Well it took long enough. More precisely 5 years for Google to finally launch their social media competition to Facebook. Although still in beta form, the Google + network has taken the best aspects of Facebook/Twitter and finely tuned it to its own audience of Google users (via Gmail, Youtube, Picasa Reader, etc.) So what does this mean to you Facebook junkie? Well it depends on what you want to use network for but Google + is the legitimate competition to Facebook social media geeks have been waiting for.

Circles

The Circle system in Google + is basically what Facebook wanted their “Groups” to be. Once signed up to Google+ the user has the option to put their contact lists into circles of people with whom he/she would like to share information with. This idea is amazing because there are discussions one would like to keep within a certain group of people that they do not want the entire world to be privy to.  For example, a friend who is a journalist has started to use the circles system to share information with his fellow journalists on particular topics before going to press with an article. As he is editing the article, he is gathering insights on opinions, fact checking and general thoughts. Just over a year ago he would have to wait until he is article is posted/tweeted before insights can be shared. Now in over the 2 hours he takes to write the article, he can get valid up to the minute information and critiques as he is putting together the piece instead of waiting until publication.

I am no journalist but I have found great ways to use the Circle System for my own purposes. My “Circles” so far has aided in continuing discussions on soccer and music (two major passions of mine) as well as planning a mini vacation with friends who were in town for a few days. Although many would argue you can keep intimate conversations or sharing articles/videos using email or even the Facebook Message System, the interface of Google + makes it user friendly and addictive once the user gets the hang of it.

Hangout’s

The other strong feature of Google is “Hangouts”. As an extension of Circles a user has an option of extending the stream of conversation to a live format (most popular a group chats using the GChat interface or video chat). Although you have heard the same before presented by Apple, the Google + version is mass to all users with capabilities rather than limited to a small audience.

Where the Hangouts will improve the next few months is if Google will allow games to become a portion of the system. Recently I have enjoyed playing Facebook Games and idea of going against your friend list for top score has kept me addicted. If Google allows programmers to create Hangout games or use the technology for other purposes, the popularity of Google + will be limitless.

Even though the Google + is still in its early stages of development compared to the social media beasts of Facebook and Twitter, it has taken the best portions of both API’s and made it “Google”. There are many questions in how the system will proceed and the one noticeable lack of a Blackberry App which does prevent millions of users keeping the conversation going but right now take it for what it is. Google has developed a surefire competition to Facebook.