Google Plus- First Look. If you haven’t yet gotten dragged into Google +, don’t fret. It’s a virus. You’ll be in soon, so save your begging. It’ll come really quick. For those of you who aren’t in, so far, Google+ looks like a really tidy Facebook. Nearly all the posts so far are self-referential. Frankly, the common feeling seems to be: “I’m not sure why I’m here, but I’m just going to organize my friends/following differently than I did on Facebook or Twitter.” What Google+ is About The goal, I’ve read, with Google+ is to improve sharing. One Cool Part One cool part I’ve noticed so far is that there are LOTS of people in there to follow that you might find interesting to follow. As of right now, I’m slowly (very!) Will It Last? Having me talk about this is useless.
Is it for Your Business? Probably in a few years. Should YOU Check It Out? Read the blog posts about it for a while. And that’s all I can say about Google+ for right now. ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework Become a StudioPress Affiliate. @christineptran » First Thoughts: Google+ and Social Circles. First Look: “Hands On” With Google Plus. I’ve been manically playing with Google Plus for about an hour now and, while there is disagreement here among the editorial team at Search Engine Land, I give it a qualified “thumbs up.” At first glance many people will dismiss Google Plus as redundant and derivative of Twitter and Facebook, in particular. This was also true of the ill-fated Buzz. But this is a much better and more thoughtfully designed product than Buzz.
Familiar UI but Takes Getting Used To Accordingly the interface is familiar and relatively intuitive but Google Plus still takes some “getting used to.” Some have already criticized Google Plus as a “reactive” product, simply mimicking Facebook with some tweaks. Google’s radically different product Google Wave crashed and burned because people didn’t really know what it was or how to use it. I’m not going to attempt a comprehensive feature tour. Better than Buzz It’s very easy to add people and organize them into standard or customized groups (see list below). First Take: Google+ Gets Features Right –But Offers No Reason to Leave Facebook.
Finally, after many mis-starts and social media product debacles, Google gets their social networking offering down right. The downside is, there’s no reason to call this a “Plus”, it’s just catchup. Google has learned from failed attempts Historically, Google has been complacent when it goes to social networking, not having realized how quickly Facebook was going to grow many years ago, innovation in this category was lackluster.
Amid several attempts most have failed (see the chronology of failed Google attempts), there is hope with yesterday’s announcement. In previous launches, their efforts were mere copies of Facebook’s (+1 vs Like) or struggled with too much complexity (Wave) and privacy woes (see my additional analysis on Google vs Facebook vs Twitter). Yet strikes the right balance with Google+ Although I’ve only spent a few hours cruising throughout Google’s latest endeavor, “Google +1″ I found myself strangely comfortable with the feature set.