My Early Impressions of Google+

Like many people I have joined Google+. The thing is, I am still not too sure what to do with Google+. Is it the new Facebook or the new Twitter? Is it a combination of the two? Or is it something so completely new it can not be compared to either Facebook or Twitter?

You see on Facebook I am “friends” with people I am friends with. My usual criteria for friending you on Facebook is that I have had a coffee or broken bread with you at some point in the past.

For Twitter, I “follow” people who I think would be interesting to have a coffee and conversation with.

That brings us to Google+. With Google+ you have circles that you “add” people to. There are the standard circles: friends, family, acquaintances, and then the people you are following. The cool thing is that you can also add circles of your own creation.

Say I add a circle for my colleagues. Then when I want to share something I can choose the circle that I want to share the information in.

For example, I created a group for the new parents that I am friends with. When I share something about sleepless nights and poonamis, well, the people in my public relations business circle do not necessarily care to read about these pressing issues so I do not bother to share it with this circle. In this way, I can control who receives my messages.

This is something I have struggled with on Twitter. Seeing as I follow and am followed by a vast array of individuals from a vast array of worlds I always wondered about tweeting to all my followers about an issue that only a select group of my followers care about. Now with Google+ I can select the circles of people who I can share information with. I like it.

My early impressions of Google+ are very positive. I like the clear, open and uncluttered lay-out. I like the little pop-ups that ask you if you really want to complete an action based on stuff that only Google knows. And, I particularly like the fact that across the top of the page are the links to the Google stuff and such that I use regularly: calendar, gmail, docs and so on.

Early indications are that Google+ is being well accepted. I’m hanging on for an interesting ride. Send me a message if you want to join one of my Google+ circles.