Google+

[AnalBumCover]

The Google+ project: real life sharing, rethought for the web. (https://plus.google.com/)

Has anyone been able to sign up? It's currently in Beta and invites reportedly shut down a few times.

[Galaxy]

Google's answer to Facebook?

[AnalBumCover]

Looks like it.

I was able to join using some convoluted method. I'd like to try to add someone if they'd pm me their email address.

[Matthean]

It's their latest attempt, but they have tried before only for it to fail. Facebook can definitely be made better, so it will be interesting to see what they add to Goggle+.

[stevew]

I got in too....BumCover, was it via email link?

[AnalBumCover]

I got in too....BumCover, was it via email link?
Yes. Users would post on their... wall... and include the recipient's email address so they can receive the post in their inbox. From there, the recipient clicks the link (the poser's name) on the bottom of the email to gain access to Google+ :D

[lighthousekeeper]

waiting with bated breath for the inevitable "google+ sparks so pathetic they belong in this thread" thread.

[wade moore]

My initial thought..

This looks like it could be better than facebook, but I think will ultimately fail. I think having to tie everything into Google may be a negative for some folks.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

I just went to the Google+ page and registered, no link needed.

[AnalBumCover]

My initial thought..

This looks like it could be better than facebook, but I think will ultimately fail. I think having to tie everything into Google may be a negative for some folks.
Would this ultimately require you setting up a gmail account if you don't have one?

[Passacaglia]

Hmm. Google+ -- it's like facebook, but my mom's not on it. That's all the convincing I need.

[lordscarlet]

I am rather annoyed that it doesn't work with google apps accounts.

[lordscarlet]

Would this ultimately require you setting up a gmail account if you don't have one?

I think you jus tneed a "google" account, which you can have without ever touching gmail, although it is ultimately a gmail account I guess. But the same you would need for picasa web, google docs, etc

[Butter]

Hmm. Google+ -- it's like facebook, but my mom's not on it. That's all the convincing I need.

http://cdn3.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/snl-your-mom-is-on-facebook.jpg

[Matthean]

Google+ is in limited Field Trial Right now, we're testing with a small number of people, but it won't be long before the Google+ project is ready for everyone. Leave us your email address and we'll make sure you're the first to know when we're ready to invite more people.
I logged into my Google account and got this. Not that I was expecting to get in, but figured it was worth a try.

[Rizon]

I logged into my Google account and got this. Not that I was expecting to get in, but figured it was worth a try.

Same here.

[Galaxy]

It's their latest attempt, but they have tried before only for it to fail. Facebook can definitely be made better, so it will be interesting to see what they add to Goggle+.

I just can't see people leaving Facebook and going to another similar site. People aren't going to want another similar social network site to keep up with. The only way it's going to work for Google is they allow APIs with FB. FB has been having problems in keeping some users over privacy concerns.

[jeff061]

I just can't see people leaving Facebook and going to another similar site. People aren't going to want another similar social network site to keep up with. The only way it's going to work for Google is they allow APIs with FB. FB has been having problems in keeping some users over privacy concerns.

Well they will have to rely on heavy integration with GMail, getting users they already have in the Google fold to use it out of convenience. If it's a good product hopefully they will pull their friends into it, then those people pull their friends....etc. Even non-facebook integration, things like Twitter, would help.

But yeah, certainly a huge uphill battle. I don't see any shorterm success coming.

[DanGarion]

I am rather annoyed that it doesn't work with google apps accounts.

It actually does...

[DanGarion]

I got in on this yesterday because a friend did an invite. I think how it worked is I signed up to get contacted from Google, so when he did the invite the system decided to let me in. Before then I kept getting the message that they were at their limit.

[Rizon]

I just can't see people leaving Facebook and going to another similar site. People aren't going to want another similar social network site to keep up with. The only way it's going to work for Google is they allow APIs with FB. FB has been having problems in keeping some users over privacy concerns.

I'm probably the exception, but I can't wait to dump Facebook and get on a decent social management site. I hate FB, I think it's an unorganized mess.

[jeff061]

I'm probably the exception, but I can't wait to dump Facebook and get on a decent social management site. I hate FB, I think it's an unorganized mess.

I imagine a lot of people feel that way, that's the easy part. The difficult part is getting people to switch before their friends do, contribute enough while it's growing and is relatively sparse and of course successfully recruit their social circle.

People don't go to Facebook because it's a tremendous site, they go there because they know people they want to communicate with will be there as well.

[Galaxy]

I imagine a lot of people feel that way, that's the easy part. The difficult part is getting people to switch before their friends do, contribute enough while it's growing and is relatively sparse and of course successfully recruit their social circle.

People don't go to Facebook because it's a tremendous site, they go there because they know people they want to communicate with will be there as well.

Same here. Zuckerberg seems to be getting a little high on his horse and crapping his product down.

[Flasch186]

They stole our rings :(

[ISiddiqui]

I'm in it as well... one of my friends from another message board (*gasp*, I know) got an invite and then invited me.

I'm [email protected] if anyone wants to add me to a circle.

[Matthean]

http://5.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/zuckerberg-comic.gif

[Young Drachma]

Yeah, I'm on. It'll be useful for my professional network, but otherwise I really don't have a great use for it yet.

[Flasch186]

Im Flasch186 AT gmail DOT com if you want to add me to a circle.

[Galaxy]

Facebook certainly seems worried about Google+. They have a "awesome" conference to announce today.
What programming languages are Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ done in? Is it HTML5?

[jeff061]

Say what you will about Facebook, I don't think Zuckerberg's an idiot. They aren't MySpace and are not going to sit idle.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Say what you will about Facebook, I don't think Zuckerberg's an idiot. They aren't MySpace and are not going to sit idle.

Agreed. Facebook has been very proactive, even when competition isn't quite as good. They manage and enhance their product very well.

[JonInMiddleGA]

They aren't MySpace and are not going to sit idle.

Nah, they'll run around in circles doing virtually meaningless crap that <1% of users give a damn about, break shit that isn't broken, make random changes that do nothing so much as annoy the existing user base, and succeed largely in spite of rather than because of Zuck.

edit to add: Never in my life have I seen a company in as sore need of adult leadership as FB.

[jeff061]

While I understand where you're coming from, I think you underestimate what they've done and what they continue to do.

Yes, the majority of the changes they make these days cause a vocal minority to complain, but most don't care either way. While most of them are meaningless to you(and me), they bring in more money while forcing people to share information and rely more on Facebook's gated community. As stated, the vast majority of users are perfectly content with those developments.

Also as the Facebook generation turns to adults(rapidly approaching now) privacy concerns will start to become a thing of the past.

Google's trying to break into Facebook's gated community and I expect Zuckerberg will go to war trying to prevent any breach.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Also as the Facebook generation turns to adults(rapidly approaching now) privacy concerns will start to become a thing of the past.

Worth noting here that the "facebook generation" is no longer the largest segment of FB users.

I'm getting closer & closer to being the core, with over half the U.S. users now being over 35 (and aging everyday, with either 60+ or 70+ being the fastest growing demo, I can't recall which it was). That isn't a function of the userbase aging in, that's been a function of significant changes to who FB users really are.

[stevew]

Nah, they'll run around in circles doing virtually meaningless crap that <1% of users give a damn about, break shit that isn't broken, make random changes that do nothing so much as annoy the existing user base, and succeed largely in spite of rather than because of Zuck.

edit to add: Never in my life have I seen a company in as sore need of adult leadership as FB.

I agree that pretty much every time they have made a change to the profiles/news display(wtf is this) it's for the worse. I honestly want to just see all the posts from people I friended in the order in which it was made, and don't give a fuck about any alternate views and or ordering techniques. Why the fuck is it so hard for them to do this?

[ISiddiqui]

Well I will say the changes to events and lists (though it isn't as elegant as Google+'s Circles) was nice

[JonInMiddleGA]

Why the fuck is it so hard for them to do this?

Because the company appears to be run largely by people with a maturity level around 12 years of age. They're still into trying to be cool, without much interest in functionality, usefulness, or relevance to anyone beyond themselves.

That's fine, they own the joint so it's their sandbox. But they're a lot closer to becoming MySpace than they are to being a reliable entity such as Google or Microsoft.

[jeff061]

I think they are into hammering new "features" that makes Facebook more money at your expense. If you see it as them trying to be cool, even if it's trying and failing, then their PR is working.

[Rizon]

But they're a lot closer to becoming MySpace than they are to being a reliable entity such as Google or Microsoft.

I really agree with you here.

Social network sites are like boy-bands. Their popularity skyrockets, then they slowly drop off the map. Facebook will be bumped off by the next big social network site, just as FB bumped off MySpace.

FB just hasn't made enough changes to keep themselves relevant, nor will they ever. They'll slowly die, split up, some will marry and divorce pop stars, others will admit they're gay (in other shocking news ...).

[jeff061]

I'll compare them more with AOL than MySpace. MySpace was a crappy product from the start, got lucky, sold out to an idiot and died.

AOL was immensely successful, but in the long run it's closed off nature killed it. Same will likely happen to Facebook. Google doesn't necessarily want everyone to come to Google+, they want everyone open on the internet like they've been for the last 10 years. Google owns the internet, they are everywhere. But they are not in Facebook.

Facebook on the other hand only owns their territory. So it's Facebook trying to keep a fenced paradise you'll never want to leave and Google trying to prevent Facebook from accomplishing that goal.

[Autumn]

I really agree with you here.

Social network sites are like boy-bands. Their popularity skyrockets, then they slowly drop off the map. Facebook will be bumped off by the next big social network site, just as FB bumped off MySpace.

Though Facebook is just as likely to die as any Web item, I don't think you compare FB to many of the other social network sites that came and went, or lots of other Web phenomenon. A very large proportion of people I know now use Facebook more than they use e-mail. It's now as much a synonym for them for using the Web as Google has become for searching. It's replaced their chat programs, their e-mail, and in addition has provided a new function that no other Web service did. That's a sort of penetration that I think only Google has achieved on the Web. I don't think Facebook will disappear easily.

[Galaxy]

I'll compare them more with AOL than MySpace. MySpace was a crappy product from the start, got lucky, sold out to an idiot and died.

AOL was immensely successful, but in the long run it's closed off nature killed it. Same will likely happen to Facebook. Google doesn't necessarily want everyone to come to Google+, they want everyone open on the internet like they've been for the last 10 years. Google owns the internet, they are everywhere. But they are not in Facebook.

Facebook on the other hand only owns their territory. So it's Facebook trying to keep a fenced paradise you'll never want to leave and Google trying to prevent Facebook from accomplishing that goal.

Google's success of the Android is a big chip at Apple. The open nature of Google will keep the "gates" unable to fully close.

[lungs]

No numbers to back this up but Facebook has a lot of that 40-60 year old age group locked up and they won't be the type that jumps from one social network to another. And people like my brother who finally got onto Facebook in the past year because he figured it might have some staying power. They aren't going to be jumping around to have the next and newest bells and whistles when it comes to social networking, they are just looking for the basics that Facebook already provides.

That said, Google+ is opening invites back up. Does anybody out there care to invite me? email is [email protected]

I did read somewhere that Google is going to be a bitch and take inviting privileges away from those that invite too many but I'm not sure what that means.

[Marmel]

if anybody can invite, please send me one? markpg23 AT gmail DOT com

[Daimyo]

I'll compare them more with AOL than MySpace. MySpace was a crappy product from the start, got lucky, sold out to an idiot and died.

AOL was immensely successful, but in the long run it's closed off nature killed it. Same will likely happen to Facebook. Google doesn't necessarily want everyone to come to Google+, they want everyone open on the internet like they've been for the last 10 years. Google owns the internet, they are everywhere. But they are not in Facebook.

Facebook on the other hand only owns their territory. So it's Facebook trying to keep a fenced paradise you'll never want to leave and Google trying to prevent Facebook from accomplishing that goal.

Disagee. Facebook is in product category that is ALL about network effects, i.e., the more people that use the product, the more valuable it is to each user. That means that there are huge switching costs to any user to switch because to do that you have to convince a large portion of your friends to do the same. For products like this it doesn't really matter how great the product is, it only really matters who gets a big enough network to dominate first (until the next transformative technology comes along).

AOL had no network effects and very little switching costs. Once internet access became a commodity product and sites like Google got better at aggregating information, AOL had nothing of value.

[Passacaglia]

The question is, do we really care exactly how many people (and which ones) are reading the worthless crap we write?

[lungs]

Invites must not be working yet?

[jeff061]

Disagee. Facebook is in product category that is ALL about network effects, i.e., the more people that use the product, the more valuable it is to each user. That means that there are huge switching costs to any user to switch because to do that you have to convince a large portion of your friends to do the same. For products like this it doesn't really matter how great the product is, it only really matters who gets a big enough network to dominate first (until the next transformative technology comes along).

AOL had no network effects and very little switching costs. Once internet access became a commodity product and sites like Google got better at aggregating information, AOL had nothing of value.



I don't disagree with that. Said the same in an earlier post, wasn't addressing that in the one you quoted. I just don't believe that it will protect them forever. It is not possible for Facebook to hold up a gated community against the internet.

Any big player is not going to want to play by Facebook's rules and will work to subvert them. Google is just the first and the loudest. There will be more, new and familiar names alike. I expect Apple will team up with someone(or create their own), I'll be surprised if it's Facebook.

[AnalBumCover]

Invites must not be working yet?
I tried to send you a post. Did you get it and try to gain access through the link?

[edit] I being Rob Ordona

[JonInMiddleGA]

That means that there are huge switching costs to any user to switch because to do that you have to convince a large portion of your friends to do the same.

Not if you're switching to "off".

I've got roughly 300 friends on FB, which last figure I saw is right at average. To have those 300, they had to at least be active in the past year since that's about how long I've been on FB.

Of those 300 accounts, about half are active less than once a month, with at least 75 showing no sign of being touched in at least six months. Of the remainder, about half never post or do anything except play games. That means only 1/4 of my friend's list actually does anything that's relatively unique to social network sites.

The danger for FB isn't Google nearly so much as it is user-fatigue. And if Zynga ever goes totally solo, FB is well & truly fucked.

[lungs]

I tried to send you a post. Did you get it and try to gain access through the link?

Ahh, it let me in now! Thanks.

[cmp]

Any invites out there? cmp343 at gmail.com

[JonInMiddleGA]

If G+ wanted a good opportunity, tonight might be one. Just saw the most awful design mod on FB I can recall, ginormous full right frame chat bar. They even greyed out the "options" menu at the bottom making it nearly impossible to see where/how to make the damned thing go away.

edit to add: Oh now it's on bitches. The damned thing just reactivated itself AFTER I chose to "hide".

[Galaxy]

Not if you're switching to "off".

I've got roughly 300 friends on FB, which last figure I saw is right at average. To have those 300, they had to at least be active in the past year since that's about how long I've been on FB.

Of those 300 accounts, about half are active less than once a month, with at least 75 showing no sign of being touched in at least six months. Of the remainder, about half never post or do anything except play games. That means only 1/4 of my friend's list actually does anything that's relatively unique to social network sites.

The danger for FB isn't Google nearly so much as it is user-fatigue. And if Zynga ever goes totally solo, FB is well & truly fucked.

How can you tell they're active and when they're active? Just a guess?

[JonInMiddleGA]

How can you tell they're active and when they're active? Just a guess?

Well if someone hasn't made a single visible post in months, hasn't changed a photo, hasn't even cleared wall spam, that's going down as inactive in my book. Seems like a reasonable assumption.

The percentage of users who actually tweak what's visible to different sets of people is simply too low (I've seen estimates in the 10% range) to have that as a viable explanation for many of those change.

Plus I've had numerous conversations along the lines of "yeah, I had an account, haven't looked at it in months, if you need me just email me", so at least in my little private focus group it's an even more reliable guess.

[samifan24]

I saw a tweet that Google+ is allowing open signups tonight but as soon as I go over to sign up, they say they're overloaded again. I guess we all just have to wait for those invites to come through.

[wade moore]

If G+ wanted a good opportunity, tonight might be one. Just saw the most awful design mod on FB I can recall, ginormous full right frame chat bar. They even greyed out the "options" menu at the bottom making it nearly impossible to see where/how to make the damned thing go away.

edit to add: Oh now it's on bitches. The damned thing just reactivated itself AFTER I chose to "hide".

Oh good god, you're right on on this one.

[Matthean]

If G+ wanted a good opportunity, tonight might be one. Just saw the most awful design mod on FB I can recall, ginormous full right frame chat bar. They even greyed out the "options" menu at the bottom making it nearly impossible to see where/how to make the damned thing go away.

edit to add: Oh now it's on bitches. The damned thing just reactivated itself AFTER I chose to "hide".

I got mine to go away and it hasn't reappeared, but it was an eye sore when I first saw it.

[Passacaglia]

I'm in. PM me your email address if you want an invite and haven't received one.

[PackerFanatic]

My invite button is back as well.

[jeff061]

Thanks for invite Pass, poking around in it now.

[MJ4H]

Finally got in this morning. Happy to invite people after I figure out how.

[Rizon]

Thanks for invite Pass, poking around in it now.

+1

[Ksyrup]

If G+ wanted a good opportunity, tonight might be one. Just saw the most awful design mod on FB I can recall, ginormous full right frame chat bar. They even greyed out the "options" menu at the bottom making it nearly impossible to see where/how to make the damned thing go away.

edit to add: Oh now it's on bitches. The damned thing just reactivated itself AFTER I chose to "hide".

Yep, wife and I saw that last night. And once you figure out how to access the bar to "hide" it, it's no longer in toggle mode where you can easily toggle between showing the list of "online chat friends" and not. It appears that you have to hide/unhide the list every time.

We were looking at someone's pictures, and the chat bar apparently overlayed over the scroll bar, so I had to click inside the screen to move the screen up and down instead of being able to use the scroll bar, too. You could tell there were buttons and the comment box at the bottom of the page that weren't loaded, but you couldn't get there because there was no scroll bar. What a huge mess.

[JonInMiddleGA]

What a huge mess.

Typically FB "upgrade": no sign of any beta testing on most of their changes at all, or at least not any competent testing.

And if you think this one is fun, just wait til they roll out the design change they've been testing in Germany for a few weeks now. It duplicates the news feed (center wall) in the right frame Twitter-style.

[Rizon]

Is this one of their "upgrades" that is rolled out? Because I haven't seen any change yet.

[JediKooter]

Is this one of their "upgrades" that is rolled out? Because I haven't seen any change yet.

Probably. All I know is, I can't hide the stupid thing. I refuse to click the TRY IT NOW button and there is no, NO THANKS button. All other things are grayed out and there's nothing in your account settings that I saw, to turn it off.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Probably. All I know is, I can't hide the stupid thing. I refuse to click the TRY IT NOW button and there is no, NO THANKS button. All other things are grayed out and there's nothing in your account settings that I saw, to turn it off.

smart move to avoid the "try it now" button, since there's been no way found to roll it back. Once you click that, you're stuck with it.

The options "snowflake" is grayed out but should still work (or at least it did for me & several on my f'list last night). You'll get a "hide toolbar" option from that but alas, the setting isn't sticky.

[Rizon]

The only thing I've noticed is that when I signed on today, I was signed into chat automatically (I'm always hidden). Like Jon said my options snowflake was greyed out, but I was able to click it and go hidden again. But that's the only changes I've seen so far.

[JediKooter]

Thanks Jon. The weird thing is, I thought I did click on it and nothing happened. I even tried clicking on the grayed out 'options' and nothing happened.

So it's gone...until you refresh your screen. Oh well, I'll just keep clicking the hide button.

[AnalBumCover]

What's the difference between hiding someone and blocking them on g+?

[wade moore]

Yeah, I've gone the route of not doing "try it now" on the fb thing.. thing is, there's NO way to hide it in that scenario.

[Coffee Warlord]

Someone shoot an invite over to coffeewarlord at gmail?

[Rizon]

Someone shoot an invite over to coffeewarlord at gmail?

Done

[Coffee Warlord]

That was fast. Two in about 6 seconds. Danke.

[spleen1015]

That was fast. Two in about 6 seconds. Danke.

spleen1015 at gmail

I love you guys.

[spleen1015]

Thanks dewds

[Rizon]

Must be some type of open invite right now, a lot of my friends on FB are announcing they now have G+ accounts.

[jeff061]

Yeah, I think everyone probably has invites now. Was only so long they could wait.

[sabotai]

Would very much appreciate an invite: chronokhan AT gmail.com

[tyketime]

Hmm, I just tried it and got a message saying they have exceeded capacity - even with an invite, which I don't have at the moment...

[Matthean]

brown underscore rhythms at hotmail dot com

If somebody can shoot me an invite.

[Galaxy]

Why Google+ Business Profiles Will Trump Facebook Pages | PCWorld Business Center (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/235272/why_google_business_profiles_will_trump_facebook_pages.html)

Agree? Are they going to do their own Twitter system then?

[Matthean]

brown underscore rhythms at hotmail dot com

If somebody can shoot me an invite.

And done.

[jeff061]

Why Google+ Business Profiles Will Trump Facebook Pages | PCWorld Business Center (http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/235272/why_google_business_profiles_will_trump_facebook_pages.html)

Agree? Are they going to do their own Twitter system then?

Totally agree, should be interesting. Would think it'd compete with Sharepoint more than Facebook though. I hate Sharepoint. Generally at companies I've done work with I try to set up an internal wiki, but that can't replace what Sharepoint does.

[jeff061]

So it seems clear to me that being able to very easily organize your contacts into different groups(or circles) and just as easily share content/posts/pictures with whichever circle you like is what sets this apart. I can easily have family, friends, work, and just people I share an interest with and simply manage my communication with all of them without worrying about who sees what. It has a much more open feeling.

I can for example create a VMware circle(my bread and butter) and talk VMware specifically to that group, people I may not know that well, while keeping a simultaneous and separate stream to my friends as you would in Facebook. You can of course assign a single person to multiple circles.

That said, I have a Facebook account but I rarely used it. If this functionality was easily and readily available I never noticed it.

It also seems to be very quick.

[Fidatelo]

Just got in on Google+, liking what I see so far. I'm not a big Facebook user (I have never posted a status update, for example, but I do occasionally read those of my 'friends'). Assuming this caught on among at least one of my 'circles', I could see it becoming something I use a fair bit.

That said, I liked Google Buzz and that died a horrible death because like 5 people I knew ever used it.

[Galaxy]

Totally agree, should be interesting. Would think it'd compete with Sharepoint more than Facebook though. I hate Sharepoint. Generally at companies I've done work with I try to set up an internal wiki, but that can't replace what Sharepoint does.

What about things like Twitter and LinkedIn?

[jeff061]

I suspect Google's answer will include their online office suite and the ability to share, edit, track business documents as well as general information sharing through a Google+ type portal site. Right now Google's Office products suck and there's not much reason to use them. But add them to a streamlined information sharing portal to allow quick access to Excel, Word and Powerpoint documents without having to even leave your browser or having any type of locally installed application, that would interest me. If I worked at an internal gig I'd be pushing for it heavy and if this comes true I'll likely bring it up with my clients.

LinkedIn facilitates business networking between individuals and not much more, does not offer much to a specific company beyond recruiting purposes.

Twitter's popularity is and will remain an enigma to me :). I do think Google+ has built in twitter functionality, a person can post to a public feed and followers can add that person to a circle with limited access.

[Galaxy]

I suspect Google's answer will include their online office suite and the ability to share, edit, track business documents as well as general information sharing through a Google+ type portal site. Right now Google's Office products suck and there's not much reason to use them. But add them to a streamlined information sharing portal to allow quick access to Excel, Word and Powerpoint documents without having to even leave your browser or having any type of locally installed application, that would interest me. If I worked at an internal gig I'd be pushing for it heavy and if this comes true I'll likely bring it up with my clients.

LinkedIn facilitates business networking between individuals and not much more, does not offer much to a specific company beyond recruiting purposes.

Twitter's popularity is and will remain an enigma to me :). I do think Google+ has built in twitter functionality, a person can post to a public feed and followers can add that person to a circle with limited access.

I think if Google tries to copy Twitter and LinkedIn into their current structure , it will just become a mess.

[Matthean]

I sent out an invite and now the invite option is gone. Is it a one and done deal?

[jeff061]

I don't think they can copy LinkedIn, not sure they want to. That's a very focused site, people don't go there to socialize. It's really sort of a different site altogether. I maintain a LinkedIn account and I view it very differently than I do Facebook or Google+. Don't see that changing. While people may visit LinkedIn often, aside from recruiters I don't think they spend a lot of time there.

Twitter? Not a whole lot of substance there, I think they almost incorporate it's functionality simply as a byproduct of their design.

[jeff061]

I sent out an invite and now the invite option is gone. Is it a one and done deal?

I sent out a half dozen or so, but I just checked and it looks like mine's gone as well. I don't buy the claim that they are experiencing unexpectedly high volumes, they are walking a thin line playing the manufactured demand game with a site that needs people joining in packs.

[Matthean]

Invite option is back. I love the fact that I can edit what I post. It's one of the bigger pet peeves I have with Facebook.

[Wolfpack]

Well, I've finally moved into the 2010s. I've resisted the social networking pull until now, but my wife got an invite and invited me in turn. Taking the plunge now.

[tyketime]

Can I get an invite? tyketyme at gmail dot com. Thanks

[Matthean]

Can I get an invite? tyketyme at gmail dot com. Thanks

Sent.

[Toddiec]

If anyone does have an extra invite to send out I would greatly appreciate it. toddiec at yahoo dot com. Thank you in advance for all your efforts to drag this guy into the modern age of technology and such. Now I just have to try this fancy twitter or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays.

Todd

[tyketime]

If anyone does have an extra invite to send out I would greatly appreciate it. toddiec at yahoo dot com. Thank you in advance for all your efforts to drag this guy into the modern age of technology and such. Now I just have to try this fancy twitter or whatever the kids are calling it nowadays.

Todd
Invite sent

[the_meanstrosity]

Would love an invite for anyone who has an extra one. Thanks in advance. tripfantastiq at gmail dot com

[BrianD]

Can I join the party too? bdoebert at gmail dot com.

[the_meanstrosity]

Thanks for the invite!

[the_meanstrosity]

BrianD, sent you an invite.

[Toddiec]

Thank you very much for the invite Brian and Jeff! Now for some tinkering!

[TurnerONU22]

If anyone has an invite left, I would like to give this a shot

daniel.turner.22

Thanks!

[BrianD]

BrianD, sent you an invite.

Thanks.

[the_meanstrosity]

If anyone has an invite left, I would like to give this a shot

daniel.turner.22

Thanks!

Sent to your gmail account.

[johnnyshaka]

if anybody else has an invite I'd like to have a look. Thanks!

johnnyshaka99 at gmail dot com

[the_meanstrosity]

if anybody else has an invite I'd like to have a look. Thanks!

johnnyshaka99 at gmail dot com

Invite sent.

[Bearcat729]

If there are still invites available I'll take one pcm729 at gmail dot com

[PilotMan]

add grbaviator AT gmail dot com to the invite list for me as well.

[the_meanstrosity]

Invites sent to PilotMan and Bearcat729.

[PilotMan]

Invites sent to PilotMan and Bearcat729.


thanks!

[Bearcat729]

Thanks

[the_meanstrosity]

No problem guys. I just got it tonight myself thanks to the friendly FOFCers so figured I owe it to others to pass it on.

[johnnyshaka]

Invite sent.

Thank you, sir.

[SirFozzie]

dyellope.wiki @ gmail if anyone else...

[Neon_Chaos]

dyellope.wiki @ gmail if anyone else...

Invite sent

[SirFozzie]

Danke

[StLee]

I would like an invitation leembabin at gmail.

[Autumn]

ken dot walden at gmail, if anyone has a spare invite.

[Matthean]

ken dot walden at gmail, if anyone has a spare invite.

Done.

[Marc Vaughan]

PM me if you need an invite - I wandered into google+ the other day.... seems ok, but a bit well 'facebookesque' ...

[GoSeahawks]

hicks.nathan at gmail if anyone has an extra

[Matthean]

hicks.nathan at gmail if anyone has an extra

Done.

[GoSeahawks]

Done.

Thank you very much

[azjoe_02]

If someone can send one my way...

azjoe02 AT gmail


Thanks

[sabotai]

If someone can send one my way...

azjoe02 AT gmail


Thanks

Sent.

[azjoe_02]

Sent.


Got it. Thanks!

[TurnerONU22]

Sent to your gmail account.

Thanks!

[Groundhog]

angus AT goosejuice DOT com if anyone would mind sending an invite my way!

[cartman]

invite sent down under

[Groundhog]

Cheers! :)

[ISiddiqui]

I suspect Google's answer will include their online office suite and the ability to share, edit, track business documents as well as general information sharing through a Google+ type portal site. Right now Google's Office products suck and there's not much reason to use them. But add them to a streamlined information sharing portal to allow quick access to Excel, Word and Powerpoint documents without having to even leave your browser or having any type of locally installed application, that would interest me. If I worked at an internal gig I'd be pushing for it heavy and if this comes true I'll likely bring it up with my clients.

LinkedIn facilitates business networking between individuals and not much more, does not offer much to a specific company beyond recruiting purposes.

Twitter's popularity is and will remain an enigma to me :). I do think Google+ has built in twitter functionality, a person can post to a public feed and followers can add that person to a circle with limited access.

Well... I kinda like Google Docs. I use them all the time. Though I don't really have Office and don't want to spend the money for it and Google Docs is far better than Open Office, IMO. But yes, integration with Google Docs would really push Google Plus to higher levels... esp valuable (of course) for business reasons.

Twitter's popularity is understandable if you think of it as a micro blog with easy searching capabilities. You can basically follow anyone you want and anyone can follow you (of course there is some blocking options and you can have "closed" tweets, but that defeats the purpose). Also it REALLY integrates well with phones, as tweets have to be the length of a text message.

[DaddyTorgo]

fine

andy.phillips @ gmail.com

[mauchow]

mauchow1982 @ gmail.com

I'll see what the hoopla's all about.

[DaddyTorgo]

Yeah - seriously...seems like a lot of hoopla here

[johnnyshaka]

fine

andy.phillips @ gmail.com

mauchow1982 @ gmail.com

I'll see what the hoopla's all about.

Done and done.

[ISiddiqui]

Sent to both of you!

[Doug5984]

I'll guess I'll join the party and give it a try if anyone has an invite to spare-

doug5984 at gmail

[Marmel]

With all the FOFCers joining up, how can I add them all to one circle?

[johnnyshaka]

I'll guess I'll join the party and give it a try if anyone has an invite to spare-

doug5984 at gmail

done!

[Coffee Warlord]

With all the FOFCers joining up, how can I add them all to one circle?

Something I found problematic, too. 'Cause I don't know everyone's real names, which the vast majority of people on there use.

[stevew]

With all the FOFCers joining up, how can I add them all to one circle?
looks like you can make your own circle if you want.

[spleen1015]

I am having the same problem. I don't know everyone's real names.

[Marmel]

looks like you can make your own circle if you want.

I have a user created FOFC circle, but only about 4 people in it. I guess we would need to know real names based on other comments.

Or maybe a centralized FOFC sign in thread on one person's feed (like say ABC's since he started the thread? Not that I am volunteering him).

[MikeVic]

Can you like... add another friend's circle if you have permission? I'd think that would be fairly common with work groups or online communities.

[Doug5984]

Can you like... add another friend's circle if you have permission? I'd think that would be fairly common with work groups or online communities.

That would make it a lot easier

[stevew]

There's no way to make a group or a spark?

[DaddyTorgo]

Can you like... add another friend's circle if you have permission? I'd think that would be fairly common with work groups or online communities.

Haha - I just asked this as a comment on someone's FOFC-circle comment

[Pumpy Tudors]

Maybe I'm old and/or slow, but I'm on Google+ and don't know what the hell to DO with it. I have added people to circles, but what's next?

[JediKooter]

Now you send Farmville requests to everyone.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I can't find the damn Farmville button. Google+ is broken.

[JediKooter]

It's still in it's "new" stage, so there's going to be some bugs. WELCOME TO HOLLYWOOD!!!

[ISiddiqui]

Can you like... add another friend's circle if you have permission? I'd think that would be fairly common with work groups or online communities.

I think circles are personal. But maybe they may add a "public" circle option in the future?

[TRO]

My G+ Link Thingy (https://profiles.google.com/u/0/103320161485641023344)

[Passacaglia]

So do I have to click on each circle to get something similar to a news feed for each circle? Or is there a place I can get info from every circle in one feed?

[Doug5984]

Doug Daniel - Google+ (https://plus.google.com/102812885007064657285/posts?hl=en)

I think thats the link to my profile

[ISiddiqui]

Helpful... The Google+ project: real life sharing, rethought for the web. (https://plus.google.com/#107417456682704290336/posts)


So do I have to click on each circle to get something similar to a news feed for each circle? Or is there a place I can get info from every circle in one feed?

That is your general "Stream"

[stevew]

The Google+ project: real life sharing, rethought for the web. (https://plus.google.com/#108357126735828446470/posts)

I think this is my profile

[Dr. Sak]

Here is my Google + page..

Brian Sakowski - Google+ (https://plus.google.com/102654747802129220125)

[JediKooter]

Alright, I'll take the plunge. I keep seeing that it is full and try again later. For those who care my gmail is: briansevenoneninesevenone. Make the alpha versions of the numbers, into numbers (71971) and that's my gmail address.

[jeff061]

Also sending to Jedi on the off chance he hasn't gotten 32 of them.

[Flasch186]

Mine:

Howard Flaschen - Google+ (https://plus.google.com/u/3/110810471499418843023/posts)

[AnalBumCover]

The Google+ project: real life sharing, rethought for the web. (https://plus.google.com/#114438362781343077910/posts)

[JediKooter]

Thanks for the invites! I tried responding (to say 'thank you'), but, the emails got bounced back.

[MacroGuru]

I'm kind of going...meh with this....

[JediKooter]

It is a bit underwhelming...but, I guess it's still in its early stages?

[wade moore]

I still think functionally it is 100000x better than facebook.

Only thing lacking, imo, is users at the moment.

[PackerFanatic]

For those that want to add me - Andrew Belonger - Google+ (http://gplus.to/andyman)

[bhlloy]

I'm struggling to see what this does better, other than the fact that circles are more obvious/intuitive than the groups in facebook? An overwhelming meh so far.

[wade moore]

I'm struggling to see what this does better, other than the fact that circles are more obvious/intuitive than the groups in facebook? An overwhelming meh so far.

1. Way cleaner
2. Ties in with other google apps
3. Circles
4. Easy control over who you share stuff with
5. No games
6. While limited use,t he video chat is very nice

That's off the top of my head.

[Rizon]

It's only been out 14 days.
Don't forget Google has a search engine, VOIP, a Skype like video chat, a browser, a cell phone OS, and cars that drive themselves. All waiting to be integrated into Google+

Also, FB had aged 2 years before it was released to everyone.

[PackerFanatic]

Also, FB had aged 2 years before it was released to everyone.

And to me, that's when it went downhill (not too be all hipster about it, but it was great when it was just college students)

[Pumpy Tudors]

I'm struggling to see what this does better, other than the fact that circles are more obvious/intuitive than the groups in facebook? An overwhelming meh so far.
it's not facebook
that's what i like about it
that's also what i like about turkey breast and freshly paved streets
they're not facebook
duh

edit: i'll think of other things that i like after i check facebook and see how my mafia is doing

[JonInMiddleGA]

1. Way cleaner
2. Ties in with other google apps
3. Circles
4. Easy control over who you share stuff with
5. No games
6. While limited use,t he video chat is very nice


That's a pretty good list of reasons for me maybe to not even pursue it, although I'd been thinking about at least taking a look at it.

2. I rarely use any Google apps beyond search
3. Not much on circles/groups/etc
5. Games are the difference in me keeping FB open 16 hrs a day versus checking it once every week or two
6. I can't think of much that appeals to me less than video chat

Not knocking any of it, just not my things, so I sort of oddly appreciate the list of pros you found.

[Galaxy]

It's only been out 14 days.
Don't forget Google has a search engine, VOIP, a Skype like video chat, a browser, a cell phone OS, and cars that drive themselves. All waiting to be integrated into Google+

Also, FB had aged 2 years before it was released to everyone.

The OS may be in trouble if they lose their lawsuits.

[jeff061]

I think #3 is the big thing. I can add co-workers or even clients and keep an open communication to them in tandem with with the more standard Facebook type connections(which will likely be split down as well).

That and connections are not made through the Facebook style mutual confirmation. Anyone can add anyone to their circle. That doesn't mean you get access to the other person's private posts, but you start seeing their public posts on your feed(think Twitter) and they get notified they were added to your circle. There are people I may add to a limited circle I would never bother communicating with through Facebook. Strictly functionally speaking this isn't a huge difference, but I suspect it will have far ranging consequences with the amount of, topics of discussion and type of people the Google+ userbase connects with.

Overall I suspect the social aspect will be much more open. Which as an idea appeals to me.

[Rizon]

5. Games are the difference in me keeping FB open 16 hrs a day versus checking it once every week or two
.

I imagined you as the last person on Earth that would ever play FarmVille.

[Galaxy]

I think #3 is the big thing. I can add co-workers or even clients and keep an open communication to them in tandem with with the more standard Facebook type connections(which will likely be split down as well).

That and connections are not made through the Facebook style mutual confirmation. Anyone can add anyone to their circle. That doesn't mean you get access to the other person's private posts, but you start seeing their public posts on your feed(think Twitter) and they get notified they were added to your circle. Strictly functionally speaking this isn't a huge difference, but I suspect it will have far ranging consequences with the amount of and type of people the Google+ userbase connects with.

Overally I suspect the social aspect will be much more open. Which as an idea appeals to me.

How are circles different than creating and customizing lists on Facebook?

[JonInMiddleGA]

I imagined you as the last person on Earth that would ever play FarmVille.

It's really just another resource gathering timewaster, same as Syrnia which I played for something like three years. Played The West, played Omerta. Really not much difference except that FB puts 'em all in one place. As I pointed out quite a bit on FB, there's really nothing new about these kind of games except the location/ease of access.

[jeff061]

How are circles different than creating and customizing lists on Facebook?


I think a major piece is that everyone uses them, which I feel will spark more topical conversation specific to each rough "circle". Being so embedded at the core and being more intuitive makes for a different culture. Also being able to add people to a circle without sending a confirmation email will foster more communication and networking as well.

Obviously a lot of my points are theoretical on how I think Google+ will change the way people use a social networking site for the better. Not really concrete, people need to use it as a social platform to see these changes. You can't really do that on your own though, you can't force it, chicken and egg type thing. I'm very interested in seeing where it goes.

[PackerFanatic]

Can you actually post to specific lists on Facebook though? I thought that was more of just a grouping within your friends list for organizational purposes.

[PackerFanatic]

Not only can you post/share to certain circles at a given time, but you can also view posts/updates from particular circles too (and I would imagine, in time, you'll be able to customize your steam to show only certain circles too)

[jeff061]

I haven't used facebook lists, I had assumed you could. If not they are pointless and there's no comparison.

[PackerFanatic]

I haven't used facebook lists, I had assumed you could. If not they are pointless and there's no comparison.

Yeah, they are pretty pointless from what I have seen :)

[wade moore]

That's a pretty good list of reasons for me maybe to not even pursue it, although I'd been thinking about at least taking a look at it.

2. I rarely use any Google apps beyond search
3. Not much on circles/groups/etc
5. Games are the difference in me keeping FB open 16 hrs a day versus checking it once every week or two
6. I can't think of much that appeals to me less than video chat

Not knocking any of it, just not my things, so I sort of oddly appreciate the list of pros you found.

Yup, sounds like completely different wants out of the stuff.

I personally use picassa for all of my photo stuff, use spreadsheets a fair amount, use calendar, use reader...

Not all of that is integrated, but it's pretty easy to see the dotted line connecting it all for future construction.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Can you actually post to specific lists on Facebook though?

As far as I knew you could, or at least used to be able to. Never tried it though, only really considered it for game post purposes, never actually tried it now that I think about it. That may have disappeared during the last revision of "groups" though.

[spleen1015]

http://tctechcrunch.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/fb-g.gif?w=640

[Rizon]

How to move your Facebook photos to Google+ | How To - CNET (http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20078598-285/how-to-move-your-facebook-photos-to-google/)

[Rizon]

...

[Alan T]

Not all of that is integrated, but it's pretty easy to see the dotted line connecting it all for future construction.


The interesting part of this for me is how everyone keeps bringing up the integration of all of this stuff as if it was a good thing. The good thing about integrating all of the various components is that it makes things easier for people to use. The bad thing is that it makes it easier to be abused.

Thanks to all of the various hacks/viruses/exploits/etc out there for things that tied into facebook leaving people very exposed, I actually stopped allowing any application to integrate with my facebook, and I actually also set up a noscript cross-scripting policy to not allow anything else at all to pull scripts that interact with facebook.

Maybe I am using facebook wrong, but I just use it to keep in touch with old friends/family almost like a "group email" ability of sorts. As long as my frinds/family remain there, thats where I'll be. If they move to google+, that is where I'll go.

i definitely don't like the idea of everything under the sun integrating itself at google+ for the same reasons as listed above though. I fully understand that is what google wants to do, and I understand why they want to do it. I just don't understand why security conscious users would want it.

[jeff061]

Well it's all associated in with your Google account already, all that's missing is the GUI tie-in within Google+. These of course are all Google products that he was discussing, which is a little different than all the crazy shit Facebook linked with.

[ISiddiqui]

How are circles different than creating and customizing lists on Facebook?

Lists are far more annoying than Circles. And Lists obviously feel as they were added after everything was in place (which they were), while Circles feel completely integrated in the experience.

One of the best things with Circles is when you post anything you can specify the people it goes to. Its impossible to have status updates on Facebook only go to certain people (or very hard, I don't know how to do it). Maybe your FOFC friends won't care about the stuff you are doing with your Church friends, etc.

And yes, you can post to lists specifically. But that sort of thing doesn't show up in your newsfeed - its more like a message.

[wade moore]

Well it's all associated in with your Google account already, all that's missing is the GUI tie-in within Google+. These of course are all Google products that he was discussing, which is a little different than all the crazy shit Facebook linked with.

Yeah, exactly. I'm talking about Google specific apps that would be within their architecture which would reduce/eliminate many of the risks Alan T is referring to.

[Ben E Lou]

Only thing lacking, imo, is users at the moment....and that's the big question for me. Not "will a bunch of text sim geeks who pay attention to stuff like interfaces, functionality, etc. use it?" If, as I suspect, a great majority of my Facebook friends list doesn't use it G+ with any frequency, there's not going to be a compelling reason for me to use it regularly, either. And I don't see myself using both long-term. I'd *love* to have a circle of, say, "Friends with Toddlers," to whom I ask questions and share stuff that only parents with toddlers care about, but if 50-75% of my friends who have toddlers are checking FB constantly, and G+ once a week, guess which one I'm heading to?

[jeff061]

No doubt. I've said that several times.

[ISiddiqui]

Well MySpace went down to Facebook, so there is no saying that users won't make Google+ the #1. It may depend what Facebook does.

[johnnyshaka]

Anybody here use yahoo for web searches anymore? How about ICQ for IM?

Tendencies can change, for whatever reason...

[MJ4H]

Anybody here use yahoo
My wife.

:confused::confused:

[JediKooter]

I use Yahoo, but, it's because of two things:

1. I know you can customize Google, I just don't like the bare bones interface and I like being able to click through the news and the way it's set up, it's just easier for me to browse through.

2. I've had my yahoo email account for 12 years now and never had a problem with it.

[jeff061]

Yeah, we can't say google won't win out. But people like Ben are not going to be the driving force, they need to at the very least follow some people, and those people in turn need to contribute. Otherwise he's not giving it a second look

I feel early on in its lifecycle it is far more of a threat to twitter than facebook, that's the usecase it will attract. The features that standup to facebook almost come in on the backend, encouraging people using it as a feed to use more of its social network aspects. Its also a lot easier to expand your number of contacts and there is reason to follow fringes you wouldn't in Facebook. Activity may be percieved to be higher than it really is. Which in turn will have people checking and contributing to feeds more and more often. Possibly eventually replacing Facebook.

That's how I see it. But yeah, bottomline people need to see people they know contributing or they aren't going to bother accessing it.

[Ben E Lou]

Well MySpace went down to Facebook, so there is no saying that users won't make Google+ the #1. It may depend what Facebook does.
I think the MySpace comparison is an apples/oranges situation. At the time FB overtook MySpace, MySpace didn't have a news feed. It didn't have the ability to upload more than one photo at a time. Those were pretty huge items that made it a no-brainer for the masses to decide. And I don't know the numbers, exactly, but it seems pretty clear that the market penetration of MySpace at the time FB overtook them was pretty miniscule, simply because tens of millions of eventual FB users didn't even know that it existed. Apart from the "I refuse to get on Facebook" crowd, the numbers today of potential G+ users who aren't already on FB seem pretty small.

In other words, back then, FB just needed to be just a little bit better than MySpace for all those new to social networking users to jump on board. But the climate is different today. There aren't enough people not on FB for G+ to overtake FB simply by being the better choice for a new user. In order to overtake FB in the current climate, there's going to have to be a compelling reason for people to change their existing social networking habits. That's an entirely different animal.

And as I said earlier, I can absolutely see the potential, that the functionality is likely better (or at least will be better,) and all of that. But it's not compelling enough to make me want to have to re-add 1,000+ friends.

[lighthousekeeper]

But it's not compelling enough to make me want to have to re-add 1,000+ friends.

the trials and tribulations of the ultra-popular.

[Ben E Lou]

Heh. I worked with youth for 17 years. I'm pretty sure that number is lower than that of many/most of my former colleagues. Nature of the beast in that job.

[Ben E Lou]

Heh, actually it appears that many of the "kids" (now in early 20s to mid 30s) that I've known are in the 400-800 range. And yeah, every one of the YL Staff members I checked--some with half the years I had--were in the 1000-2000 range. Just checking the people in the 25ish-35ish age range of people I know to use it frequently, 400-800 seems to be the norm. I'm just not seeing what's going to engage people enough to make them want to redo that.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm just not seeing what's going to engage people enough to make them want to redo that.

Nor to try to deal with both services while any theoretical transition takes place.

[digamma]

The integration of Picasa makes me an easy user.

[MJ4H]

Am I missing something on Google+ chat? It just looks like the same list of random people it tries to pull from my gmail address book and doesn't seem to have anything to do with people in my circles, people that have Google+ or people that have added me. Is that really what it's going to be? Because that sucks. Also, it doesn't seem to use their Google+ names.

[jeff061]

Google chat sucked with Gmail and its the same with Google+, right down to pulling from people you've emailed most. It uses Jabber, so you can configure any Jabber client instead of the web interface.

But yeah, honestly I don't even think they should have included it until it was half decent. But its been pretty shitty for awhile now. I'm guessing you can't even chat with anyone that does not have a gmail account, no matter if they are in your circle or not.

[MJ4H]

That fucking blows. Enough to make me almost uninterested in the service. Group video chat isn't making up for that bullshit.

[johnnyshaka]

I'm guessing you can't even chat with anyone that does not have a gmail account, no matter if they are in your circle or not.

Don't you need to a gmail account to even participate in Google+? I could be wrong, though.

[jeff061]

That's true, I suppose you don't need to use the gmail aspect. I guess it's no longer using GMail, but just having a general Google account.

Chat still sucks though :D.

[Matthean]

Don't you need to a gmail account to even participate in Google+? I could be wrong, though.

Nope.

[Matthean]

Matt Brown - Google+ (https://plus.google.com/u/0/113420498878634584139)

This should be my G+ link.

[TRO]

Nor to try to deal with both services while any theoretical transition takes place.

You can connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts to Google+ so, theoretically, you only have to use Google+ during transition.

[TRO]

Heh, actually it appears that many of the "kids" (now in early 20s to mid 30s) that I've known are in the 400-800 range. And yeah, every one of the YL Staff members I checked--some with half the years I had--were in the 1000-2000 range. Just checking the people in the 25ish-35ish age range of people I know to use it frequently, 400-800 seems to be the norm. I'm just not seeing what's going to engage people enough to make them want to redo that.

There are some tutorials up already on how to export Friends list from Facebook and import into Google+. Still a potential roadblock for some, but it certainly is not a major hurdle for majority of users, even those with gargantuan friend lists.

[JonInMiddleGA]

You can connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts to Google+ so, theoretically, you only have to use Google+ during transition.

The 25% (estimated) of FB users who are regular game players aren't likely to be going anywhere unless Zynga pulls up stakes so I still question the realistic expecation of any significant transition anyway, but hypothetically ... are you telling me that you can cross post to FB from G+?

[Matthean]

are you telling me that you can cross post to FB from G+?

I already saw one person do it. It's shows up on FB as "posted from Google+."

[jeff061]

I read there's a third party app out there that accomplishes that. Honestly, Id probably stay clear of it though.

I imagine Zynga would be anxious to branch out of facebook, but I think they'll wait and see if google+ lasts beyond the hype. Id think they'd want to centralize to their own web portal with the facebooks of the world tying into it, hub and spoke.

[fantom1979]

I heard on This Week In Tech (taped Sunday) that Mark Zuckerberg has the most followers on Google+ so far. I found that amusing.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I already saw one person do it. It's shows up on FB as "posted from Google+."

{searches ... too creepy in this instance to say "Googled it"}

Looks like it's a Chrome plug-in called StartG+

Meanwhile, looks like we're going to have to be careful about the various apps/extensions/etc that are bound to pop up claiming to make moving info between the two services easy. Malware (or worse) opportunities abound, as this bit from reddit (http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/ikymu/googlefacebook_allows_you_to_view_your_facebook/c24mfci) seems to illustrate (or at least it may, damned if I speak enough Geek to be sure)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I imagine Zynga would be anxious to branch out of facebook, but I think they'll wait and see if google+ lasts beyond the hype. Id think they'd want to centralize to their own web portal with the facebooks of the world tying into it, hub and spoke.

They've tinkered with that a bit obviously, with Farmville already running on a parallel (or synched, or something) system at farmville.com. My guess is that they're afraid to cut the cord since it's such a huge part of what turned them into a billion dollar company.

[wade moore]

Google chat sucked with Gmail and its the same with Google+, right down to pulling from people you've emailed most. It uses Jabber, so you can configure any Jabber client instead of the web interface.

But yeah, honestly I don't even think they should have included it until it was half decent. But its been pretty shitty for awhile now. I'm guessing you can't even chat with anyone that does not have a gmail account, no matter if they are in your circle or not.

The last statement is just patently false fwiw. GChat has allowed you to connect to yahoo chat and aol chat, at minimum, for years now.

I'm not sure where the haterade for the chat client is. I've been using Google Chat exclusively, through GMail, for something like 3-4 years.

[jeff061]

Fair enough, I haven't used it unless I forgot to sign off and someone in my contacts im'd me. I've just found it straight painful to use.

[Ben E Lou]

There are some tutorials up already on how to export Friends list from Facebook and import into Google+. Still a potential roadblock for some, but it certainly is not a major hurdle for majority of users, even those with gargantuan friend lists.
I think you're underestimating the levels of laziness and stupidity present in the average Facebook user. ;)

I'm only slightly kidding there. On the "stupidity" front, I'd say a fair chunk of people simply couldn't follow the directions correctly, and would give up.

On the "laziness" front, the whole "how much added value" question comes into play. I'm in that "people with large friends lists who are also computer geeks" sub-demographic, and *I* would even say "not worth it" if I saw a tutorial that was more than 4 or 5 single-sentence steps long. I just looked up what appears to be the "easiest" way. I see several things that would be show-stoppers for most people.

1. It's a Google Chrome extension.
a. I'm guessing a fair number of the people I'm thinking of don't even use Firefox, and probably have no clue what Google Chrome is.
b. They'd have to figure out download Chrome, install Chrome, and install the extension. (See, "stupidity" comments. ;))
2. Export from Facebook using the extension. OK, I'll give you that anyone intelligent and determined enough to have Chrome and the extension installed would very likely be able to pull this one off without it being too much work to overcome the laziness factor.

3. Import into your Gmail Address book. AND, here's another roadblock. "I already have an email address. I don't want/need another one." {BREAK}

4. Add 400-2000 people to circles. And this is where I get stuck. That whole "rebuild my entire social network" thing. From what I'm reading, you can't just shove 'em all into one place. (Maybe they'll add functionality for that later?) If I have to add them all to circles before I can interact with them, forget it.

Heh, and after writing all that and re-reading the article, I notice that I had missed this little gem...

UPDATE: Facebook has blocked this tool (http://mashable.com/2011/07/05/facebook-blocks-friend-exporter-plugin/).


*shurg*

[Matthean]

Heh, and after writing all that and re-reading the article, I notice that I had missed this little gem...

*shurg*

Sounds like a reason to keep using G+. :lol:

[jeff061]

4. Add 400-2000 people to circles. And this is where I get stuck. That whole "rebuild my entire social network" thing. From what I'm reading, you can't just shove 'em all into one place. (Maybe they'll add functionality for that later?) If I have to add them all to circles before I can interact with them, forget it.

You can add everyone to a single circle, then either keep it that way or organize them out later. Using a single circle is equal to the Facebook model.

But yeah, you need a reason to use it. Which would likely be following people you are not currently following on Facebook. Since confirmation is not needed to make connections you can follow people similar to how you would in Twitter.

[Ben E Lou]

Hmmm...I'm not seeing a way to do that. I have a small handful of gmail contacts showing up, but I tried Shift-Click, Ctrl-Click, and Ctrl-A. Nothing seems to Select All. Am I missing something?

[Marmel]

I thought this was an interesting article, but I don't know what percentage of people feel this way. I guess "a fresh start" is part of the reason I am checking G+ out.


Google+ offers chance for a social reboot - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/07/12/google.plus.reboot/index.html?hpt=te_bn11)

[JonInMiddleGA]

I thought this was an interesting article, but I don't know what percentage of people feel this way. I guess "a fresh start" is part of the reason I am checking G+ out. Google+ offers chance for a social reboot - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/07/12/google.plus.reboot/index.html?hpt=te_bn11)

Here's a snippet that I didn't know whether to laugh about or actually scratch my head over

some Internet users are looking for a network that is less stressful and consuming than Facebook and Twitter, which are known to pull users in several hours per month,

{GASP} Oh noes, the HORROR, a few hours a month? Whatever shall we do? How could anyone survive such a grueling pace?

If you aren't getting at least that much out of it, wtf is the point? That's about the equivalent of one shitty TV show a week for crying out loud.

edit to add:

The other part that caught my eye (along with the somewhat pretentious attitude of the users cited) was this bit
to build a new online network without all the distant ex-classmates, boring business associates, and kooky cousins

Without those, and presumably without the games, wtf is left on FB for 95% of users? Hell, today's "friend" is tomorrow's ex-classmate, boring business associate, and suddenly kooky cousin. I'd say those are ultimately what makes FB interesting (more than once every 4-6 weeks) for the majority of users.

[jeff061]

Hmmm...I'm not seeing a way to do that. I have a small handful of gmail contacts showing up, but I tried Shift-Click, Ctrl-Click, and Ctrl-A. Nothing seems to Select All. Am I missing something?


Oh I see what you are saying. It's the manual process that's the problem. I'll mess around and see if I find something, if it's still all manual hopefully Google fixes it.

[Passacaglia]

I just turned off the chat in google+ so that IMs don't show up on both my google+ page and my google talk.

[Passacaglia]

I just looked into sparks. I'm not sure I understand it, and I don't want to watch a video on it at work. Is there something I'm missing, or is it just a google search?

[Alan T]

Without those, and presumably without the games, wtf is left on FB for 95% of users? Hell, today's "friend" is tomorrow's ex-classmate, boring business associate, and suddenly kooky cousin. I'd say those are ultimately what makes FB interesting (more than once every 4-6 weeks) for the majority of users.


That is curious to me too. People I'm currently close with, I often see or do stuff with and don't necessarily need facebook or Google+ for. The people I like to keep in touch with on Facebook currently are those I never see anymore, don't talk to much and have little contact. I find it interesting to see little updates on how their lives are, whats up with their families, or whatever.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Hmmm...I'm not seeing a way to do that. I have a small handful of gmail contacts showing up, but I tried Shift-Click, Ctrl-Click, and Ctrl-A. Nothing seems to Select All. Am I missing something?

Upper right hand corner -> "More Actions" -> Select All

Assuming you're talking about the Circles screen in G+.

[jeff061]

I just looked into sparks. I'm not sure I understand it, and I don't want to watch a video on it at work. Is there something I'm missing, or is it just a google search?

Think it's just pretty much a Google search, maybe some qualifiers in there to make sure you get new results. I like the idea in practice, a quick overview of different items I want to be kept informed on or that interest me, except I can't view all sparks in 1 feed(at least not that I can see). I threw 15 items in there, I'm not going to click them one by one to see the results. I assume they'll change that.

Wouldn't even mind having an option to put a feed that combines circles and sparks. Maybe a customized feed with specific circles and specific sparks.

Oh, and I hate the name spark. I cringe typing it out :D.

[Matthean]

{GASP} Oh noes, the HORROR, a few hours a month? Whatever shall we do? How could anyone survive such a grueling pace?

Reread what you quoted. It said several hours.

EDIT: I love the drag and drop nature of circles.

[ISiddiqui]

I think the MySpace comparison is an apples/oranges situation. At the time FB overtook MySpace, MySpace didn't have a news feed. It didn't have the ability to upload more than one photo at a time. Those were pretty huge items that made it a no-brainer for the masses to decide. And I don't know the numbers, exactly, but it seems pretty clear that the market penetration of MySpace at the time FB overtook them was pretty miniscule, simply because tens of millions of eventual FB users didn't even know that it existed. Apart from the "I refuse to get on Facebook" crowd, the numbers today of potential G+ users who aren't already on FB seem pretty small.

In other words, back then, FB just needed to be just a little bit better than MySpace for all those new to social networking users to jump on board. But the climate is different today. There aren't enough people not on FB for G+ to overtake FB simply by being the better choice for a new user. In order to overtake FB in the current climate, there's going to have to be a compelling reason for people to change their existing social networking habits. That's an entirely different animal.

And as I said earlier, I can absolutely see the potential, that the functionality is likely better (or at least will be better,) and all of that. But it's not compelling enough to make me want to have to re-add 1,000+ friends.

I think you overestimate Facebook's position. Yes, it is in a far more enviable position than Myspace was way back when, but the technology sphere is very malleable. Yahoo was overtaken by Gmail, and Firefox and Chrome and slowly but surely chipping away at Internet Explorer.

All it requires is for it to be slightly better than Facebook on a few key points (Circles are far better than Lists for one), and a slow chipping away is possible. Added to that is Facebook's tendancy to change things up so much causing headaches and you may have enough disgruntled people to jump over.

And, in addition, Google+ is FAR more pleasant to use on my Android phone than Facebook is. Facebook app is a mess.

The interesting thing is how Games are handled. While lots of people go to Facebook for the Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc. Far more hate those things and hate how they clutter the news feed. Google+ could be an option to leave those behind.

[TRO]

The interesting thing is how Games are handled. While lots of people go to Facebook for the Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc. Far more hate those things and hate how they clutter the news feed. Google+ could be an option to leave those behind.

This is the main reason that I'm liking G+ so far. Just have to hope that if and when the games follow, that the ability to control the feeds helps weed them out.

[MJ4H]

I don't mind the games. They helped get everyone there, which to me is what makes facebook great. As long as I can block them (which I can do on facebook), I'm fine.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Reread what you quoted. It said several hours.


Are we really parsing the difference between "few" (which I would define as 3-5) and "several" (which I would define as between 3 and maybe 7)?

[JonInMiddleGA]

The interesting thing is how Games are handled. While lots of people go to Facebook for the Mafia Wars, Farmville, etc. Far more hate those things and hate how they clutter the news feed. Google+ could be an option to leave those behind.

My experience differs, vis a vis "far more". Seems to me as though the majority of active users (i.e. ppl who post anything more than once a month) are either gamers or "app happy" with other stuff (auto-quotes, auto-random status updates, etc).

The majority of my friends who do neither are virtually silent (or AWOL entirely).
Without the games, the content would become very minimal level ... at least among my average-sized 300ish friends list.

[Rizon]

Requested my FB file download yesterday morning and got it yesterday afternoon. Unzipped the files this morning. Pretty cool to see your status messages and PMs from Day 1. Uploading the files to G+ has been super easy, even on the sllllllllooooooowwwww crappy DSL here at work. A small problem I ran into was after you create an album and upload the files, telling G+ not to publish them to your wall thing defaults the album to private. You have to go back in and tell it to be viewable to your circles. Big problem I found was that you couldn't rename an album after it was created ... or I couldn't find the option.

[tyketime]

Here's a good document I found that describes tips & tricks (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cUjZ_7rlAmKRDVB6GXId73h_eUdXGKdjtSff0svbaz0/preview). I'm just browsing though it. (sorry if this was posted elsewhere)

[jeff061]

good info, thanks Tyke.

[jeff061]

So that document it covers chat a little. You can select specific circles to import into your chat contacts. When you hover over chat click the down arrow on the right side and select circles. Thought I had checked that before and only saw settings and sign out, but apparently not.

[Matthean]

Are we really parsing the difference between "few" (which I would define as 3-5) and "several" (which I would define as between 3 and maybe 7)?

They said in a month. I don't see 3-7 hours in a month as several. I wouldn't doubt some people log in 30+ hours in a month on FB.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I wouldn't doubt some people log in 30+ hours in a month on FB.

I do that in a week & change.

[Ben E Lou]

Upper right hand corner -> "More Actions" -> Select All

Assuming you're talking about the Circles screen in G+.
Ah, thanks. Yeah, that's what I was wondering about.


So, um, another question: some dude named Rob Ordona (friend of Wade's, evidently) added me to his circles. I have no clue who this is. I would want my friends to find me on G+, but certainly not random people, or even the great majority of FOFC if he fits in that group. Is there not some sort of "friend request purgatory" like FB has where I can just leave him forever, so he can think that maybe I just didn't notice the request? (Which is actually true for me at FB. I just looked, and I had 41 pending friend requests, several of whom I would have accepted immediately had I seen them...) Is there no way to prevent me from having no contact or association with certain people? Some of the dudes I grew up with are some *very* sketchy characters, and I have no desire to be circle-jerkers with them.