Google+ created an attempted to challenge Facebook and Twitter in the social media world back in July. And they were pretty successful, at first. Within the first month, Google+ had 20 million visitors. After the hype from the new kid on the block, things started to sizzle out. There was some debate with brand pages as well as requiring real names for users.
After just under 90 days, today is the official launch and the introduction to the 100th feature: allowing anyone and everyone to sign up for Google+. Some features that the social media platform has that sets it apart from others are:
- Hangouts on your phone. This allows users with Android devices to bring face-to-face interaction to essentially video chat live, with multiple people. Don’t worry iPhone users, iOS support will be launching soon.
- Search in Google+. This feature allows you to search a subject of desire and receive more than just search results. Relevant people and posts will come up with related information that you are searching.
- Google+ Circles. Rather than just ‘friending’ someone like on Facebook, Google+ allows users to have control over who sees your profile and information. You can categorize friends into numerous groups such as friends, family, and work. However, since the Google+ beta period, Facebook has come out with the Lists feature that is similar to the Google+ Circles.
These are only a few of the 100 features that Google+ has introduced. Now that open signups are possible, we might see a spike in the social media site like we did back in July.
Are you using Google+? What are your experiences with this new form of social media?