Google+ is the latest, greatest social network. Google’s attempt at a Facebook rival. Starting out with needing an invite to join, the ‘exclusivity’ caught people’s attention about as much as anything else. Invites were limited to 5 per person already on the network, and once those had run out, Google put a hold on any additional invites. This was during the beta testing phase and invites were being sold on eBay for US$29.

A waiting list was then created by Google and once you signed up for this, you were allocated to some willing person lucky enough to already be on the network, generous enough to give you, a total stranger, an invite, once more were released by Google. When Google came out of Beta and launched officially, each person on the network was allocated 150 invites.

Google+ has grown at an extremely rapid pace:

In order to get onto Google+ when it was in Beta you needed an invite. Now you can simply log in with your Google account and set up your profile. If you have ever filled out a Google profile before (eg for Gmail or Reader), you will skip this step and Google will populate your profile for you from that information. You can easily edit your profile and add or remove details by clicking on your name or avatar (from home, which will take you to your own feed) and clicking on the Edit Profile button on the top right.

In terms of what Google+ really does, as well as why someone should bother using it when there are so many other social networks out there that we have been signing up for at will over the years, Mashable asked the very question on their Google+ profile, garnering over 600 answers. They chose the answers they felt really captured the essence of the network:

“It’s the combination of being able to share based on (hopefully!) mutual interests with the ability to get exposure to interesting people and ideas. The relationship doesn’t really have to be two way, but it doesn’t all have to be public.” ~ Holly Henry

“For some reason, the level of engagement is higher. Commenting and resharing seems to happen at a higher rate here (so far.)” ~ Bill Shander

“I’ve had a Facebook account since 2003. It’s time for something more grown up that gives me more control and has a more organic user experience.” ~ Sean Cooper

“If Facebook and Twitter had a baby, they’d call it Google+.” ~ Olaf Wempe

I personally identify with the last quote. I really feel that Google+ has the lengthy post capability of facebook, with previews of links, and the Like (+1), and comments on a status post features, combined with the ability to follow anyone you find interesting - a Twitter capability. here are however a few subtle differences in that you can privatise your posts to a certain extent, by choosing specific circles to share with, and disabling the re-share option, meaning that only those people that you choose to share with will see your post, as coming from you, in their newsfeed.

Home

 

Your home page is your landing page. When you get to your home page your feed will come from the people in your circles, as in Face

book where your home feed shows you what your friends have posted. You can choose which circle’s feed you want to look through which means you can browse by the categories you have chosen, e.g. people who post technology information are all in one circle, those who post news go into a different circle, those who post humour, yet another.

The "Incoming" stream is content from everyone you haven't circled back, but they've circled you. Since they've identified *you* as interesting, chances are they might be interesting too, and sharing content you'll like. One of the best parts of the Incoming stream, beyond the unique blend of content, is that you can easily decide to circle anyone on the spot.

Photos

Photos can also be viewed by various categories, the first of which is Photos from your Circles. This means you can view, in one place, all the photos posted by the people you have added to your circles. The second option is an album of photos uploaded from your mobile phone directly through the mobile app. The third section is Photos of You which will show you all of the photos in which you have been tagged. The fourth section is Your Albums which will show you all the photos you have uploaded, be it through posts or simply as photo albums.

In order to upload photos you can simply drag the images from their local folder on your computer and drop them into your chosen album. They will then start uploading automatically.

Profile

Your profile shows you your own posts, as well as posts in which you have been mentioned (you can ‘mention’ someone by writing their name preceded by a +). Unlike in Facebook, Google+ does not offer the option to write on someone’s wall, however mentioning them in a post will notify them that you are talking to or about them and has the same basic effect.

Within your profile there are a couple of other sections:

Posts

Your posts, anything you have shared or written or uploaded yourself.

About

This is your personal information that you would like to share with Google+ community. You can add links to all of your other online presences such as blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn, your shared items in Google Reader and any other addresses you would like to add.

Photos

Include albums of profile photos, all the photos/images you’ve ever posted, photos in which you’ve been tagged as well as albums that you create yourself.

Videos

Uploaded videos

+1s

When you find something interesting, give it a +1, comment or share. Beyond engaging with the Google+ community, and possibly forming new connections, you're giving signal to the original creator that their post was valuable or meaningful. That means they'll likely share more content like it.

The more info you add to your profile the easier it will be for people to find you, identify you as interesting and decide to add you to their circles. The Google+ profile offers some fun options over and above the usual name and contact details, such as ‘bragging rights’ and nicknames.

Circles

Circles allow you to categorise your groups of friends and to share things with specific categories - you can create groups of news people, close friends, colleagues, tech people and so on. You can choose which groups you share certain things with and other groups will not see them.

When you go to the circles tab these are the three options you will see:

• People in your circles - The people you have found and added to circles
• People who’ve added you - People who have added you to their circles
• Find people - Search for more people you may know or not know but still find interesting 

When you share something with a specific circle, only people that you have allocated to that circle will be able to see it. However, your circles are the people that you follow. These people do not necessarily reciprocate. So sharing info with a limited circle of people that you follow could well result in few or no people seeing this share. Naturally if you are sharing things of a personal nature with close circles, of people who have you in their circles too, then sharing with that specific circle would allow only those close friends to see your post.

You can create a bookmarks or favourites circle to save your favourite posts on Google+ or read them later. You don't need to put anyone in that circle. Simply share posts to that circle when you want to save them.

In order to add people to circles you can easily drag and drop people into various circles under the circles tab. To add quickly, you can add people straight from their profile using the ‘Add’ button. You can also add people to circles by hovering over their names (eg on a comment they have made somewhere) and here you will also see an option to add. 

Google+ vs Facebook

While it has a lot of the same functionality of Facebook I don’t personally see it as a “Facebook Killer”. While it is a social network, it has more of a Twitter vibe for me in that you can add anyone to your circles. These people can be anybody you find interesting as opposed to just your friends (as with Facebook) and these people do not need to approve your add, but they do get notified that you have added them.

As far as I’m concerned, Google+ is not a Facebook killer. I won’t be deleting my Facebook account any time soon as I don’t believe the target market is the same (in this country and for now, anyway). Google+ is more of a ‘business social networking tool’ for me while Facebook is still a ‘social social networking tool’.

If you are interested in what people who work for Google are sharing on Google+, you can find a list of them here.