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Google Plus Project Launched: Social Interaction Of A Different Genre?

Google is working hard to get rid of the tag, “socially awkward.” One of the major announcements from Google in the recent times, the new project called Google Plus has been launched today.

Google Plus or Google +

Is this Google’s answer to Facebook?  Google denies that it’s trying to be a Facebook clone.

We realize that today people are increasingly connecting with one another on the Web.  But the ways in which we connect online are limited and don’t mimic our real-life relationships. The Google+ project is our attempt to make online sharing even better. We aren’t trying to replace what’s currently available, we just want to introduce a new way to connect online with the people that matter to you.”

A spokesperson said, “We feel that there’s more we can and should do to make the social experience better for users — and we are just getting started with the Google + project.”

We have seen Google take several missteps over the last few years. But it seems to have finally come up with a perfect solution with the Google Plus project.  It aims at bringing a unique ‘web search functionality’ through a new social networking system, which comes with several new features.

What Is Google Plus?

We are all addicted to the Internet, as it has become the informational superhighway we rely on for all our information needs.  Its scope is incredibly broad and every conceivable interest is covered.  Social networking has given us a reason to live online. We have the capacity to create huge networks of like-minded friends, keep in touch with our real-life friends and family and basically share our lives with them in the virtual world.

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Among the numerous pathways that exist online, “sharing” is an important concept where we get to share stuff with others.  But things on this front are still perhaps a little unrealistic when compared to the real world and Google is attempting to change that with Google Plus. It’s working at creating a level of social interaction that resembles real life.

Google Plus allows users to create social ‘circles’ under any number of categories. Friends can be added to these circles in an easy manner, by just clicking and dragging their names into the circles.  This gives you immense scope to share with selective groups of people within specific circles, rather than having to share with all your ‘friends’ or social connections at once.

You are also offered a high level of privacy and lots of control over who sees what updates etc.  All messages can be filtered by category to be seen only by friends or professional contacts or some other group.

Google Plus Features

Circles: This doesn’t target groups of friends. Google uses a system called Circles to target specific sharing with the various social groups. Unlike Facebook and Twitter that are designed as a “tack-on” product, Circles allows integration at various levels. It is also whimsical in nature – when you remove a friend, you will see a puff of smoke and a -1 animation, and when a social circle is removed; it dramatically rolls off the screen.

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Twitter inspired feature: This is interesting in that you can follow certain people just as you would using Twitter, without adding them to your friends list.

Sparks:  You can access information about trending Web content on different topics. You will be able to subscribe to categories you’re interested in, create custom categories that meet your interests, and even share such content with friends.

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Hangouts: Places where you can hangout with family or buddies through multi-person video interactions that Google hopes give a feel of meeting them in person. This is a group chat feature where you can simply start a hangout and a message is sent out to your social circles that their friend is “hanging out.” The fun starts when your friends start joining in.  The maximum number of people allowed in a video Hangout is 10, but people can be put on the waitlist.

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Mobile Apps: Soon, Google will be coming out with Google Plus mobile apps for the Android smartphone and then the iPhone. You will have the option for group messaging, and among other features, cloud based photo storage will be available.  What I liked about this is that all photos or videos you take on your phone using Google+ will be uploaded to your computer automatically – all ready to be shared.

With Google Plus, Google is giving you several options to either stay private or go public.  The whole project according to Google – is about “You.”  We can only come to a definite conclusion when it opens for us to test it out, but it does look promising.

Google plus at plus.google.com is in trial mode and is launched only with invite-based access to a selected few.  But Google says that it won’t be long before the Google Plus project is open for everyone to use.

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Usha is currently a freelance writer and internet marketer. She has worked as a freelance writer for many years and has been an active internet marketer for six years. Having worked in the health-field for ten years in a senior management position, her interests are varied. She writes on a variety of topics, which include business, management, health, tech and a host of others. She is also the author of an e-book on internet marketing, which will be launched soon. Her future plans include publishing a non-fiction novel.

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