Google+

I really like Google+. For those who don't know, Google+ is a social network site that Google came out with a few years ago. It was at first a huge success, getting lots of users, fast. but then it slowed down a little bit.

Everyone who does social does Facebook. Or has. Facebook just keeps sucking more and more every year. I'm not liking what I see when I log in. Those huge ads taking up space in my news feed is the latest final straw. The interface is annoying, too. And in my opinion it looks cluttered and kind of thrown together, so much stuff all up in your face. Google+ though, I think, got it right. The interface is much simpler, and you only see the stuff you actually care about. It's organised, and easy. It looks prettier.

I'm one of those people who really likes and enjoys Google products and the Google environment. I think Google is awesome. Gmail is by far my favourite email site. I like how all my stuff is integrated. And it's on all of my devices. And now that Google+ is integrated with Blogger, it's so easy to use photos that are tied to my Google+ account. I have my iPhone and Nexus 7 automatically upload photos to Google+ so all my photos are in the cloud privately stored and ready to share either here or on Google+. And whenever I make a post on Blogger, I get a prompt to share the post on Google+ to either Public, or whatever Circles I want.

Circles. I really like the idea of Google+ Circles. It makes the organisation of family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and people/pages you follow so easy. You can create a bunch of circles, and on your home page you can just click on what circle you want to see updates from. When you go to post, you select which circles to share it with, or all of them, or Public. This way, people only see what they feel like seeing. You share stuff with only the people who actually care about it. Or, you can just post everything publicly, or just share stuff with one person at a time. It's up to you.

Communities. The Communities on Google+ are awesome. You can search for topics on Google+ and join huge numbers of Communities. They are actually quite active with many members posting all day every day. In a Community, you can go in and see what people are writing in the group, and contribute your own posts. It's a great way to meet many people like you who share your interests. Google+ really is not the "ghost town" people think it is.

My Google+ home page feed is always moving with a lot of content. The sad part is, it's all from people I mostly don't know personally. Most people currently on Google+ are tech geeks and fans of Google stuff, or photographers, artists, and people like that. I really wish all my friends would give Google+ a decent chance. I would love so much to ditch Facebook. I hate the vicious cycle going on:

"No one" is on Google+ because "no one" is on Google+.

or

No one is joining Google+ because no one they know is on Google+.
No one they know is on Google+ because no one they know is on Google+. .......

The solution to this is, get on Google+ and invite people you know. If everyone did this, there would be more people on Google+... Obviously.

Seriously, Just give it a try. If you're bored one day, and you find yourself on Google.com ... just move your mouse to that black bar at the top and click on +You. If you already use Gmail, then you're basically more than halfway to joining Google+.