days later he invited me. This time I was able to join. Yay me!!

This is my very 1st reaction after sign on: "This looks like a cleaner version of Facebook!" The home screen is the same except for the content. There are couple of differences in managing your friends list. Plus uses this thing called "Circles." I believe they do this so you can post different updates for each different circle. I'm a believer in, if you going to say something, then everyone who's on your friends list can see it. That amounts to lying by omission. If you are too ashamed that certain people can see some inappropriate post, then don't post it.

I have not figured out privacy settings as of yet. Don't want my profile to be viewable to the public. I don't want to be very searchable. There's more to explore.

What I don't like so far is that you can put people in circles without confirmation of invitation acceptance. So really don't get a true confirmation of who's on Plus and who isn't. I could be misunderstanding the section.

As I post this, there isn't an app for iPhone, but there is one for Android. Many sites so far do not have the +1; equivalent to Facebook's likes and shares on sites. Group App programs like Hootsuite do not have Plus account links. So posting on the site is a bit tedious. I await when Plus is fully integrated. When it does, Plus will probably be a mirror to my Facebook page.

I can see how Plus can be a FB killer. People have more email accounts with Google than there are FB pages. What Plus lacks is support from the web and developers. If and when they do get them all, FB will be in trouble. Having to log into one site alone that connects all of your stuff will always prove better than logging into multiple sites.

As for now, I don't think I will be leaving FB at all. Don't know what future may bring, but I'm content with both. I may post more on Plus when I play with it more.

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