What is Google+ :

Google+ is Google’s answer to Facebook, it is a social networking site. It will therefore be in competition with Facebook.

A Google + advantage is that it is integrated with all of the other Google products, Gmail, Picasa. Google maps, Google Docs etc.

You can say Google+ combines the Facebook and Twitter models of social networking, where you can have friends in your social network with whom you share information and you can also follow certain people, celebrities etc. with their updates status like in Twitter.

Essentials of Google+:

Circles: Selective sharing - create groups of people i.e. friends, family, workmates etc., drag and drop the contact into the circle. You can create as many circles as you need. There is a Following Circle enabling you to follow people without them becoming your friend. (Twitter?)

Your gmail account aids in adding to your circles through your contact list. Google will suggest people on your list you might want to follow and then all you have to do is  drag that contact into the circle of your choice. Allowing users to shares with targeted clusters of friends. ( Facebook impoved its Friend List and Smart Lists automatically assembles groups based on common interests.)

Hangouts: Live multi-user video conferencing, permits friends to drop in and out of live group conversations. Virtual rooms where you can video chat with people in your circles. You can talk to a specific friend or you can join up to ten people in a video conference.  Works with both PCs and phones.  You can also watch a You Tube clip and everyone in the hangout can watch it together. Once again You Tube is owned by Google so it is another of its products that enhances Google+. (Facebook reacted to this video chat ability by announcing partnership with skype and its own video chat service)

Huddle: group instant messaging app. You can message with a group of people within your Circles. ,

a group messaging experience.

Sparks: connects individuals on the network to others with common interests. Similar to RSS feeds.

But better than the feeds because it brings info to you automatically based on your interests. With a RSS feed you have to subscribe. Each topic has its own Spark page and provide links to related article. This is possible because Google is also a search engine and uses it powerful search engine to bring the info in. ( Facebook introduce “Subscribe Button) letting users choose what they want in their news feeds and to get updates)

Instant Upload: When you snap a photo on your Android phone it will be automatically uploaded to Google+ ( Google owns the Android operating system)

With help of Location feature you can add your location to your every post.

Google+ also available for Android based phones

Any photos uploaded to Google+ are stored in Picasa, (Googles free software for photos).

(With nearly unlimited storage.) Images are scaled down to no larger than 2048 x 2048 pixels.

Privacy and Settings:  Privacy options are  clear and easy to use ( in contrast to Facebooks obscure privacy settings).

If you have a Google account you have a Google Profile even if it is just your basic info.

To get to your Profile and Privacy settings, log into your Google+ account click the cog in the top right. Pick settings then profile and privacy click edit visibility on profile  the top section of the settings box.

There will be a grid overlay, clicking any part of it opens the settings to that part of the grid and you can edit both its contents and who can see it.

You can decide who sees your posts by choosing which circles the post will go out to.

You can also type in specific names if you’d like to target particular people directly.

Can Google+ beat Facebook: might be misstating the question.  It’s not about one site versus the other.

Google+ is bigger than that. Google+ will become a central part of Google’s whole identity. So the real question is can Google beat Facebook. Put that way the contest seems a lot more even.

As of September 2011:

500 million on Facebook

21 million Google+

Integration:

The biggest selling point for Google+ is integration. Google+ will be built into almost all of its existing online services from Search to Google docs, YouTube, Picasa, Google Maps, Gmail.

Plus Google+ is integrated into the navigation bar at the top right of almost all Google products.

This enables you to monitor your social networking site, all updates, messages etc as well as share contents with friends without ever leaving the Google product you happen to be using.

Circles: Better friend management. Facebook Groups: Friends lists,  more cumbersome to manage, a new feature came when they saw the Circles of Google+.

Android:  Integration with the Android phone easier in Google+.  Google+ mobile app.

Sparks: Google makes good use of  its search engine. Gives users an instant wellspring of relevant information and to share this info with friends.  Facebook has no search engine.

Get your Data Back:   Very hard to delete your Facebook profile. And Facebook retains this info even if your account is closed.  Google+ allows you to pick up all the data you’ve put up on Google+ and take it with you.  This is done with a tool called “Data Liberation”

Tagging Photos:  When you tag a photo your will see “adding this tag will notify the person you have tagged.  They will be able to view the photo and the related Album.”

Facebook does not make an effort to warn people they have been tagged and giving them an immediate chance to remove the tag.

Why Google+ might fail: There are too many already invested in Facebook along with their circle of friends. Trying to get people to change will be near impossible.  The only hope for Google+ is that we do already use many of the Google products. Google+ will be very integrated into these products and readily available on the toolbars of all of them. The convenience of just a click on the link to get to socialize is so much easier than signing into Facebook separately.