Google has thrown their hat into the social networking competition with their latest program Google+. I know several people that are trying it out, some really love it, some really hate it; so today I’m here to share my thoughts on it as I have been using it for about 2-3 weeks now.
It is definitely not as feature rich as Facebook, and when I say “feature rich” I really mean it doesn’t have any apps. There aren’t any games, there aren’t any surveys, its just a social dashboard. I really like the concept of “circles” where you can group your good friends, blah friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers, etc. You can post status messages to just a particular group that way your boss didn’t see that you were playing X-Box when you were “home sick” that day or that your parents won’t see that you went out drinking Friday night and woke up next to someone you never met before.
I’m not sure what the big deal has been with this whole “real name” issue I have seen scattered across the tech articles. I think the responsibility falls to the user, not to Google, to manage who will see your real name. Anyone who accuses Google of violating privacy because you don’t think _your friends_ should see your real name, well you are clearly a tool.
I would recommend giving Google+ a try, especially if you are tired of the overzealous presentation of Facebook. The one caveat I would keep in mind is that Google+ is still in beta so it will have bugs, it will misbehave, things may work differently from iteration to iteration.