Some first impressions of Google+ (NYT article here http://goo.gl/3W24D):
* The UI is clean. Much easier and less cluttered than FB. “Likes” are done using the recently-introduced Google “+1″ feature.
* The “Hangout” feature is a simple group video chat webapp in a pop out window.
* The “Sparks” feature is a list of recommended things you might be interested in. It’s supposed to evolve to recommend things based on other things you like (via the Google +1 feature, I believe)
* “Circles” is how you organize your contacts. Basic Circles include “Friends”, “Family”, “Acquaintances”, and “Following” (people you listen to but don’t share with). It’s a neat way to control who you share what with. It doesn’t assume that you want to send to a certain Circle – it requires you to choose which Circles to share with on each post.
* Mobile Clients on Day 1! The Android client is nice (iPhone client waiting for approval), and the web client is really clean and usable, too.
One thing that worries me a little is that (right now) you can choose to share a post with people who aren’t on Google+, which sends them an email instead. This seems like it’s got significant potential for spamming abuse, and I hope that Google has something in place to keep an eye on that, or will be shutting it off later, when they go to full beta instead of closed trial.
All in all, pretty neat so far.
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