Google+ Anyone there and is it too late?

[Perpetual Man]

As most people will probably be aware Google+ is the relatively new social networking site released by Google (tying in with all the other Google stuff) and touted as a rival to Facebook.

Which leads me to two questions:

1. Is there anyone using Google+ on the Chrons? I'm there under my real name (Tim James if anyone wants to add me to their circles). I'm finding it (after an initial settling in period) to be quite fun and dare I say easier to use than Facebook but...

2. Is it too late to really try and challenge Facebook? It's had such a head start and so many people using it are any of them really going to want to join another network, learning from scratch and when 90% of their friends on on Facebook.

Even though I made the decision to close my FB account 2 weeks ago, and despite liking what I see at G+ I'm already thinking or returning to FB.

[Dozmonic]

I tried it but didn't really use it or enjoy it. I don't use facebook much either in all honesty. I'll usually browse it, comment on a status or two, see little of interest and log off. I'll mostly keep in touch with people through steam, msn or email - unless they're "real" people and I have their number to text or call of course :-)

[mosaix]

I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned with Google. The search engine results are just bizarre on occasions and the whole thing has just become over-commercialised.

To be honest, I'm steering away from Google products.

[hopewrites]

I'm on + and I like it much better then FB because of the circles. If I were to try and do with FB what I can do so easily with + I would need 3 accounts and have to spend 3x as long managing them.
I'm not against sharing who I am with people, I just like to have absolute control over how much is shared with who when. + makes that easier then FB did.
the only problem I foresee is that websites all over have little links saying "like me on facebook" and as a + user there that trend is slow to catch on.

Sending you a request Perpetual Man (Edit: there are 7 of you, how bout you add me instead. Sejena Hope)

[Adasunshine]

I'm also on Google+ and very much prefer it to Facebook, it's much easier to use and I love the circles thing. Facebook have challenged that with "lists" but they are royal pain to set up and FB still "suggest" how you should be organising your lists which annoys me no end. I also really like how you can follow people like you can on Twitter, most people who have Twitter now have Google+ and I like that Google+ enables me to have everything in one place like that, including my news feed, there is even a Chrons feed on the news section of your Google profile, I'm hoping Brian takes that further!

I have a Facebook account also, mainly because I am one of those sad people who plays Farmville but I rarely use it to interact any more, I find Facebook so intrusive and unnecessarily in your face, they seem to need access to so much information about you and that never sits well with me.

I think if anyone can challenge Facebook then Google are the company to do it, it might take a while for people to migrate over to Google+ but I think eventually a lot of people will make that move particularly as Facebook's privacy policies have come under such a lot of scrutiny lately.

As to liking websites, if you do a Google search for stuff and websites appear in the results, you should see a +1 sign next to it, that's the Google equivalent of the Facebook "like". YouTube (obviously) adopted this very early on with their videos also.

xx

[Perpetual Man]

Okay, still not sure if I am using G+ right, but added Hope to my circles, can you actually send a request?

And now feeling like a right old idiot Ada, but where do I find the Chronicles on the news feed (where do I even find the news feed)???

[hopewrites]

"home" is the news feed. you can take people in your circles in and out of the people on your feed.

[Adasunshine]

Originally Posted by hopewrites

"home" is the news feed. you can take people in your circles in and out of the people on your feed.

Oh, sorry, not that News Feed, it's part of your Google profile

Originally Posted by Perpetual Man

Okay, still not sure if I am using G+ right, but added Hope to my circles, can you actually send a request?

And now feeling like a right old idiot Ada, but where do I find the Chronicles on the news feed (where do I even find the news feed)???

Don't feel like an idiot, I only found it because of insomnia and boredom!

When you're in your Google+ profile, along the top are tab links to Gmail / Calendar / Documents etc. Go to the "More" option and down to "Reader", and then to "Add Subscription" or "Browse for stuff", search SFF Chronicles and voila! You can choose which news (as in proper news not the news of your friends) feeds to subscribe to (similar to RSS feeds). I use Reader for all sorts of things, it's like my own personalised newspaper from around the world!

xx

[hopewrites]

Oh neat!! thanks, I'm still tinkering with mine getting used to it when I have time and occasion.

[Perpetual Man]

Aha, spot on perfect, thanks Ada!

And it seems that they are going to be linking reader with google+ (sort of) soon as well.Excellent all round

[Adasunshine]

Originally Posted by hopewrites

Oh neat!! thanks, I'm still tinkering with mine getting used to it when I have time and occasion.

Originally Posted by Perpetual Man

Aha, spot on perfect, thanks Ada!

And it seems that they are going to be linking reader with google+ (sort of) soon as well.Excellent all round

You're both very welcome

@Perp Woot! I was wondering when that would happen, I noticed the "People you follow" search option in Reader and that you can share news with Google+ friends. The more I play with Google+, the more I grow to like it.

xx

[Wybren]

I am on Google + I like it because I can have certain circles where I share things with people without having the worry that I am going to hear tomorrow at work that I have lost a limb and am suffering from the plague after posting something like " oh hey having the flu sucks"

[Abernovo]

In an attempt to drag myself into the 21st Century, I now have Google+. Truth be told, I only got it because I set up a gmail account when other email accounts were difficult to access with slow connection speeds.

Now all I have to do is work out how to link to people and places. I did +1 the Chrons, though!

[TheTomG]

I am on Google + but I admit I haven't signed in to it lately. If someone adds me, you might want to let me know on FB, Twitter or here, as a needed poke in the back to get me moving into signing back on over there

[AnyaKimlin]

I have google+ but keep forgetting about it, it's a shame because of all the social networking sites I actually like it best.