Google + Features

Google+ is a brand-new social media site introduced in the middle of 2011.  It offers many of the same features that make Facebook so popular.  However Google also came up with a few of their own in an effort to make the site a bit better.

Streams are one of the main focuses of Google+.  Streams are a collection of posts, photos, and comments much like your Facebook news feed.  Unlike your news feed on Facebook however Google+ streams give you the ability to sort through the content based on who posted it.

This new social media site also takes the idea of streams further with the introduction of the Sparks feature.  This is a news-based stream which is delivered to you based on the type of content you are interested in.  If you see items you like and that your friends will like, you can easily share them.

You will likely have no trouble catching onto the concept of circles introduced by Google+.  Circles are merely Google's version of Facebook groups.  You simply put people into circles based on how you know them.  You can easily separate people into groups of co-workers, online acquaintances, and real-life friends.

Being a social media site you will likely want to share media such as images and video too.  Google+ makes this even easier to do than Facebook.  You can even upload media to the cloud without publishing it publicly for everyone to see.

One of the best features of Google+ is the Hangout feature.  This enables you to have a video chat with a group of your friends.  At the moment there is a maximum limit of ten people in a video chat.  If you have a smartphone that runs Android 2.3 or higher, you can also use the mobile video chat feature.

If you frequently use other Google services then you will appreciate the fact Google+ is integrated into the navigation bar of most of them.  You will easily be able to keep updated with the notifications in the bar.  There is also a drop-down window so you do not need to load the site either.

In order to get started with Google+, you will need to fill out your Google profile completely.  You will not be able to add your friends into circles until they fill out their profile completely either.  The site offers a nice base to compete with Facebook.  All it needs now is the huge population of users that Facebook has.