The last time I dove into a new Google universe, it was Google Wave, and I was left bewildered and certain it would fail. I've been playing in the Google+ sandbox for a week now, so it's time to share my thoughts.
The Interface is Awesome
That was my initial thought... this thing is fun to use. Updates are instant, it's damn easy to put people in circles or share with certain circles. It's clean, pretty, in fact, and you can quote me on this, Google+ is to Facebook what Facebook was to MySpace.
After a While, It Actually Makes Sense
At first, I found Google+ a little confusing. It seemed to be missing some standard Facebook-esque qualities. For example, I didn't know how to share something with just one person without creating a circle just for that one person. That was dumb, but thankfully, I was wrong. It's easy to share with one person by simply starting with @Person's Name.
The whole circle concept is genius. It's Facebook without all the privacy and security issues. You could have one circle called "best buds", another called "family", another called "colleagues". I actually have one called "blog readers" for all the folks I've shared invitations with via this blog.
Google+ makes sense as a way to share anything with everyone, or slo-pitch line-ups with your ball team. And reading your stream will make a great deal more sense once you can exclude certain circles. Like I said, the entire circle concept is gold.
Google+ Is Only Missing One Thing
This is the big one we've been waiting for. It's Facebook meets Twitter and it's fun to use, but it's missing something. It's missing you.
So please, give it a shot. Do it for yourself, for social networking, for me.
By the way, I have plenty of invites if you'd like to get in there and play around. Simply leave a comment on this entry and I'll set you up asap.
