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Google+
I'm sure a lot of you have heard about how Google is attempting to make their own social network again (this is their third attempt) and, in my honest opinion, I think Google+ has the potential to take out Facebook. When I heard about Google+, I was a little hesitant about it and didn't think we needed a new social network, but after some research and seeing what Google+ was offering, I became a supporter of it. Facebook does a lot of things wrong, (pictures, chat, privacy settings, etc.) and, for the most part, it seems like Google+ has fixed those problems and more.
The way chat works is somewhat similar to Facebook, but instead of only being able to chat with one person individually, you can chat with multiple people in the same chat AND have video streaming to all those people at the same time and their video steaming to you and everyone else in the "hangout". Instead of having your entire profile private or the whole thing public, Google+ let's you choose what information you want public and what you want to hide. Not to mention their equivalent to Facebook "likes", Google+ calls it "+1". Ever "liked" something on Facebook and wish you could go view it again, but you have to dig through someone's profile and find that post or look through your own recent activity to see when you liked it and who posted it? Google+ fixes that with their +1's. Google+ keeps track of your +1's in your profile for not only you to see, but for others as well, so that post you liked a month back and want to see again is now easy to find.
However, there is one thing that Google+ does right and wrong at the same time and that's it's "Circles." Circles are basically your friends list, and then some. They allow you to add your friends, just like any other friends list does, but it also allows you to put friends into different Circles. Have that group of friends that you love to hang out with? Create a circle and put those people in it so you easily access their profile and connect with them much more quickly. "Like" a bunch of celebrities pages on Facebook, well instead of getting their updates mixed in with your friends updates, put them into a Circle to separate their updates from your stream. Not only can you put people/celebrities/pages/etc. into individual Circles, but you can tell your stream which ones you want to look at by simply clicking a button on the left hand of your stream that quickly separates your individual Circle's updates. Circles are also handy if you want to post something, but don't want a certain person/s to see it. When posting a status/picture/link/etc. you can choose which Circles you want it sent to by clicking on the bottom portion of the post and selecting which Circle or Circles you want it sent to. Now the downfall of Circles is that it also doesn't function as well as a normal friends list would. Whenever you add someone to your Circles, it alerts, but doesn't do much more than that. So if you're adding a friend to a Circle, it alerts them, but doesn't give them much incentive to have them add you back without them thinking that they need to go add you to their Circles manually.
One thing that Google+ absolutely capitalizes on is other Google sites and products. Almost anything you can do on any Google site can be done with your Google+ profile and linked to it. Use Google Reader? It can be linked to your profile. Watch a lot of YouTube videos? Your YouTube account can also be linked to your Google+ account. Name any Google site/product and it's almost guaranteed that you can link it back to your Google+ account, making managing your internet experience much easier.
I know I kinda sounded like I was writing an article about Google+ in this journal, but the site really is amazing. Don't believe me? I've got 150 invites that I can send to people so they can create an account, so just ask and I'll be sure to send one your way.
Have an account? Feel free to add me to your Circles.
God loves you.
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