Google+

Google+ has garnered a lot of buzz as of late. It's the hottest thing, eerrr ummm, well, since Google Wave (I have a feeling this will stick around longer). To sum up Google+ in a brief sentence is that this is a social network that may rival Facebook.

"The social network is a collection of different social products. These features include Stream (a newsfeed), Sparks (a recommendation engine), Hangouts (a video chat service), Huddle (a group texting service), Circles (a friend management service) and Photos (Ben Parr - Complete Guide to Google+).

Keep in mind there is a bit of a learning curve as w/ anything new...
Lets take a quick look at the main features of Google+:

1. Circles - The closest thing this resembles is Friends in Facebook or followers on Twitter but w/ the ability of who can see what. You the user control which people go in which circle and who can and can't see your posts or even share your posts for that matter. This is a nice feature for those that wanted more control over their posts then simply putting them in public or private on Facebook. Again there are different things to learn such as streaming (aka posting) or "liking" a post w/ a "+1".
   
2. Sparks - Is a recommendation engine (think Bing) built right into Google+ that allows users to "pin" into their profile's sidebar or share right into their circles.
3. Hangouts - Probably, one of the coolest features of Google+ is "hangouts" or their 10 way video chat feature. Basically, this is creating a room for people to chat via video. This has a nice visual user interface and integrates w/ YouTube as well for sharing. There is also a group text feature which is handy. The goal for Hangouts is to be much more inviting then the standard one on one video chat (I think they may have found a winner here!!).

There is much more to be found on Google+ but this gives a basic start. I must say I like the feature where you have to accept photos being tagged of you before they go "live". Now I don't have to beg my friends to not post a picture of me, I can just refuse them tagging me.

I highly highly recommend to check out this Complete Guide to Google+ by clicking here for a much more detailed walk through.

Join Google+ by clicking here and if you need an invite send me an email and I'll do my best to get you one.