We took a look at Google+ today and so far we like what we see, but we're not sure it'll put much of a dent in Facebook or Twitter.
At first glance Google+ looks like it's about 80% Facebook, 15% Twitter, and 5% Chatroulette!
At first glance Google+ looks like it's about 80% Facebook, 15% Twitter, and 5% Chatroulette!
You'll notice features that you'll see on lots of other social networks including a timeline, the ability to change what your stream is displaying, who's in your circle (group of friends, acquaintances, etc.), suggestions for new friends, and of course a text box where you can update your status and include images, videos, links, and your location.
At the top you'll find the Google+ Bar. With the Google+ Bar, you can "share what’s on your mind, view your Google+ notifications, access your profile, or jump to a variety of other Google products." The notifications were pretty instantaneous and they will allow you to see when someone has commented on a status, added you to their circle, etc.
One thing that differentiates Google+ from Facebook and Twitter, and adds that 5% Chatroulette to the mix is a feature called hangouts. In a hangout you can video chat with members in your circle. The Google+ help center states that hangouts have a maximum of 10 participants, a 90-minute check-in feature to make sure you're still there, and hangouts are not available on mobile devices. You can chat in the hangout (both text chat and voice), share YouTube videos, and of course see webcam video of whoever you've invited to the hangout.
At the top you'll find the Google+ Bar. With the Google+ Bar, you can "share what’s on your mind, view your Google+ notifications, access your profile, or jump to a variety of other Google products." The notifications were pretty instantaneous and they will allow you to see when someone has commented on a status, added you to their circle, etc.
One thing that differentiates Google+ from Facebook and Twitter, and adds that 5% Chatroulette to the mix is a feature called hangouts. In a hangout you can video chat with members in your circle. The Google+ help center states that hangouts have a maximum of 10 participants, a 90-minute check-in feature to make sure you're still there, and hangouts are not available on mobile devices. You can chat in the hangout (both text chat and voice), share YouTube videos, and of course see webcam video of whoever you've invited to the hangout.
One last thing we did with Google+ was to download the Android version, which actually didn't work very well and kept giving us errors and we also tested the mobile version on an iPhone 3GS. The iPhone version worked great and we're hoping to test out the Android version as soon as some of the bugs are worked out.
All in all, we would have to say that Google+ is a good attempt by Google to finally get its foot into the social networking door. Other attempts haven't been so great, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. We're not sure it can catch up to Facebook or Twitter, but it's definitely a fun, new toy to play with!
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