The Era of ‘Google +’?

“I got through Google +. Did you?” This was something which flowed around as soon as Google + launched with its first trial phase and allowed only few people to be a part of it. This made people even more eager to join and check out for themselves what the hype was all about. As on today, it has a growth rate of 280% and has achieved about 5 million people in just 12 days! That is the rate at which the new social networking site by Google is growing. If you ask yourself what you explore the most on the World Wide Web, the answer would probably be Google and social networking sites, which is why when Google’s combination of the two as Google +, might soon became the next big thing.

While on a testing phase, there was an “insane demand” for invites, as stated by Vic Gundotra. Another factor which is playing in Google’s favour is the design which is attracting more and more users. Google + has added new and unique features too in its arena like:

• Circles : Google + is based on the concept of circles. It’s like adding your friends in a group, except that this group is called a “circle”. The list of people is generated in a circular form and you can drag and drop your friends in any circle you wish, like Friends, Family, Acquaintance, etc. This also allows you to set your privacy. You can share your posts only with the people you wish to share it with or with a particular “circle”
• Sparks : It’s a kind of a search box but, as Gundotra calls it, a “sharing engine.” This a way to serve you what is of your interest, such as articles, video and anything that Google can search for. If this is your interest then you can add it to you list.
• Hangouts : Through Hangouts, Google + comes to define the concept of group chats in a unique way. If you are online and chatting with a circle, then other people in the circle will be notified to come “hang out”. This group video chat feature allows up to 10 people to come together and chat.
• Huddle : If Hangouts is an easy way to video chat in a group, then Huddle is an easy way to chat via text in a group within your circle. This group chatting application is currently available for Android, iPhone and other SMS devices.
• Instant Upload : This feature is specific to Android devices. Once you click a picture it will automatically get uploaded in a private album which you can later share, if you wish.

Whoever is familiar with Google +, will definitely raise the question, whether it will be able to become as huge as Facebook or even take over it for that matter. With its initial success, many are confident. Some say it’s a huge leap getting 5 million users in just 12 days and Facebook currently stand at 750 million users. Although, many are confident on Google + taking over, many are still contemplating as they see Google’s previous failures in the field of social networking with Orkut and Google Buzz. Only shortly after Google + was introduced with its unique features such as group chat and video conferencing, Facebook teamed up with Skype and introduced the video chat feature on Facebook. Google + maybe off with a good start but with it’s history in the social services, it might need a bigger plan to be an equal or a bigger thing than Facebook or Twitter.