Google+ Wikipedia - Google+ is a social networking service operated by Google Inc.. The service launched on June 28, 2011, in an invite-only testing phase.The following day, existing users were allowed to invite friends, who are above 18 years of age, to the service to create their own accounts. However, this was quickly suspended in a day after there was "insane demand" for accounts.
Google+ will be built as a layer that not only integrates different Google social services, such as Google Profiles and Google Buzz, but also introduces many new features including Circles, Hangouts, Sparks and Huddles. Google+ will also be available as a Desktop application and as an application on Android and iOS. It has been said that this is Google's biggest attempt to rival the social network Facebook, which had over half a billion users in 2010.
Features
"Circles" enables users to organize contacts into groups for sharing, across multiple of its products and services. A drag-and-drop interface allows users into groups of their choice.
"Huddle" is a feature available to Android, iPhone, and SMS devices for communicating with circles.
"Hangouts" are places used to facilitate group video chat (with a maximum of 10 people participating in a single Hangout at any point of time). However, anyone on the web could potentially join-in into the 'Hangout' if they happen to possess the unique url of the Hangout.
"Instant Upload" is specific to Android mobile devices; it stores photos or video in a private album for sharing later.
"Sparks" is a front-end to Google Search, enabling user to identify topics they might be interested in sharing with others; "featured interests" sparks are also available, based on topics others globally are finding interesting.
Through "Streams", users see updates from those in their circles, updates similar to Facebook's news feed. The input box allows users to enter a status update or use icons to upload and share photo and videos.
Wider impact
The introduction of Google+ had impacted the design of Google's web search service, due to the graphical redesign by Andy Hertzfeld. There have been refinements alongside speculation of a much wider impact once Google+ is fully rolled-out, including some redesign of Google Maps, Google Mail and Google Calendar.
Maybe the greatest changes will come to Picasa Web Albums
After tagging someone, they receive a notification and can see the photo and the related album.
For new albums, anyone an album is shared with can see who else it is shared with.
Albums someone shared can be tagged and re-shared by others.
Photos up to 2048×2048 pixels and videos up to 15 minutes won’t count towards the 1 GB storage quota for Google+ users (it's 800×800 pixels for non-Google+ users), creating “virtually unlimited” storage for mobile users
Censorship
Within a day of the website's launch, various news agencies reported that Google+ was blocked by People's Republic of China, taking findings from the Great Firewall of China. This is similar to other attempts the Chinese government has used to quash free speech as posed by Western technology companies. Other tries included hacking into Gmail accounts of activists which led to activity by the White House and State Department.
References
- ^ "Facebook's Newest Challenger: Google Plus". Retrieved June 29, 2011.
- ^ Shaer, Matthew (June 30, 2011). "Looking for a Google+ invite? Either get comfortable - or get crafty.". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ "Official Google+ Website". Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ "Another Try by Google to Take On Facebook". The New York Times. June 28, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
- ^ "Facebook Statistics". June 28, 2011. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e M.G. Siegler (June 28, 2011). "Google+ Project: It’s Social, It’s Bold, It’s Fun, And It Looks Good — Now For The Hard Part". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ "Inside Google+ — How the Search Giant Plans to Go Social". Retrieved 2011-07-02.
- ^ Boulton, Clint (1 July 2011). "Google Redesign Backs Social Effort". eWeek Europe. Retrieved 1 July 2011.
- ^ Google Operating System: Preview Gmail's New Interface
- ^ Google Operating System: How Google+ Transformed Picasa Web
- ^ Techwhack: Changes on Google Picasa Web for Google Plus users
- ^ Techie Buzz: Google Offers Virtually Unlimited Storage on Picasa Web Albums for Google+ Users
- ^ Arthur, Charles (June 30, 2011). "Google+ 'blocked in China'". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
External links
Sources : http://en.wikipedia.org
