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.
They need to make sharing links and other things more easy to do. Facebook has a bookmarklet that allows me to share the page I’m currently viewing. If G+ does the same, it would certainly make sharing things easier and more spontaneous.
I’m still trying to figure out the interface, though. Hard to tell what’s a control, what’s a screen decoration, etc.
I’ve actually been interested in this more granular control of a “social network” environment for some time. Due to the nature of my work, I don’t feel particularly free to share my thoughts, photos, articles I enjoyed, etc. with the entire world. That’s why I never use Facebook as more than a read-only medium (and even that, rarely). I find the majority of my communication with friends is on the “lists” but that’s limited to whatever topic may be at hand. I’m hoping something like Google+ could revitalize my interest in social networking because I’ve been almost completely absent from Facebook for practically a year and I’m starting to feel like some kind of paranoid shut-in.
Pierce
John: Agreed. They don’t yet have a lot of the supporting tools yet, but since it’s technically a private trial right now, I’m expecting that some of those will get added before or during their actual beta period.
Pierce: I hear you. I tend to over-share (no, me? really?), with the attitude that I may be racy or political at times, but nothing I say in bits online is illegal or generally odious… but I’ve certainly had double-take times that I’ve filtered out “work friends” from an update, or thought twice about how I said something.
I’ve also been playing around a little bit with Diaspora (http://joindiaspora.com) lately, and it’s an interesting comparison. I really like how Diaspora allows you to set up your very own node of the network, so you can play in the same big sandbox as everyone else, but your data stays on your own machine. I wonder if Google will eventually do the same. (I doubt it)