An inside look at Google+

Google, after could not stand Facebook dominating the internet, finally released their very own social networking platform Google+. With a failure history with Orkut, Google however they did add some nifty stuff in their new social network invasion project. Though it’s difficult to state whether these project will have any effect on the Facebook users for a migration in larger scale, just how millions of users migrated to Facebook from Myspace, Hi5 and many other not so popular social networking websites. We got quite lucky enough to get access to Google + since and got invitation from a regular Gmail and Google Buzz user and an invitation from our very own NoobFeed programmer Junal.

 

Google Plus Icons

 

If you are using Google email, you will notice some similar user interface and loading bar in the site. Yes they used the system similar to what we have in Gmail. The home screen is more or less similar to the Facebook profile page. They even put the friend’s suggestion on the right side which shows the contacts from the Gmail contact book that gets stored automatically when we send emails. The posts are displayed in the middle in the form of feed (like Tweeter or Facebook posts) and these posts are filtered according to circles (I will come to that thing later). On the left hand side you will see these circles (in the form of Family, Friends, Acquaintances, Coworkers and so on). When one of the circles is displayed only the posts shared in the circle are displayed. The circle system is much like the Facebook friend categorization system, only better. It allows better interaction between selected numbers of people in the circle, so that other people do not get to interfere. It is indeed quite a welcome addition for people who respect privacy. The posts received from the family circle will not be viewed by anyone in the friend circle. So this is a very handy tool for coworkers in a company who can take part in decision. Unlike Facebook groups, circles are basically a cluster of friends interacting with each other. These circles cannot be an alternative to a Facebook page or large groups. However it is a very good tool for interaction and chat. To make things better circles allow up to 10 people in the circle to have web conference altogether. It is a very nice addition for coworkers of any business (Highly recommending all NoobFeed stuff members to check this feature out).

 

The photo section is just more or less same as Facebook. The photo posts from the circles are displayed along with post from the user’s mobile phone, user photo around and user’s photo album. Then comes the main profile page. I would say it is basically the same as Facebook and includes sections like posts, about me, photos, videos, a new feature called +1 (just like Facebook likes but clustered into that section) and as you know that the Buzz system has already been implement earlier in the Gmail.

 

Click the image to enlarge

 

This is all we can give you right now. Google didn’t add anything else into it or perhaps not revealed yet. The website has a notice saying “Right now, we're testing with a small number of people, but it won't be long before the Google+ project is ready for everyone.” It may not seem as shiny as Facebook, but for me it was a wise choice, due to the fact Google has a very strong Email system with so many features built in. Google Plus is a matter of spicing up the user’s Google account and it is a direct response to the Facebook email. Google’s only standout feature is the circle system. That’s it. This is the only thing aside from Google superior email system that Google can brag against Facebook. There’s been a lot of buzz going around that Google+ is the ultimate Facebook killer. But What I see is it’s just another social networking site with few and a lot of Google associated features. Just how Facebook email is not a Gmail killer.

 

To know more about the features enjoy this video: