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[The Headliner]

So yeah, Google's launching a new social network. Its history in this area is mixed, with Buzz falling on its ass but Orkut being one of the most visited websites in Brazil and India. Google+ seems rather good from what I've seen in articles and videos, though luring away Facebook's established userbase will be a mammoth challenge even for Goog Almighty.

The multi-user Huddle sounds like an improvement over Facebook Chat (which will surely be upgraded in response), and the webcam equivalent Hangout looks pretty cool for those with decent Internet connections:



It also has its own "share this page" system in the form of a +1 button, which you might have already seen appearing beside all the "Like" and "Tweet" buttons on various blogs and news sites. Nothing particularly new there but a necessary way of keeping up with the Joneses.

And that's something we can't all do at the moment, because like GMail before it, Google+ is in Beta and therefore only available by invitation. What's more, demand has apparently been so high that invitations are currently closed to keep usage limited during this test phase. A deliberate marketing strategy perhaps.

Can you see yourself migrating from any social networks you currently use to Google's new offering? Will it pose a real threat to Facebook and Twitter? Did you ever imagine MySpace being superceded?

[El Jackal]

I set myself up a Google+ account last night and I've had a little wander round it so far and it seems pretty neat and tidy, nice and compact like most of Google's other stuff. Just how I like stuff.. you know, not overcrowded and busy.

I haven't had chance to try out a lot of features yet though as I know literally nobody that has been able to get an an invitation so I don't have any friends to add.

Going by the aesthetics, I like it.. but in terms of features and stuff, well I'll have to see when I have people I can add. Anybody on here managed to get an invite yet?

I'm not overly interested in having yet another social networking site, but I figure I may as well get involved now just in case it takes off and then at least I'll allready be registered.

Edit: It's complicated to send invites because Google want to try and keep the number of users down for now, but I think I have a way.. so if anybody is interested then leave your email here and I'll come back tomorrow and send invites out if I can get it to work.

[Hazzy]

I'll take one if possible, sent you my email address in a PM. My problem with using this is that I don't really have any 'friends' I'd use it for. Even anyone on Facebook that decided to give it a try, there's no one on there that I'd randomly want to 'hangout' with. At least no one that I don't already have on MSN and could use cam on there. But like you said, may as well sign up incase it takes off. :/

[Matches Malone]

I have an invite but Google's still not letting me in because they "exceeded their capacity".

I hate being shunned 

[El Jackal]

I think I have sent you both messages now (Hazzy and Heady), you have to view the post I shared with you and then you can join from there.. I think.

[The Headliner]

I haven't received anything. It's probably too much to hope for that Google can be got around so easily if they don't want new sign-ups.

Thanks anyway Jackal.

[Purple Marauder]

In unrelated news, Justin Timberlake bought MySpace (well part ownership but saying he bought it sounds better).

How many social networks do people need? Did you guys realize that Friendster is still an active site? I just don't get the need for all of these different social network sites.

[The Headliner]

Everyone has their own needs and preferences. I've never used Friendster but maybe it does some specific things that a minority find more useful or just more appealing than its successors. A lot of the people who stuck with MySpace over Facebook probably did so for its profile customization options and music support - the exact things that drove others away.

[Matches Malone]

How many social networks do people need? Did you guys realize that Friendster is still an active site? I just don't get the need for all of these different social network sites.

How old are you?

[Purple Marauder]

How tall are you?

[The Headliner]

I haven't received anything. It's probably too much to hope for that Google can be got around so easily if they don't want new sign-ups.

Thanks anyway Jackal.

Well shut my mouth, it's turned up now and I've been able to sign up.

[Hazzy]

Looks kind of cool I guess. I like the circles idea, on Facebook there's stuff I wouldn't want to share with everybody, and they have a similar thing where you can just decide to share stuff with only a certain group. But this seems neater and since its more built in it'll probably work better. But yeah, it seems more of a response to the Facebook users who have like 300+ friends and get friend requests from like one person they met once a few months ago at a party, so need the option to split their friends up in a more realistic way, rather than everyone being classed as 'friends'.

Also, I can't see this being the next Facebook, because it seems like the majority of Facebook users, at least teens, want to broadcast their pointless stuff to as many people as possible. Facebook is all about attention seeking, so that audience at least isn't going to be interested in only sharing stuff with your 'close friends' circle.

[The Headliner]

After a little play around with it, there are a few improvements I think they ought to make.

It wouldn't hurt to replicate Facebook's ability to list your favorite films, books, etc. 'Sparks' let you identify your interests, but don't offer much detail and aren't very useful for their stated purpose of finding relevant web results. There's not much to be gained from a broad Google search of the word 'videogames'.

More importantly, the privacy options are not as straightforward and all encompassing as I would hope, especially considering the flack that Facebook has received over this. When I uploaded my profile picture, a record of this action was automatically made into a 'public' post, which I then couldn't change to being only visible to certain circles or whatever. So you have control over privacy before making a manual post, but there's no way of setting a default option for posts that are made by the system. That breeds caution and hesitation in my book. It may not matter with profile pictures, but who knows what else you won't be able to reel in from public view without deleting it altogether?

In general though I do like the circles idea, as it makes it much easier and more intuitive to separate your contacts into different social... circles. It means I can actually add people like family members who I wouldn't ordinarily want to read my statuses and comments, and I can post things aimed at one subset of friends (wrestling fans for example) without alienating everyone else. As Hazzy said, this is still possible on Facebook but much less ingrained in the user experience.

[Advocate]

It looks like a good idea, but how do I convince all of my friends to switch from one to the other?

So that is going to be the biggest barrier to entry.

[Matches Malone]

How tall are you?

5'6"

Your turn!