Google’s Wave was a flop, agreed. Same for Orkut and Google Buzz. And Google plus button is still anonymous to many, if not the most. But if you thought Google can’t impress you in the gutsy social media world, ask yourself the same thing after you’ve had a good introduction with the Google+ — the brand new social networking service (or even much more than that but precise and accurate) just unveiled by Google. Google+ is all about living the social life, just like the real life — or at least it’s a full-blown attempt at it by the world’s one of the most innovative company. Ready yourself — pick a cup or more of your fav drink or tea or sth — and take a dive into what Google+ is all about — it’s definitely severely interesting, intriguing and may very well change your idea of the web.
Google+ is looking to be the one solution for all social stuff you do on Internet. And after you’ve learned about it and are through the impressive videos, you’re gonna say, CAN IT BE THAT EASY? Well, it seems it is, and with Google behind it, we’re really very-extra-sure about it and the initial promos just point towards that.
But, it’s an invitation-based service only for time being and you may have to wait before you get a chance to try your hands on with this super-social stuff.
Okay, about the Google+.
First things first, Google+ is clearly beyond your facebooks, twitters and any other SNS you’re using, if any. It’s got a lot more choices — choices that are practical and you really wanted them from day one of your social life on the web. You’ll agree once you are aware of what Google+ aims to offer, so don’t act weird.
Google+ is composed of five elements — Circles, Sparks, Hangouts, Instant Uploads and Huddle — the last two being mobile specials. So, let’s check each one of them in some more details:
Google Circles
If you’re an Internet freak, you may heard about Google circles sometime before when some very remote rumors had occurred. It’s all about sharing stuff — with full control over what to share with whom, quite perfectly.
You share different things with different people. But sharing the right stuff with the right people shouldn’t be a hassle. Circles makes it easy to put your friends from Saturday night in one circle, your parents in another, and your boss in a circle by himself, just like real life.
Google Sparks
Google Sparks aims to simplify the process of getting you what you want. It allows you to add a topic/product/names/etc — which can be your fav celebrity or if you’re a geek like me, a custom ROM/theme/firmware is a natural choice — as ‘Interest’ of which you’ll be notified directly in your social account. Surely, you can use Google Alerts for that, too, but when all this hits your social webpage with a hint of what you friends are talking and stuff, it’s sounds great — and it is.
Suppose, you want to hear about a new ROM called ABC for your android phone — like, reviews, bugs, etc. With Google Sparks, you can ‘add’ an Interest — ABC ROM for “my_phone” — and Google will deliver directly to your social account what people are talking about the ROM. So that you get the reviews, share your views, etc and further develop on that. So, isn’t that great? I know, it’s not that new, but getting this in one place is surely new, and awesome.
Remember when your Grandpa used to cut articles out of the paper and send them to you? That was nice. That’s kind of what Sparks does: looks for videos and articles it thinks you’ll like, so when you’re free, there’s always something to watch, read, and share. Grandpa would approve.
Google Hangouts
Simply let your friends know that you’re up for a chat — video or text only — and those who want can join directly over the web with a slick interface that is no-hassle thing. I haven’t tested it — I’m waiting for my invitation, too — but can safely vouch for its excellence. It should the best — and easiest — way to connect with friends.
Bumping into friends while you’re out and about is one of the best parts of going out and about. With Hangouts, the unplanned meet-up comes to the web for the first time. Let buddies know you’re hanging out and see who drops by for a face-to-face-to-face chat. Until we perfect teleportation, it’s the next best thing.
Google Instant Uploads
After you’ve decided what you want to share with whom, and what you do not want to share with whom, leave it out to Instant Uploads to timely update your pics and videos in the way you wanted, or would have done with lots of manual exercise.
Taking photos is fun. Sharing photos is fun. Getting photos off your phone and on to the web is pretty much the opposite of fun. That’s why we created Instant Upload: so that from now on, your photos upload themselves. You don’t even have to say ‘cheese’.
Google Huddle
It’s about group chat. We’ll know more once we’ve got our hands-on, eyes-on and play-time with this naughty thing it. We’re really liking this — what about having a group chat with you guys when a new firmware shows up from Samsung again, or a new version of MIUI (or CM 7.1, for that matter)? Sounds interesting for sure, eh!
Texting is great, but not when you’re trying get six different people to decide on a movie. Huddle takes care of it by turning all those different conversations into one simple group chat, so everyone gets on the same page long before thumbs get sore.
Useful Links for Applying, Demo and Official Announcements
We know you’re dying to know where you need to head to apply for your invitation — well, go here. Click the button titled “Keep Me Posted” in the right top side and fill in the two little details — name and email address — on the very next page. Good luck — if you get the invitation, do share your experience with us.
If you want to know more, check out the all of this in Google’s own announcement here. Check out the interesting Demo of the Google+ features here.
There is already an Android App available, called Google+ — you can get your copy from here, but until you get the invitation, it’s not much of use.
Okay, for what it’s worth. We just found that Google search page has gone for a little bit of change. It looks different the first time you see it and what’s more interesting is this it mimics the search page — look out for that search icon too — the search page shown in the Google+ demo video by Google itself. It’s not so surprising since rollout has begun and we all will see it eventually. Here’s the screenshot of what we spotted on new Google search page (but it’s gone now for us, too, at least for the time being).
Tell us about what you think of Google+ in comments below.
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