Google+ and why should I (or anyone) use it?

[dalhorn1]

My wife wanted me to try this Google+ program today. I signed up for it, and now I have no idea why, other than she asked me to.

I rarely use Facebook (maybe 3x/year), I do a pretty good job keeping up with friends and family without it, and wonder if there's any benefit to the new service that one you can convince me that I can't live without relying on day-to-day.

 

[Dionysus]

I don’t use Facebook but I’m interested in G+ just from a techie standpoint. I don’t trust any of these services. When something is ‘free’ beware: you are what’s being sold.

 

[ADMIRALSTOCKDALE]

i signed up when it launched but maybe i misunderstood it. it's supposed to be a social networking project??
i just thought it was to endorse products/sites/etc that you like, which i thought could be useful if i were in the market for say a new car and i saw that one of my knowledgeable car friends had +'d something, or a gourmet cook friend who +'d a recipe or something.
i need to start paying more attention!

 

[orangecat1]

At first, I thought this was a reference to the DeSoto ISD School Board.

 

[Dionysus]

Admiral: you're probably thinking of Google's +1 Button which is a recommendation/voting thing. Not good branding on Google's part to have such similarly named initiatives.

 

[ADMIRALSTOCKDALE]

Yep, you're right Dionysus that's what I was thinking. And it is odd that they would make the names so similar.

 

[Statalyzer]

If you don't use facebook much, then you probably won't want Google+ either.

I'm interested in Google+ because right now there is no good alternative to facebook. Sure, it's a pretty crappy site and run by a total scumbag, but Myspace is far more atrocious. So maybe google can give us a good alternative.

However, I've already come up with one big knock on Google+. When someone who is on google+ invites you to join, they automatically start sending you e-mail updates every time that person updates their status or their profile. That's an idea that shouldn't have made it past the brainstorming session.

 

[Dionysus]

You can’t turn off those updates? I thought I read somewhere that G+ gave users more control over these kinds of things. I’d like to get an account to test it out but apparently you still need an invite to get in.

 

[JohnnyM]

When you post things there is an option to send emails to people you've added that aren't yet signed up on Google+. That option is ON as the default, so if you're not careful you will be sending people emails everytime you update your stream (or whatever it's called). I think they need to default that to be un-checked and allow people to check it.

Dio - if you want an invite just PM me your email

 

[Dionysus]

JohnnyM: PM sent.

Thanks!