Google+

[Bomber The Cosmonaut]

I am very much enjoying Google+
And yes <_< everyone is saying it's Facebook + Twitter
Regardless, that still means it's more efficient since it's basically two social networks in the same application
Circles is probably my favorite part so far.
Hangout is nifty to (if you have a webcam)

Extremely easy to upload stuff onto Google+

Well, google is pretty good at exercising the K.I.S.S. principle.
E-mail, youtube, and social network all together? yeah... pretty boss so far

I couldn't get Hangout to work for me, but it seems cool.
Other than that, it's pretty neat. I would like to see it work with other Google programs. (Latitude, Voice, etc)

[Outrider]

Does video hangout work on mobile devices? I have a Droid X, which doesn't have a forward-facing camera, but I can see it becoming a big deal if you can do a group video chat on desktops & mobile phones through Google+.

[Ryno]

deng tried to sign up for the google + but it's just signing me up for a regular profile. how did you guys sign up?

[THLPSC]

deng tried to sign up for the google + but it's just signing me up for a regular profile. how did you guys sign up?

Invite only

[Ketchup345]

deng tried to sign up for the google + but it's just signing me up for a regular profile. how did you guys sign up?

Someone has to invite your right now, so just get someone with a Google+ account to send you one, then when there is space (apparently Google has more invites than openings occasionally, at least last I knew) you may make a profile from a link from the email Google sends you.

YTown said he's willing to invite people, just send him a PM clearly asking for an invite.

[Ryno]

ok. i'll send him a PM thank.

[Sord]

Since people have brought up "What is google+?" but no one has really responded with more specific details, guess I'll answer that.

Like facebook, you have friends/contacts that you choose to update in much the same way you do facebook (shove your shit in a text bar and hit enter.) The big difference is primarily in the "Circles" feature. What Circles allows you to do is group your contacts into circles and then broadcast your updates to the circles individually, a select few, or all of them.

Quick and dirty example: you have your friends circle and your family circle. Now you can broadcast that raunchy joke/comment you just thought up to all your friends, without worrying about your family seeing it and saying some judging drivel about it. People cannot see your circles or how you have categorized them, just that a person is in some circle of yours (which they have to be, if you're going to broadcast anything to them.) I haven't looked into it as much but I think the "mute" options on people are more customizable to, not positive on this.

+1s are basically the new Like button, except now when you google search crap, you can also +1 search results and the like. So you see some website or whatever you like, +1 it and it'll show up in your list of things you have +1ed. With that said, obviously there is a list of +1s kept on your profile. I imagine over time we might see things like comments/links showing up based on how many contacts in whatever circle have +1 stuff. There's a lot of ways it can go. BTW, if you +1 a link from a google search or whatever, it doesn't post it to your wall or notify anyone. It just goes on your +1 list, you'll still have to personally type your recommendation for people to visit the site if you want it broadcasted.

There's also a feature called Sparks, which I'm not to sure about the details. You can enter in interests of some sort and you'll get webpages/videos/pictures centered around those interests. I don't know what the filters for what content you get are, or how contacts/circles play into it. I'm guessing the +1 feature probably has something to do with it but I honestly couldn't tell you the specifics.

Regardless, the Circles was reason alone for me to at least start a Google+ account in the hope people switch to that and such a feature becomes standard.

Chat features are still around (and probably less buggy than the shit Facebook has.) It uses the same tech video/chat software that gmail uses. There's a feature called "Hangouts," in which you can just kind of sit on webcam, and anyone in your circle can drop in and say hi. Thing is, I really don't think most people are just gonna want to sit on webcam the whole time while they are playing a game or reading an article or something. Depending on your setup it could be hoggin your bandwidth and pc resources after all. There's also just that awkwardness of while you're not looking at the screen, someone could definitely be looking at you.

[BIG OLAF]

Like facebook, you have friends/contacts that you choose to update in much the same way you do facebook (shove your shit in a text bar and hit enter.) The big difference is primarily in the "Circles" feature. What Circles allows you to do is group your contacts into circles and then broadcast your updates to the circles individually, a select few, or all of them.

But, Facebook has that, too. You can add friends to different lists, and then hide statuses from certain "lists" when you write them. But, I think the "Circles" just makes it a bit easier by having it preset to only show the update to that particular group.

I just got my invite to Google+ from a friend a little while ago. I'm sure it's cool, but I really don't know how to use it, and I obviously don't have anyone to add since it's a "private trial run" or whatever. So, it's pretty boring, honestly.

[Sord]

But, Facebook has that, too. You can add friends to different lists, and then hide statuses from certain "lists" when you write them. But, I think the "Circles" just makes it a bit easier by having it preset to only show the update to that particular group.

I just got my invite to Google+ from a friend a little while ago. I'm sure it's cool, but I really don't know how to use it, and I obviously don't have anyone to add since it's a "private trial run" or whatever. So, it's pretty boring, honestly.

On the first one: pretty much. The thing about Google+ is that the feature is front and center. You have to use it. Anytime you add any contact, they have to go into some circle or another (this of course sucks for anyone with a massive contact list that's just moving over.)

As per the later, yeah, you got that right. The fact it's invite only is slowing down how fast people switch, so we don't know if the product will fail simply because we're all waiting for our friends to get on it (and actually start using it,) or if it will take off regardless. Google+ does have its work cut out for it simply because a massive amount of people already use Facebook and have everything set up on there. Back then you were adding a few people at a time. Now we're so integrated into it and have friends list breaking into the hundreads with whatever settings we've already applied, encouraging a massive migration to Google+ is going to be a challenge.

On the flip side, doing a full release could kill it since it's still pretty roughshod and unfinished looking and everyone will just go back to Facebook anyways because at least they are used to it. In addition, if you're gonna be creating a social networking site, it'd be a good idea for the testing process to involve actual socialization.

So I dunno how it's gonna go. Gmail seems to have greatly succeeded and that started out invite only. However, if anyone remembers Google Wave, that was a pretty big social networking flop as far as I know. Everybody wanted the betas and then nobody cared anymore. I believe Google+ has the potential to be better than Facebook, but it's gonna need a lot of users before it can begin to compete.

[Bomber The Cosmonaut]

Does video hangout work on mobile devices? I have a Droid X, which doesn't have a forward-facing camera, but I can see it becoming a big deal if you can do a group video chat on desktops & mobile phones through Google+.

When you download Google+ for your droid, it comes with Huddle. which is like Hangout, minus Youtube sharing and video chat.