Google+ Social Network Now Open to Public: Just Follow the Blue Arrow
By Rob Scott
September 21, 2011
September 21, 2011
- Google+ opened to the public this week, two days prior to the annual F8 developer’s conference of rival Facebook.
- “Google+ lets people share comments, articles, photos and videos with various ‘circles’ of friends or contacts, or they can share content publicly with any user who wants to view their posts,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
- Vic Gundotra, a Google senior vice president, explained via a post on the company’s blog that Google+ is still in its infancy, but that the latest features bring the total number of improvements to 100 since the site’s launch three months ago.
- In addition to the ability to search for information on topics, see related posts from other Google+ users and relevant content from the Web, Android users with front-facing cameras on their mobile devices can now have a multi-person “hangout” (as compared to Apple’s Facetime which supports only two for face-to-face video chats).
- According to the article: “Google+ lets as many as 10 people communicate simultaneously in a video ‘hangout.’ On Tuesday, Google said people can broadcast a ‘hangout’ to the public, similar to how Google’s YouTube video site lets some partners broadcast a live event.”
- Focusing on video may give Google an advantage over Facebook. “Google+, which launched in late June and which up till now had only been open by invitation to users, is also putting a heavier emphasis on video, one of its main technology advantages over Facebook,” reports WSJ. “Facebook, which has more than 750 million active monthly users, recently inked a deal with Skype SA to allow its users to communicate with each other through their computer’s built-in video cameras.”
- For those who may be interested in registering for Google+, simply follow the blue arrow prominently featured on the Google.com page.
4 Comments
Added (and Upcoming) Features:
Hangouts On Air
Sometimes you want to speak to a large audience, or alternatively, view as a spectator. In these cases a public broadcast is what’s needed, so today we’re introducing Hangouts On Air.
Hangout Extras Under Construction
– Screensharing: for when you want to show off your vacation photos, your high score, your lesson plan or whatever else is on your screen
– Sketchpad: for when you want to draw, doodle, or just scribble together
– Google Docs: for when you want to write, plan or present something with others
– Named Hangouts: for when you want to join or create a public hangout about a certain topic (like fashion or music or sports…)
For more details go to:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-92-93-94-95-96-97-98-99-100.html
Added (and Upcoming) Features:
Hangouts On Air
Sometimes you want to speak to a large audience, or alternatively, view as a spectator. In these cases a public broadcast is what’s needed, so today we’re introducing Hangouts On Air.
Hangout Extras Under Construction
– Screensharing: for when you want to show off your vacation photos, your high score, your lesson plan or whatever else is on your screen
– Sketchpad: for when you want to draw, doodle, or just scribble together
– Google Docs: for when you want to write, plan or present something with others
– Named Hangouts: for when you want to join or create a public hangout about a certain topic (like fashion or music or sports…)
For more details go to:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-92-93-94-95-96-97-98-99-100.html
I haven’t actually experimented with this yet. Facebook also unveiled some new video apps at its conference this week. Really difficult to imagine anything leapfrogging FB’s huge head start. Never say never! But I think the Bing/Google analogy is a good one. Bing is a really excellent product that has not been able to gain much traction simply by virtue of Google’s having gotten there first. (On the flip side, there’s MySpace/FB, Blockbuster/Netflix/Blockbuster/Hulu…)
Speaking strictly from “hunch” with no empirical evidence to back this up, I think Google has something of the “wonk factor” that Microsoft experiences vis-a-vis Apple to deal with in terms of consumer branding in the social media space.
I haven’t actually experimented with this yet. Facebook also unveiled some new video apps at its conference this week. Really difficult to imagine anything leapfrogging FB’s huge head start. Never say never! But I think the Bing/Google analogy is a good one. Bing is a really excellent product that has not been able to gain much traction simply by virtue of Google’s having gotten there first. (On the flip side, there’s MySpace/FB, Blockbuster/Netflix/Blockbuster/Hulu…)
Speaking strictly from “hunch” with no empirical evidence to back this up, I think Google has something of the “wonk factor” that Microsoft experiences vis-a-vis Apple to deal with in terms of consumer branding in the social media space.
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