Google+

Google+ Users Get a Rare Look Inside the Googleplex [PHOTOS] Outside the Googleplex Google was nice enough to take its Google+ subscribers on a tour of their offices in Mountain View, California. Click here to view this gallery. In an unusually intimate move, Google posted these photos on their Life at Google account Monday afternoon — offering Google+ users a glimpse at their Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. Google has always been known for being a leader in fun offices with plenty of perks for employees — and the photos don’t disabuse that notion. Included are shots of one of the many cafeterias, a golf course and a basketball court. The search giant clearly uses its office to lure in potential employees, and it’s easy to see why. Google+ Was Never a Facebook Competitor. The social web is a well reported topic within the media today, and for good reason.

We are in a transitional change with how we communicate with each other online, how brands reach consumers and how organisations market to their audience. We are undoubtedly immersed in the technology age, and our lives, the way we interact with others, is changing totally. The monumental success of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg's world leading social platform, has enticed brands, consumers, investors alike, and the world is continually awaiting for that 'next big thing'. A likely reason therefore that the majority of news stories, magazine articles and blog posts on Google's latest foray into the social web repeatedly draw up comparisons to Zuckerberg's global giant. Brad Jordan is Head of Social at U.K. Eric Schmidt: If You Don't Want To Use Your Real Name, Don't Use Google+ Using Google+?

Add Mashable to your circles. You'll get the latest about new Google+ features and tips and tricks for using the platform as well as top social media and technology news. Google+ was meant to be an identity service, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said this weekend, shedding some light on Google's reasoning behind Google+'s controversial real-name policy. Google's requirement that members of its social layer, Google+, use only their real names has been a point of contention for several weeks — especially for people with uncommon names and people who prefer to use pseudonyms. Schmidt's comments at the Edinburgh International TV Festival reveal a new perspective on Google+. NPR's Andy Carvin asked Schmidt how Google justifies its names policy when it could put people at risk. Paraphrasing Schmidt's comments, Carvin wrote that the Google exec also said the Internet "would be better if we knew you were a real person rather than a dog or a fake person.

Handle This: Google+ Finally Allows Pseudonyms. The Google+ Common Name policy will never be the same.

Google promised it would take a close look at the requirement that only real names and identities reside on its seven-month-old social network, and now the search giant has reversed course, allowing both nicknames and full-fledged pseudonyms on Google+. Google VP of Product Bradley Horowitz acknowledged that “the stakes around this have always been very high” and called these changed an “important step in a long journey … We’re talking with our users around the expression of identity.” The change, which begins rolling out to users Monday, is “a big step for the system,” said Horowitz, and one that will likely be welcomed by fierce common name critics like the Electronics Frontiers Foundation and popular blogger and Google+ early adopter and champion Robert Scoble.

Adding a nickname to your account is quite simple. Google+ Most Popular With Male Users, Students [INFOGRAPHIC] The stereotypical Google+ user is a male engineer, but that's only half right.

According to new research, Google+ is still definitely male-skewing, but students outnumber software engineers by a wide margin. That's one of the most compelling bits of data compiled by Website-Monitoring. A little more than a half year after launch, Website-Monitoring took a look at the demographics behind Google+. One surprise is the number of students on the network — 20%. That compares to the next most-popular profession on the list, software engineers (2.65%). Meanwhile, the site seems to be popular in India. Unfortunately, the research doesn't outline the average age of Plussers, though a glance at some bands that are popular on the network — Coldplay, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam — conjures up someone in the Gen X range.