Google+ getting improvements to UX, spam control, & moderation in coming months

For those that actually use Google+, its flaws aren’t exactly a secret. The site is plagued with spam, and many still haven’t adjusted to the relative sluggishness of its new web interface. And, with the recent refocus on Communities, Collections (and most recently, Topics), the site in general is getting somewhat confusing to anyone but seasoned G+ veterans (of which there aren’t many).

Now, one Google+ Engineering Manager Leo Deegan has come out on Google+ (appropriately) to let us know that Google is aware of the network’s flaws and is working on a variety of improvements.

Of particular note, Deegan says that the team is working on improving spam control and community moderation, as well as working to improve the web user experience, make navigation more intuitive, and revamp notifications to be a bit cleaner. Here’s the full text:

Hey there Plussers! I’m your friendly neighborhood Server Eng Manger, and I wanted to take a little time to tell you some of the great things the G+ team is working on. As always, we listen carefully to your feedback, and in the coming months, we’ll be focusing on your most highly requested areas of improvement, including:

• Better spam control
• Enhanced community moderation
• Improvements to the web user experience
• More intuitive navigation and discovery
• Cleaner notifications

And more that we’ll reveal as they become available ;)

We’ve heard your desire to stay informed about G+ product updates. Going forward, you can expect to hear more from me; our Product Managers, like +John Nack, our Program Managers, like +Carter Gibson; and Community Managers, like +Leanne Osborne and +Madeleine DeRome. We’ll try our best to reply to questions and keep you up to date on all the great progress.

It’s not clear when these various improvements will actually be hitting Google+, but Deegan says that we should begin seeing some changes in the coming months. As usual, we’ll probably have more details when some of these changes get closer to being rolled out officially. It’s appreciated, as well, that the team seems to be taking initiative to keep the community better informed going forward.

Like I said, if you use Google+ (which, statistically speaking, you probably don’t), you’re probably pretty stoked about these changes. I run the Android Wear community over at G+, and I can attest to the fact that spam is one of our biggest challenges. Having better control over moderating that spam would be very much appreciated. And personally, I’ve found the new design to be a lot slower, so hopefully improvements to the “web user experience” means speedier animations.