GOOGLE+

In this rat race of social networking websites our very own GOOGLE is trying to re-enter into the competition with its new product GOOGLE+ (pronounced as Google PLUS) due to the sore death of ORKUT :P (no offence if u r still an orkut user :P its high time u come out to the big daddies of social networks ). Right now its not officially open for all , Google is on its "Testing Phase" with some limited users so we all have to wait for some time to use the new product. :(

I guess that its Google's direct attack on facebook in order to steal its users :D

Ok... so what is Google+ all about?

 Google+ is intended for sharing with smaller, more closely aligned sets of people, rather than posting everything to everyone as is common on Facebook. 

> The most important difference is that Google+ isn’t based on two-way “friend” relationships. Instead of making friends, users create groups of other users — “Circles,” in Google lingo. These people don’t need to approve the move, but they don’t grant you any special access to them just because you’ve put them in your Best Friends Forever circle. They can even ignore you without you knowing it. Likewise, putting several people into a circle doesn’t connect them to one another the way a Facebook group does. It’s more like a Facebook list. The circle is for your convenience only, so you can share things with all of them, or see their own updates, as a group.

Second, when posting to your Stream, the page of your posts which resembles a Facebook wall, Google+ encourages you to carefully choose which Circles and individuals the posts are shared with. On Facebook, you can similarly fine-tune who does and doesn’t see each of your status updates — click Facebook’s lock icon below the status input box, and choose Customize to enter friends, networks, and lists to add or block. But it’s complicated on Facebook. Google+ puts the sharing options in your face, to encourage you to think actively about sharing some things with one circle of people, some with others.

Third, Google+ conspicuously lacks its own person-to-person message system. You can share something with just one person, and converse back and forth in the comments, but there isn’t yet another inbox that you’re expected to use instead of your existing email account.

Besides Circles and your Stream, Google+ has several other main components. Sparks is a searchable news feed in which items can be shared to your Circles or people. You can pin your personal interests to keep on top of them, and no one else will be able to see your guilty pleasures. Hangouts are group video chats in which up to 10 people can see and talk to one another. You can also create a Huddle, a group SMS conversation of members whose mobile phone numbers are available. Admittedly, when I tried it, my friends were confused as to what was going on, because they’re not accustomed to a three-person text conversation on their phone screen.

> A Google+ app for Android includes instant photo and video uploading. Sorry, there’s no iPhone app yet.

So in a nutshell here are the basic features of Goolge+ (source courtesy: Wikipedia )

• "Circles" enables users to organize contacts into groups for sharing. A drag-drop interface allows users into groups of their choice.
• "Huddle" is a feature available to Android, iPhone, and SMS devices for communicating with circles.
• "Hangouts" are places used to facilitate group video chat (with a maximum of 10 people participating in a single Hangout at any point of time). However, anyone on the web could potentially join-in into the 'Hangout' if they happen to possess the unique url of the Hangout.
• "Sparks" is a front-end to Google search, enabling user to identify topics they might be interested in sharing with others; "featured interests" sparks are also available, based on topics others globally are finding interesting.
• Through "Streams", users see updates from those in their circles, updates similar to Facebook's news feed. The input box allows users to enter a status update or use icons to upload and share photo and videos.

MY PERSONAL VERDICT-
I think users are now getting bored with facebook :/ therefore Google+ can be a big hit. :D
THATS ALL FOLKS :D
_ab

Posted in: News