Delving into Google+

 Is Google+ really mimicking Facebook? I was lucky enough to get an invite by David Webb through his developed app (Google+ invite) and become a Google plus user and early experience the new way of “Social Network”. At first glance, you could really tell that it’s pretty much Facebook like. It is now available to Philippine Android Market. But nevertheless its usage will not be limited to android users like me, it is currently on its way to the iOS platform subject to Apple’s approval (I wonder if they will be welcoming to their competitor’s vie).

One noticeable key difference from Facebook is the “Circles”.  Plus users get to organize people from work colleagues, family, friends down to acquaintances or even create another circle for certain group of people sharing the same interest like jogging buds. So I can select people on what only to share with which makes discreet sharing easy. When viewing at stream updates, you can either look at the full stream or just the specific circle. By the help of Google map, Plus can use your location and determine who has been updating their stream nearby.

Another advantage is that it is fully integrated with your email account so you don’t have to open a new tab and key in your account and password which some people will find convenient.

With Picasa, your albums are automatically incorporated with your profile. And just by dragging pictures to the upload box makes it an easy task. I did experience the uploading and it felt faster compared to Facebook. People with android devices have the option to upload images it captures which goes directly to a private folder. Then the user can later on decide on which they want to share publicly.

More and more people kept their speculation trending. They said Google is only to preserve its leadership in advertising which is understandable where Facebook dominates the social media as an advertiser. Anyway, Plus has just started with many possibilities to become, as more and more starting to use it. Its way to early to say whether it’s going to be dud or surpass FB. So just let the Circles expand! Add me to your Circles, butial.arjie@gmail.com