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Google Social Networks Technology

Google+ Already At 10 Million Users 1223

An anonymous reader writes "I project that Google will easily pass 10 million users tomorrow and could reach 20 million user by this coming weekend if they keep the Invite Button available. As one G+ user put it, it is easy to underestimate the power of exponential growth." I bet if people post in the discussion that they need invites, we can scratch each other's backs here. I've been using Google+ for a few days now (Yes I will put you in a circle ;) and have a lot to love, but unless I can gate twitter and Facebook, the best interface in the world won't help me until I can convince my kids' grandparents to move.
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Google+ Already At 10 Million Users

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  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @07:50AM (#36732048)

    But I value my privacy.

  • Would it be crass of us to rent a dingy motel, buy some horribly depressing cheap decorations, and invite Tom from Myspace and Zuckerberg from Facebook to their very own pity party?
  • This way, you get people you more or less already know ...

    Don't use your slashdot journal? Philistine!

    Also, not getting your kid's grandparents to use it at this time can be considered a feature. Let the early adopters work out the kinks first, otherwise when they try to move from failbook they'll just move right back.

    • Don't use your slashdot journal? Philistine!

      I'm taking a page from Kevin Rose [kevinrose.com] and forwarding my journal to my Google+ profile.

      • by chill ( 34294 )

        Kevin Rose controls his own domain. I don't think you have the power to auto-forward your Slashdot journal over.

  • Better than facebook (Score:5, Informative)

    by Saib0t ( 204692 ) <saibotNO@SPAMhesperia-mud.org> on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @07:51AM (#36732062)
    This google+ thing is much better than facebook in my opinion.

    It's like going from hotmail to gmail back when it launched.
    It's sleek, doesn't get in the way, lets you do things easily. You manage your "friends" easily.

    Hell, it's one service I wouldn't have any issue adding my boss and co-workers to, unlike facebook.

    As a bonus, I don't get people posting asinine idiocies on my wall. Sure they can get me to eyeball their crap by mentionning me in their posts, but at least it won't bother everyone else who reads the things I write.

    A negative side, not for me but for others, would be the lack of games, but we'll see...

    • by tepples ( 727027 ) <tepples.gmail@com> on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @07:55AM (#36732084) Homepage Journal
      Who needs Facebook games when there are VirtualNES.com [virtualnes.com] (Java) and Newgrounds [newgrounds.com] (Flash)?
    • I believe games are coming, but when they do it, they're going to do it better than "the other guy". The basic service should be completely rolled out by the first week of the fall school semester, to "catch the wave".

      The way facebook is blocking exporting contacts, you know they're scared.

    • by mekkab ( 133181 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @07:57AM (#36732110) Homepage Journal

      It doesn't let me post pictures from my iPhone easily (unless there is an app I'm missing? seriously, any and all help appreciated, here!). Microblogging with photos is basically what I use Facebook for. Give me that, g+, and I'll start giving in earnest. /haven't "hungout" yet but I hear that's actually kinda cool...

      • by Rhaban ( 987410 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @08:08AM (#36732264)

        iPhone app is pending approval from Apple since day 1 of G+.

      • The G+ android app allows you do that. The iPhone app has been submitted but it's awaiting approval. Don't know why Apple hasn't approved it yet, surely they don't mind Google apps?
    • by SeeSp0tRun ( 1270464 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @08:03AM (#36732182) Journal

      Facebook games are a big reason I ditched a long time ago. Facebook's privacy was horrible enough without allowing the apps to circumvent what few privacy settings they had. If g+ never has them, I will be one happy camper.

    • by Alarash ( 746254 )
      Lack of games is not a negative for me either. What really is is the lack of Google Reader integration. I'd like to see what people I'm following share from Reader on my G+ Stream, and I also want to see the RSS feeds either integrated or in its own stream.
    • by AngryDeuce ( 2205124 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @08:23AM (#36732478)

      A negative side, not for me but for others, would be the lack of games, but we'll see...

      Man, that's one of the biggest things I love about it. I know it's futile to expect Zynga and such to stay away from a revenue stream, but the inane games were one of the reasons I quit facebook a few months ago, I got sick of all the spam and having to block apps and people constantly. People would just go around the filters and post crap on my wall about it, "Can you log in quick and give me some horseshoes?" and all that stupidity.

      I suppose we should just enjoy the relative peace and quiet while it lasts. So far I've had a very positive experience...

    • by Daetrin ( 576516 )

      A negative side, not for me but for others, would be the lack of games, but we'll see...

      There's been some speculation that that's what's up with the Google job postings for people with game developer experience a little while back was about.

      As others have said though, hopefully Google will handle them in a way that favors the user rather than companies like Zynga that use them to spam the hell out of everyone.

    • I did the strict "don't mix business with pleasure" on Facebook too. I'd lightened up and added some, but then I got into arguments on Facebook with managers over topics like the mosque project near the Twin Towers (they were actually pretty racist, which I had previously been unaware of), and had to remove them.

      With Google+, I feel the same way. I can finally have a public profile again! My Facebook had eventually been completely private, locked down, and I really didn't even enjoy HAVING to respond if s

    • It's like going from hotmail to gmail back when it launched.

      Google did something very, very clever; sit back and wait (develop in the shadows, actually) while people where getting more and more frustrated with Facebook (like they were with Hotmail), and feeling that they got "stuck with it" because of the lack of alternatives. That part was bound to happen.

      You manage your "friends" easily. [..] I wouldn't have any issue adding my boss and co-workers to, unlike facebook.

      In a sense, Google has learned from the mistakes of others; I still cannot fathom why Facebook did not add such functionalities - so many of its users would had welcomed them. Perhaps their coding skills are poor,

  • I have no idea what "gate twitter" means, but you can publish your microblog on a different service that supports RSS, and "the my kids grandparents" (whatever that means) will be able to follow you with any feed reader.

    Or did you mean gating the other twitter [slashdot.org]?

  • by Manfre ( 631065 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @07:56AM (#36732098) Homepage Journal

    Easy way to get grandparents to switch is to only post pictures of the grandchildren on Google+. They will switch over.

    Also, WTH does "gate twitter and Facebook" mean?

  • by johnjones ( 14274 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @07:59AM (#36732132) Homepage Journal

    honestly

    I hate how everything is locked down...

    I wish there was a nice way that people could syndicate between things i.e. an open network with a privacy model

    I simply have not seen a nice way to do this any suggestions ?
    (no Diaspora does not even look useful)

    something with OpenID would actually be useful !

    regards

    John Jones

  • I would appreciate an invitation. jamesbradleyharris(at)gmail(dot)com

    Thanks, J. Brad Harris
  • I'd love an invite (ephemeriis@gmail.com), if somebody out there has one available.

    I'm not a fan of Facebook. I use it largely because my wife does. I'd love to get her switched to something better... And everyone keeps raving about Google+. She's even curious enough that I might be able to get her to try it.

  • by molo ( 94384 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @08:02AM (#36732172) Journal

    It seems that the invite-only PicasaWeb albums (where only specific google accounts have access) would no longer be invite-only. That alone is reason enough to not join G+. When signing up for G+, they gave the following notice:

    Linking Google+ with Picasa Web Albums
    When you join Google+:

            * [...]
            * Your albums' visibility settings aren’t changed, but people they’re shared with can now share them with others.
            * [...]

    If they could fix this issue, I would sign up. Otherwise, forget it.

    -molo

    • It seems that the invite-only PicasaWeb albums (where only specific google accounts have access) would no longer be invite-only. That alone is reason enough to not join G+. When signing up for G+, they gave the following notice:

      Linking Google+ with Picasa Web Albums
      When you join Google+:

      * [...]

      * Your albums' visibility settings aren’t changed, but people they’re shared with can now share them with others.

      * [...]

      If they could fix this issue, I would sign up. Otherwise, forget it.

      -molo

      In my experience the invite only Picasa web albums didn't even require a Google account. I sent one to my parents last year and was surprised when they just forwarded the link to several other people who also looked.

    • by doomy ( 7461 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @08:24AM (#36732514) Homepage Journal
      I left Google+ due to their data deletion policies [twitpic.com], Google+ would blanket delete your entire Google existence without warnings if you even innocently did something that they did not like on Google+. Which such a policy, I do not feel comfortable having Google+ linked to the rest of my Google data.

      I am a content creator, and I would not like having things on my various accounts deleted cause of a simple policy violation. I figure they still have to iron out the legal issues to do with this, but till they figure it out, I'm out.

      For example: If you change your name 5 times (or just correct it), Google says it would delete all your information. I kid you not. Saw this dialog and felt Google+ was not for me. As a content creator, I already deal with similar issues on YouTube, at least there you can appeal.
      • There is a difference between policy and execution of policy. Legally they require a stern policy so as to provide the latitude they require to sanely operate.

        Basically you're complaining because their policy is what everyone does and anyone with half a brain would do.

        Complain when they actually start deleting at the slightest of infraction. Until such time, you're either silly, ignorant, or trolling.

        • by doomy ( 7461 )
          I'm sorry, in this case they have already implemented such a policy. In the case of the name scenario. A warning appears that if you do follow with the change to your name, all information in your account would be deleted and account access would be blocked. Test it out on a throw away account. This harsh warning/implementation would probably be changed at a latter time, but right now I do not feel linking my content to a service that can quickly delete it.
  • Everybody looking for the next great thing, looking about a bit and essentially gone a week or two later. I don't really believe adults want social networking. Even teenagers are starting to get wise to the fact they are just a gigantic waste of time and serve primarily as advertising medium. I predict in a few years not much will be left, except specialized sites, such as XING. These do have some merit, but also do not take a lot of your time.

    • Who didn't see this coming? Breeden commented on it [thedevilspanties.com] two years ago and pretty much voiced my thoughts too.

      Not sure I agree with your other statement though, gweihir. My wife loves using Facebook to quickly keep large groups of friends and relatives updated and share photos, and it's great for that. As a gaming / blogging discussion platform, not so much.

    • by agendi ( 684385 )
      I used to lean towards this attitude. I recently signed up to facebook due to work obligations and I needed to consult on some potential FB integrations. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was overly critical. I have been using G+ for about a week and am liking it even more. The truth is that a social network is only as valuable as the people you relate with - I have deliberately only "friended" people that matter and turned off all game/app stuff. What I have observed is that many adults use soc
  • If someone could spare an invite...
    me at aedens dot net

    thanks! :)

    • by aed ( 156746 ) *

      Thanks for the invite(s :P) people!

      Unfortunately...
      "Oops... you need a Google profile to use this feature.
      Google Profiles is not available for your organization."

      Doesn't seem to work with my Google Apps account... :((((

  • I just invited all the addresses without a parent post. I don't think there's a limit on the number of people you can invite.

  • by Maury Markowitz ( 452832 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @08:27AM (#36732576) Homepage

    "the best interface in the world "

    Uggg, I hope you don't do UI design in your job. Google+'s UI is horrid.

    It took me three tries before I figured out how to post my profile picture. One would naturally go to Profile... Photos... but that's actually not the way you do it. Even after figuring it out, it still tells me I have no photos of myself. I now have the same photo three times in three different "books" and still can't figure out how three were created.

    I still have no idea how to post on someone else's wall.

    And when I post on my own, I have to choose circles to share it with. Fine. But once it's posted, it doesn't tell me which ones. So if I think I did something wrong and change the sharing, a second post appears.

    That's the first three of dozens of problems.

    It's terrible.

  • I'll take an invite. I was so pessimistic about this but I haven't seen one bad thing said about it. I absolutely abhor facebook's interface. I can't stand it.
  • patrick(at)softwarematters.org, please. Thanks!
  • Emails in the comment header.

  • I noticed that even with an invite you might be out of luck: "Already invited? We've temporarily exceeded our capacity. Please try again soon."

    But I really hope not! And just in case I would love to test this I would also love an invite if a nice person would be awesome and send one to peterniss22 [AT] gmail doot com :)

    Really hope I can finally ditch friend face

    • by kaptink ( 699820 )

      Sadly my suspicions seem to be correct. Still get the "Already invited? We've temporarily exceeded our capacity. Please try again soon."

      Still thanks for the invite Luis, your a champ. Will keep trying.

  • ... please voluntarily surrender your geek card immediately. Failure to comply will result in termination of your account with extreme prejudice.

    TIA

  • slashdotUserName (at) gmail.com

  • How buggy is it?
    I intend to use Google+ eventually, and I wouldn't mind jumping in now. But I don't want to deal with buggy software, and I do not like beta testing. I want a finished and polished service. If it isn't to that point yet then I'm willing to wait for it; I'm a patient guy.

  • I won't (can't) sign up until they support Google Apps for Domains users. We can't even use the +1 button yet.

  • Before Google Plus is ready for prime time, Google has a few things they really need to fix with the service

    - Make +1 make sense. Currently pages you or others "+1" do not even appear in the stream. They're on a totally different page. This makes the +1 button useless.

    - Either get rid of Buzz, or integrate it. it's currently nonsensical that Google is running both, yet Buzz updates don't go into your G+ stream.

    - Integration with Google Reader. It sure would be nice if things from my Google Reader showed up in my G+ stream, because then you wouldn't have to leave, and it would facilitate simple sharing. This was a big oversight.

    - "Sparks" (AKA Google News) needs to be in your stream. The current implementation is not useful.

    - Gate for twitter. Google already has this with Buzz, why on earth did they release G+ without it, I have no clue. It makes me use G+ less because I now have to update two things.

    Basically - Google needs to get as much into that stream as possible, and allow the user to filter by subsections if they want - NOT force the data into it's own little islands.

  • by green1 ( 322787 ) on Tuesday July 12, 2011 @10:42AM (#36734972)

    I have been saying for years that facebook is just a fad, just like myspace was, and ICQ, and geocities, and who knows how many others, all of whom were seen as the place to be in their heyday. And yet facebook seemed to entrench itself well enough in the public mindset that I was starting to second guess my judgment.

    Now google+ seems to be generating quite a bit of buzz of it's own, and amazingly enough, not just among the tech crowd. My girlfriend (a nurse) was commenting yesterday that all her co-workers were talking about it at work the other night, so maybe Google can really pull this off?

    The part that makes this whole launch seems strange though is that what makes a social networking site work properly is the ability to find everyone you know on it, the idea of limiting who can apply seems rather counterproductive. And yet somehow it's working for Google.

    Either way, I'm eager to get in and see how it works. I've been periodically checking to see when they open the floodgates, and I suppose I really wouldn't mind an invite either, after all, I do use google for pretty much everything else, (I have my radio callsign (VE6RAH) as my existing account on gmail if anyone is so inclined)

    The big question though is one that nobody can answer yet with any certainty... will google+ manage to draw enough people away from facebook... will people who already use facebook for everything see a reason to switch... I guess only time will tell.

Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards. -- Aldous Huxley

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