Google+:

Have You +1’ed Yet?

 

Google reinvents its social side with the ambitious Google+ initiative that aims to overthrow Facebook.

BY Kamakshi S, Priyanka Tilve, Kushal Mamoowala

What Google is to search, Facebook is to social networking, but with the search engine giant launching Google+ - its attempt at tapping into the social networking phenomenon, it remains to be seen if this equation will change. Developed under the codename ‘Project Emerald Sea’, Google+ is not Google’s first attempt at social netwroking. Before Google+, the company tested the waters with Orkut, Buzz, Wave, Jaiku, etc. but except Orkut, none of them managed to even create a ripple.

Facebook, on the other hand, is a giant that seems almost impossible to overcome. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, what was initially open only to university students, gradually opened up to anyone in the world over the age of 13. Facebook has since captured the imagination of the world and successfully squashed any competition. According to reports, Facebook currently has over 750 million active users around the world, which is no small feat. What it’s also doing in the process is amassing tons of personal and sensitive data so willingly shared by millions of its users. This data is like a gold mine of information that can be harnessed in numerous ways. It has also brought about a paradigm shift in the way people perceive and use Internet.

If Google, with its array of successful services that people have come to rely on, wants to maintain its stronghold, then it is only natural that they come up with a social network to rival Facebook. Google has invested a lot of time and manpower into Google+. Have they finally nailed it, or are they going to burn their fingers yet again? Let’s find out.

Google+ Features 

Although Google+ is currently creating waves in the social networking space, not all its features are new or innovative. However, it does seem to be user friendly, and after using it for a short time, you will get the hang of it.

The Stream of communication

Similar to news feeds on Facebook, you can share posts, pictures and videos with your friends on your stream. Click on the home button on your Google+ page to go to your stream and start posting. You can post text messages, photographs, GIF animations, videos, links and your location using the share box. Moreover, you don’t really need to upload pictures from your PC; you can just drag and drop links to your share box to share both videos and pictures. You can share stuff with individuals, your circles, and extended circles (people in your circle, and their circles too) or make your posts public for anyone to view on the service. Once posted, you can disable sharing to keep posts private, or even disable comments if you don’t want your conversations to be prolonged. All posts that appear on your stream either through specific circles or people contain tags like Public, Extended circles, or Limited. Click on the link to see the people the post is shared with. 

 Posting on your stream

Google+ enables you to upload GIF animations on to your stream, just like adding pictures. Click on the little camera icon on the ‘Share what's new...’ box and click ‘Add photo’ to upload your GIF image. Google+ also supports a fair bit of rich text formatting in your posts. To make words bold, use the asterisk symbol (*text*), to strike out a word use hyphen (-text-), and use underscores to italicize words (_text_). You can mention friends by prefixing their names with the + or @ symbol. You can make posts private by clicking the dropdown menu near the post and selecting the ‘Disable reshare’ option. You can also disable comments this way.

Sparks of information

If you want to ensure that you are informed about topics of your interest, you can add a Spark on the topic. Apart from a list of ‘Featured interests’, you can also search and add Sparks for any other topic. Sparks work like an aggregator similar to the Google Reader, but it doesn’t limit itself to just atom or RSS feeds.

 sharing links from your Sparks list on your stream

You can create custom Sparks apart from signing up for the predefined options. To create a quick access point for your favorite topics, go to the Sparks link in your profile. Click on the existing options or type out what you are looking for. Once the page is loaded, click the ‘Add interest’ button. The topic will appear as a link under the Sparks section. Click the link to be directed to the search results quickly. You can share interesting links by hitting the share option that appears under each searched link.

The Circle of life

You can categorize and organize your Google+ contacts in Circles, just like you do in real life. While there are pre-created circles that you can begin with, you can go on to create your own circles as required. To add friends to a circle, just drag and drop, and you can also add a person to more than one circle. This way, you can share messages selectively on your Google+ stream. If you have shared posts with a certain circle which contains a friend who also features in another circle, rest assured that the remaining members of the second circle will not be able to view your posts. If you don’t share posts with any specific circle, you can mark them as public posts, which are visible to people who are not in any of your circles, even if they are not following you on the service. You can have as many as 5,000 friends across circles.

 Hiding friends in your circle.

Even though you classify friends in circles, all your friends are visible by default on your profile. If you don’t want to share the information with the world, you can hide it on your profile. Login to Google+ and go to your Google+ profile. Click the ‘Edit Profile’ button and click the circle appearing next to either of your friend lists. Uncheck ‘Show people in my circles’ and ‘Show people who have added you to circles’ options. Click Save and then click Done to save changes to your profile.

If you don’t want people to appear in your account at all, you can block such contacts. While you can neither comment nor receive any comments once you block a person, you continue to be in their circle and they can view your public posts. To block a user, go to their profile and look for the ‘Block <name>’ link appearing below the friend listings. If you want to ignore selected posts and not block any person, click the dropdown menu appearing near the post and click ‘Mute this post’ instead.

Virtual Hangouts

Google+ hangouts enable you to video chat with as many as ten friends at once. You can also watch a Youtube video together. The best feature of hangout is that it detects voice modulation and loudness and switches communications accordingly. For example, if one of your video chat friends is louder than the other, his chat window will be displayed prominently, while other widows are arranged neatly in a row below. When you are watching a video, the window streaming video gains prominence.

 Starting a hangout

To start a video chat room, go to your stream and click the ‘Start a hangout’ button. Before you can begin, you will have to install the Google Voice and Video plugin. Save the EXE file, close all your browser windows, and run the file. Now reopen your browser and sign into your Google+ account. Go back to your stream and click the ‘Start a hangout’ button. Check your camera and microphone settings and click the hangout button. Click the invite button to invite either entire circles or specific friends. Click the Youtube button to load videos. You’ll need to be careful as these chats are not private; anyone can join the hangout if they have access to the unique URL of the chat session.

+1 to bookmark sites

While the +1 feature for a post appearing on your stream is similar to Liking the post, it is not limited to that alone. If you are using Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari or FIrefox browsers, you can use +1 button that appears near search links on your Google search window. Once you +1 any link, it appears under the +1s section of your Google+ profile. While you cannot really share these links directly to your stream, it works like a social bookmarking service that can be made public on your profile instead. The +1 links appear only on Google Web search pages, but services like Youtube also let you +1 videos individually. 

 Making the +1 tab publicly available on your profile

By default, the +1 tab doesn’t appear on your profile for your friends to see. Unlike Sparks, you can not share +1 links on your stream; they are listed under the +1 tab on your profile only. To share these links with your friends, you can open the +1 tab on your profile. To do so, go to your profile, go to the +1 tab and click ‘Edit profile’. Check the ‘Show this tab’ option on ‘my profile’ and click save. You can also disable the Buzz tab on your profile. For that, go to the Buzz tab and uncheck all the options. Click Save and the ‘Done editing’ buttons to save the changes on your profile.

Share photos from your Picasa albums

The best thing about using Google+ is the integration with other Google services. While you can upload pictures directly to your stream, you can also share albums saved in your Picasa account. When you sign up for a Google+ account, you can view all your Picasa albums on your profile page, but they are not shared on your account by default. You will have to go through each account on your Google+ profile page to share them in your circles. Till you share them explicitly, albums you haven't shared can be seen only by you.

 Geo tagging pictures

You can add location information to all your pictures that you upload on your Google+ account. However, these would only work if your uploaded pictures have the location tagged into their EXIF information from your camera. If your camera supports geotagging images, you can go to the settings button, which appears next to your picture on the navigation bar and select Google+ settings. Check the ‘Show photo geo location information’ in ‘newly uploaded albums and photos’ option under the Photos section and save changes. Your newly uploaded photos will be tagged with locations as well.

 

Google+ on Android 

Since it is a Google operating system, it’s only natural to expect Google+ on Android devices as well. For now, you can use the Google+ app only Android smartphones, and the second generation app is available for free on the Android market. When you install the app, you will also notice an additional Huddle app. The Huddle can be best described as hangout without video conferencing or a limit on the number of friends you can invite.  The new update has fixed issues with Swype and also allows you to ignore Huddle invites and set photos as screen wallpapers. You can also add circles as views or switchable windows to ensure that you are aware of what is happening in your circles.

 disabling automatic uploading of images

By default, any new picture you click on your Android device is uploaded to your Google+ account. If you are using a GPRS network, it will cost you a bomb and will drain out your battery too. To disable the feature, load the Google+ app on your phone, and click the menu button. Click settings and scroll down to the ‘Instant upload’ section. Uncheck the ‘Instant upload’ option and click the ‘Instant upload settings’ option. Change the settings here as required and click the back button twice to start using the app on your device.

Google+ vs Facebook 

Facebook currently sits pretty at the top of the social networking ladder and has maintained its grasp for a while now. It is clear that Google+ has been created with the intention of directly competing with Facebook. Google+ does offer more in some aspects, and is somewhat of a combination of Facebook and Twitter, but a lot of the features that attracted many people to Facebook are missing in Google+. But while many Google+ features have been inspired by Facebook, does it offer enough to challenge Facebook for its number 1 spot?

 

Sharing and

 Privacy

With circles, Google+ makes your privacy and sharing a lot easier as you have already got segregated groups of contacts. Sharing information or links on your profile is quite similar between both social networks, with the option to choose specific people, specific groups, tag people or hide or delete posts. Google+ takes it a step further by giving you the option to allow your posts to be re-shared or even prevent comments from your posts. As far as privacy settings are concerned, there are a few minor differences. While both parties state that any material directly posted to the site, such as a status, comment or wall post is licensed to the social network, any links, sites, videos or images that you share from a different location are not owned by them. The difference is that Google+ allows you to completely shut down your account and leave, while Facebook only gives you the option to deactivate your account. Google+ also gives you the option of taking all your data with you, effectively asking them to wipe clean all the stuff you’ve uploaded or shared on Google+, which Facebook does not. Both parties also share information with third party applications or websites, although there exist very few for Google+ so far. The difference is that Facebook shares a lot more information than Google+ does, since the latter allows you to limit your shared data to just your name and email address.

Layout

Facebook users shouldn’t have trouble acquainting themselves with Google+. The central placement and format of the stream, the arrangement of circles and friends on the left side bar, and the placement of recommendations on the right side bar are all almost identical to the Facebook home screen. Google+ differs only slightly in the personal profile page, offering organized tabs for your information, photos, videos, etc. The addition of the ‘Google Bar’ at the top of the window is also reminiscent of Facebook with the notifications icon moved to the right side of the screen. The only difference where Google+ has an advantage is that the Google Bar is static as long as you are navigating between Google services such as Picasa, Documents, Reader, etc. Another very noticeable difference is the lack of ads on Google+. Facebook ads are well segregated, but still draw attention. Even worse is the fact that the material in the ad is sometimes not related to the content on the website it links to. Whether Google+ will open its doors to ads only time will tell.

+1 vs Like

The Google+ equivalent of a Facebook ‘Like’ is the +1. While +1 is similar to Like when it comes to appreciating someone’s post or comment, it can also be used to create bookmarks from Google search results, websites, videos and more. The Facebook Like button is best used to share groups, pages or apps within Facebook as your Likes are posted to your wall and appear on your friends’ timelines. +1, on the other hand, is more discrete, allowing you to archive material that you would wish to view in the future without sharing it on your profile or appearing on anyone’s stream. Every Google+ profile has a +1 tab that contains all the websites or links that you have +1’d. It does not, however, display comments on posts on Google+ that you have +1’d.

 

Apps

Facebook saw a drastic rise in popularity with the introduction of games, apps and quizzes. They are also the reason people started spending more time and money on Facebook, driving up revenue. While some users on Facebook were unappreciative of apps and games like Farmville, it is these apps that brought more traffic to Facebook. Google+ is still in its early days and Google are known for doing things differently, but it would be hard for anyone aiming to be on top of the social networking ladder to ignore the success of apps. Many new users on Google+ claim it to be better due to the absence of ads and apps, but the absence of apps could also be the reason a lot of users haven’t signed up yet.

Chat

This is one of the features where Google+ has outdone Facebook. Plus is incorporated with the standard Gchat panel, which is similar to Facebook chat, whereby you can text chat with any contact that is currently online. Google+ also features hangouts, where you can have a multi-person video chat with up to ten people. The interface is quite intuitive and also allows you to share Youtube videos while video chatting. To match this, Facebook has announced a video chat service of their own in conjunction with Skype, which allows users to have a one-to-one video chat, but this service is currently not available to all users.

 

Friends vs Circles

Google has approached ‘friending’ from a slightly different angle. Like Twitter, it enables users to ‘follow’ people rather than request their permission to view their profile. While this makes it easier to find friends and broaden your network, it does put more pressure on the user to ensure every post is on the correct privacy setting. Google+ forces you to place people into different circles, enabling you to share information with a certain group of people without having other contacts view it. This is helpful when you wish to share sensitive information with a select group of people. Facebook also allows for such grouping of friends with lists but the option to share material with a specific list is a tedious process. Another important aspect is that your circles on Google+ are invisible to others, while anyone on Facebook can see your groups and which groups you belong to unless they are specifically locked. The fact that Google+ forces you to segment your contacts rather than giving you the option of doing it makes selectively sharing information a lot easier. Google+ also allows you to prevent unknown people from viewing your friends or people in your circles, effectively displaying your list of friends as ‘0’.

 

The Minus in Google+  

Google created waves in cyberspace by sandboxing Google+ at its inception on June 28. Any avid social networker would be excited at the prospect of having a profile on a social network created by Google and the restricted access to Google+ only elevated the anticipation. Google initially sent invites only to users who they believed were extremely active on social networks in order to get experienced users to spread the word. As a result, talk of Google+ spread like wildfire across popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

There are still

 a few cracks

While Google has stated on several occasions that Google+ is still in beta testing, users have brought up a few security issues that need to be addressed soon if the service is to be successful. For instance, blocking a person on your profile will prevent his/her updates from appearing on your stream, but if you have a mutual friend who reshares your posts, the person you blocked can also read and comment on them. There is also an issue with posts not updating in real-time and delayed email notifications but this might be a teething issue since Plus is still at a nascent stage.

Spam in your Inbox

The servers running out of disk space not only prevented users from signing in or uploading content, it also affected the Gmail notifications. A Google representative explained “For about 80 minutes we ran out of disk space on the service that keeps track of notifications. Hence our system continued to try sending notifications. Over, and over again”. This resulted in users getting multiple emails regarding undelivered notifications and when the issue was solved, users received multiple notifications that were not delivered earlier.

The Rush for Invites

The spread of Google+ by word-of-mouth led to mass requests for invites from users that had not had the opportunity to join it. Google claim that access to the site was limited as they did not have servers that would be capable of handling excessive loads. Steadily, Google+ allowed its members to send out invites for brief windows every few days, thereby slowly increasing the number of members. However, it was not long before users discovered flaws in the system that allowed users to join the network without an invite.

Server Overload

As users discovered loopholes in the Google+ system to give their contacts access to the site, the number of users increased exponentially. It was possible for new users to join the network by simply getting an existing Google+ user to share a post with them or tag them in photos. If a link or a page was shared with a non-member or the non-member was tagged in a photo on Google+, they would receive a notification of this via e-mail. The e-mail contained a link, which allowed users to create a new profile. The unexpected influx of new users had adverse effects on Google’s servers, however, causing them to go over capacity and making the site inaccessible.

 

But there’s not much happening

Even though anyone and everyone is keen to sign up to Google+, once you’re there, the excitement is quite short-lived. After exploring the site and its features, users quickly realize that there’s very little activity. Compared to the frequency with which there is a new post on your Facebook news feed, the Google+ stream is relatively static, mostly due to the reduced number of friends in your circles. With the scarcity of content in the stream, users are quick to lose interest and defer back to Facebook to follow their friends’ activities.

Advertising on Google+

Where most existing Google+ users used the loopholes to bring their friends and family to the new social network, a few companies saw it as novel methods of advertising or marketing their brands. PH Creative, an Israeli ad agency, capitalized on the popularity of Google+ to advertize its brand name and services by announcing that they were sending invites to anyone in the marketing industry. The message spread, and in just a few hours, their mailbox was flooded with requests for invites. PH Creative promptly provided these people with a doorway into Google+ by tagging them in a photo and giving them instructions on how to get started. Once their profile was created, these new users had just one friend - PH Creative. The company then shared and uploaded its portfolio to Google+, resulting in these new users having their stream flooded by information only about PH Creative.

Will GooGLE+

go the distance?

With people already busy leading their lives in cyberspace courtesy Facebook, the addition of yet another social networking site is likely to cause little stir. One thing is for sure; it’s difficult to escape Google, the omnipresent Web powerhouse that’s everywhere. People who have signed up for Google+ will simply find it difficult to ignore the notifications that appear in the Google notification bar. And as the invitations open up, more and more people will sign up for Google+, at least to give it a try. Since Google already has access to the databases of all the people we interact with courtesy Gmail, you will not have to go find people you know; Google will bring them to you.

Google+ definitely has an edge over the competition as they can track the problems people experience with other social networks. They knew exactly what people were looking for, what worked and didn’t work, and what people wanted. Little wonder then that at first glance, Google appears to have integrated the best features from other popular social networking sites into Plus. Additionally, you also have new features like Sparks making sure you do not need to go beyond Google for anything you need from the Internet.

And considering the reach of Google, social networking will now be available to even those people who had so far managed to keep out of the social networking craze.  While for those who are already busy juggling their various online profiles, addition of Google+ can cause some anxiety. Prominent psychologist Varkha Chulani says that while social networking in itself is not a bad thing, what’s missing is balance. She says, “In most cases what’s happening is that people are loosing the balance between reality and the virtual world. They are losing perspective, because at the end of the day, success is not going to be measured in terms of social networking skills, but by what one does and knows in real life. A new site will make no difference, and for it to make an impact, it will have to offer something really exciting.”

All said and done, the question still remains - will people jump onto the Google+ bandwagon? After spending a great deal of time and effort on setting up their social networks on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, are people willing to do the same for Google+? Then again, there is the view that some might look to Google+ as a way to ‘reset’ their online presence, and this time add only ‘real’ friends on Google+, rather than the ‘friending’ spree they undertook on other networks.