Google+: Cheat Sheet

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Google+: Cheat Sheet
Updated: Facebook killer - or a latecomer to the social networking party?
By Natasha Lomas, 5 August 2011

Google+? Is Google getting into pharmacy now?
No, no - Google+ is Google's new social project, announced to the world at the end of June.
Social you say? Is this Google's stab at a Facebook killer then?
That's the idea. Or rather, it's the project Google hopes will prevent Facebook from killing it.
The growth of the social web has been drawing eyeballs away from the internet proper - the place where Google makes its dough through search ads - at an alarming rate in recent times, so to keep on top Google really needs to make its presence felt in the social sphere too.
Hasn't Google tried social before and failed miserably?
There was Google Buzz of course, the ill-fated social feature for Gmail that caused lots of resentment because Google automatically signed people up to it. Enforced social networking just isn't cool, as Google rapidly realised.
Buzz is not their only attempt either. In fact, Google is a bit of an old hand in social. Its Orkut social network, big in India and Brazil, launched back in 2004. But as successful as the site is in select geographies, it has never translated into a global social phenomenon à la Facebook - which brings us to Google+...
What exactly is Google+ then?
It's a collection of social tools that Google hopes will create the kind of social web and community experience the company has generally failed to create thus far. Or, as Google cryptically describes it: "We're adding some new stuff to Google to make sharing online more like sharing in real life."

Google+ icons: Circles, Hangouts, Instant Uploads, Sparks, HuddlesImage: Google/silicon.com
Tell me more...
In basic terms, Google+ offers a social experience familiar to users of Facebook, with the ability to post updates, link an online profile to other users and view a news feed - Stream - of updates from people or interests you are connected to.
So far so Facebook. But Google+ is not a carbon copy of Zuckerberg's baby. The biggest difference between the two services is that Google+ allows users to connect to other users' profiles without having to get permission first - like Twitter. Google+ users still get to control what content these hangers-on see, but they don't have to agree to a friendship request from each of them in the first place.
Google+ also has a feature called Circles that allows you to group people into different social circles, so rather than having one generic friends list, as you would on Facebook, you create different circles of Google+ users. So one might be called 'work colleagues', for instance, and another could be 'real friends'. The idea is to make it easier to share different content with different social circles, rather than broadcasting that funny cat video to everyone you've ever met. It's about sharing, but in a targeted way.
Many of Google+'s features are new services but Google has also recycled some existing web services - such as Google Profiles, the ability to create a searchable public profile page, and its +1 search recommendation feature - to help flesh out its offering.
The end result is a package of features that gives the fledgling social network more polish than might be expected of a beta.

Hmm, isn't Google+ just another walled garden in the style of Facebook?
Quite possibly. However, Google does have an inhouse team called The Data Liberation Front which works to ensure Google products allow users to pick up their data and leave, so hopefully Google+ won't seek to replicate a Facebook-style lock-in.
What other new features does G+ have?
One cool feature is a group chat system called Hangouts - a kind of cross between Chatroulette and FaceTime. So far, video-chatting has proved a pretty tough sell, but Google is hoping its Hangouts feature will encourage more casual video chat.
The system lets Google+ users inform particular friends - or Circles - that they're in a video-chatting mood. Up to 10 Google+ users can then join in the video call if they want.
Another feature is Sparks. This allows Google+ users to have content sent to them, based on topics they are interested in. Tell Google+ you like skydiving, for instance, and it will push blogs, videos and photos relating to skydiving in your digital direction. Think of it as another Facebook 'Like' button, delivering a pipeline of content your way.
Another new feature is...
...aimed at mobile users of the service. Instant Upload does what it says on the tin for G+ users with a cameraphone. Snap a photo with your mobile and it will be automatically uploaded to a private Google+ album. Users can then choose which of the photo uploads to share with others. Google reckons this takes the legwork out of uploading all those photos of your family holiday to your social network.
Potential for some seriously embarrassing slip-ups there though, methinks...
Quite. Hence the check on the system by requiring users to OK the photos they do want to share.

Google+'s Huddle feature enables mobile users to indulge in group IM chatsImage: Google/silicon.com
Another feature for mobile users is called Huddle - this offers groups of Google+ users a way to chat over IM on their mobiles. Think of it as Google's version of BBM.
Hasn't Google tried real-time collaboration before and, er, failed?
There was Google Wave, a real-time collaboration tool which included a group IM feature. Wave started with a bang, overexciting techies everywhere, but fizzled out after users failed to embrace it.
Google clearly didn't ditch the idea altogether, though, and looks to be reusing some of Wave's learnings in Huddle.
How does Google's +1 feature tie in with Google+?
It's akin to the Facebook Like button - or Twitter's RT feature - so content you have +1ed can appear on your Google+ profile and in the Stream of users who follow you, or in G+ speak, 'have you in Circles'.


And the Google Profile is like my Facebook profile page?
Indeed. You need to create a Google Profile to sign up to Google+, and you can't have a private profile - although you can limit who sees your G+ postings and thereby ensure only your BFFs have access to your most intimate musings, although of course nothing prevents them from cutting and pasting...
Is Google+ live now then? Where can I join the party?
The service is live but it remains invite-only. Google has taken a softly-softly approach to the launch of Google+, perhaps taking note of the bad reaction to the Buzz rollout and trying to create some excitement around the launch by utilising the heady whiff of exclusivity.
Despite the invite-only "field trial beta" status of Google+, business analytics company ComScore reckons the service has already racked up 25 million users in the month or so since its unveiling. Not bad for a newbie.

Google+: A sign that organising information cannot be done by algorithm alone?Image: Google/silicon.com
Is Google+ going to do better than the search giant's past social efforts?
It's far too early to say but the signs are at least more positive this time around - not least those 25 million users. Google appears to have learnt that you can't press-gang people into joining a social network, you lure them with exclusivity instead. Google+ also looks more thought-through and intuitive than Buzz or Wave.
By taking it slow, Google is also showing it's in this for the long haul. The company has certainly been expending a lot of effort on getting social right, saying last year it is "working hard" on the area. But with Facebook gobbling up so many internet eyeballs, it surely has to.
However, in the long run, Google's latest social experiment will stand or fall on whether enough people choose to use it. A party that includes few of your friends is not a party you're likely to hang around at for very long - or even bother turning up to at all.
ComScore reckons G+ users are spending increasing amounts of time on the site. But again, that might just be because it's still so shiny and new. Google needs more than the enthusiasm of early adopters to make a long term success of G+ - and persuading the average social networker to switch from Facebook, or make room for +1 social network in their online life which may well already include Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, could well be an uphill struggle for the boys and girls of Mountain View.
Anything else?
It's certainly interesting to see Google, that great online organiser of the world's information, recognising that algorithms alone aren't enough. It seems the humble human still has something to offer - at least for now.