Google Plus was developed at breakneck speed to counter the rising threat of Facebook in social. Launched in June 2011, Google Plus allowed users to post status updates and organized friends into groups called Circles. There was an instant messaging and video component called Hangouts, as well as a photo backup service.
In addition to being a social network, Plus was meant to be the social layer to all of Google’s other products. A user’s Google Plus profile was used for many other services, like YouTube. The ‘+1’ button was a competitor to Facebook’s ‘Like’ button and was present throughout the web.
Despite the attempts at company-wide integration, Google Plus never really took of among users. In November of 2015, Google unveiled a major redesign that put a renewed focus on Collections and Communities to create an interest-based social network instead.
Popular features like Hangouts and Google Photos were eventually spun out into their own separate and wildly popular product.
Analyst Experian Hitwise has published numbers saying Google Plus’s traffic has spiked 1269% this past week, since the service opened to everyone. Last week, Plus recieved 15 million visits rather than the on average 1 million.
The traffic spike was most likely helped out by Google’s blunt advertising for Plus. Experian Hitwise’s numbers don’t include mobile users (which probably isn’t much) or users from Google’s black bar. To compliment the amount of visitors Paul Allen has also been throwing out their that the social network is now up to 43 million users. (via ReadWriteWeb)
Today Google engineer Owen Prater announced in the video statement above it is now possible to share Circles on Google+. From your Circles page, you can now select to share one Circle with any other. A post will be made allowing others to easily view and join the circle you’ve shared.
Shared circles wont continue to update as you make changes, however, allowing you to keep future changes to a Circle you’ve shared private. Others won’t see what you’ve named the circle either. Try it out!
Paul Allen has released the latest number from his algorithm, which reveals that Google Plus has passed 43 million users. While these numbers are unofficial, Allen has been pretty accurate in the past. Allen’s algorithm is based on Plus surnames.
In the past, according to PlusHeadlines, Allen has been startlingly accurate:
July 4th – 1.7 million users
July 9th – 4.5 million users
July 12 – 10 million users
September 9th – 28.7 million users
September 22nd – 43.4 million users
43 million users is certainly great for the young social network, but in comparison Facebook announced today that they get about 500 million users on a busy day. They’ve got some catching up to do. via The Next Web
No, we did not photoshop that arrow in. In an effort to push Google Plus, which just went into public beta today, Google is now literally pointing to the Plus link with an arrow. Also, below the search box you will find a link to signup. With Google’s 1,100,000,000 pageviews a day (according to Website Outlook, so we’re not sure how accurate that really is) they’re bound to bring in some traffic. What are you waiting for; sign up!
(Not an ad, The +1 button and recommendations will appear at the bottom of display ads.)
In October, Google will make the ability for AdSense publishers to incorporate +1 buttons into display ads public. For example, if someone sees an ad that offers something they enjoy, they can click the +1 button to share with their friends they like it. If their friends and contacts are logged in, they will see their friends who have +1 the ad (as seen above).
This new addition to advertising is bound to spark much more relevance in ads, and actually make them more enjoyable for users. Users can see what their friends enjoy, and in the end they will probably like it too. As always, if AdSense publishers don’t want a +1 button on their ad, they can opt out.
Google rolled out nine new features pertained to its social thing dubbed Google+. Per the official blog post by Google’s head of engineering Vic Gundotra, the service is no longer in limited beta. Beginning today, everyone can join the party at google.com/+ – no invitation required. Yes, Facebook’s worst nightmare comes true just three months following the service’s introduction.
Next up, Google’s search expertise comes to Google+. The big search box now returns relevant people, posts and web content. The popular Hangout feature has gotten lots of enhancements. For example, developers can now take advantage of the new Google+ Hangouts APIs to write more integrated, immersive apps. Google-created Hangout extras (still rough around the edges) include screensharing, sketchpad, Google Docs integration and named hangouts. Give it a try by clicking the “Try Hangouts with extras” link in the green room.
Even more interesting, it is now possible to broadcast a hangout for the world wide web to see. They call it Hangouts on Air and even though you can broadcast and record your session, there’s still that nagging nine-per-hangout limit. Of course, an unlimited number of people can be spectators of your live broadcast.
Another cool addition: You can join a hangout from your mobile phone, by finding an active hangout in the Stream of the Google+ app and tapping “Join”. This works on Android 2.3+ phones with front-facing cameras, but Google said iOS support is “coming soon”. The aforementioned features will be rolling out globally over the next day (not days, per usual), Google said.
Last, but not the least, Dave Girouard, a Google Apps guy, announced on Twitter that Google+ is coming to business and education customers soon, indicating that Google+ will be rolled out to Google Apps users. “New stuff on G+ today that biz/edu will love! Working hard to bring G+ to Google Apps in the very near future!”, his tweet reads. In our opinion, this could be a game-changer in the social media landscape, probably putting Facebook on the defensive – especially when Google begins selling and promoting Google+ apps on the Apps Marketplace.
The first mention of a social news app from Google came in a Google+ post yesterday by tech watcher Robert Scoble. He wrote:
I heard from someone working with Google that Google is working on a Flipboard competitor for both Android and iPad. My source says that the versions he’s seen so far are mind-blowing good.
The news prompted AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher to dig for more clues. The service is code-named Propeller, Swisher learned:
Google is indeed working on rolling out the new product, which is currently called Propeller. Sources said Propeller is apparently one of a number of new socially focused announcements Google is prepping, including new apps.
The app should launch in the near future because Facebook is also unveiling a social publishing platform of its own next week. It was not immediately clear at the time of this writing how Propeller ties with Google+, if at all. Given the company’s strong social focus and the fact that Propeller is being described as a social news app, it would seem logical to incorporate at least Google+ sharing features.
9to5Google learned from people familiar with the project that Propeller will boast a prettified interface, as is a norm with its high-end rivals Flipboard and Pulse. Publishers will be able to package their content for distribution right within their web browser, using a dedicated web app. Layout options are said to include multiple layouts to target various tablet and phone brands, including iPhone and iPad. Navigation capabilities will include individual articles, table of contents, as well as browsing custom-made sections that curate multiple articles. Images, video and other rich media types are also at disposal.
Just like Twitter, Google has unveiled the suggested user list for Google+. The list is broken up into several categories, some examples being: Entertainment, News, and Sports. If you find someone on the list you’d like to stay up to date with, you can add them into one of your circles — just like throughout the rest of the service. People are added to the list based on their +1s, reshares, and Hangouts. More categories are even on the way!
When Google+ was launched, users were pretty receptive, to say the least. After Experian Hitwise reported a 3% decrease in traffic, the site went on to become the fastest growing in history. Today, a new report from Hitwise (viaBloomberg) shows the social network may struggle to catch up to 750 million+ strong Facebook.
While users spent an average of 5 minutes and 47 seconds on the service the week ending on August 27 (a 4% increase from the week before), U.S. visits to the site fell 5.5 percent to 1.6 million. The real story here is the fact that use of Google+ seems to have peaked backed in July.
July 16th seen the average time spent on the service peak at 5 minutes and 50 seconds, while U.S. visits to the site were up 283 percent that week. It’s necessary to note that these numbers can’t be taken as a truly accurate reflection of the service’s growth. Expand Expanding Close
Samsung on Monday promised to challenge Apple’s copyright infringement claims in Australia. Specifically, news agencies report, the Korean consumer electronics maker said today it “will continue to actively defend its right to launch the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia”. Reutersreports that the company confirmed plans to delay the Galaxy Tab 10.1 launch in Australia until after a court ruling in late September on its ongoing legal spat with Apple. Furthermore, Samsung will file a counterclaim with the Australian court in the coming days, seeking to invalidate Apple’s patents plus another one asserting a patent infringement on Apple’s part:
Today, Samsung informed the Federal Court of Australia it intends to file a cross claim against Apple Australia and Apple Inc regarding the invalidity of the patents previously asserted by Apple and also a cross claim against Apple regarding violation of patents held by Samsung by selling its iPhones and iPads
According toThe Sydney Morning Herald, a hearing before the Australian court is due September 26 and 29 and Samsung agreed “not to sell or advertise” the tablet before September 30. The article also mentions the possibility of a high-profile testimony by both parties:
Apple and Samsung returned to court this afternoon, with Samsung agreeing not to sell or advertise the Galaxy Tab 10.1 before September 30. Apple will detail the specific patents involved in the case by this Friday and will provide a more comprehensive statement of facts by September 5. Samsung will provide points in answer by September 16, with the case going to a formal hearing on September 26 and 29. It was indicated today that top executives and inventors from both Apple and Samsung may appear in person or over video link to explain their patents.
Google has pushed an update this afternoon for Google+ for Android. The update is pretty minor featuring a few bug fixes, but the update now gives users the ability to reshare posts made by the people they follow. The update also adds the support for up to 38 languages. Check out the full change log after the break: (via PhanDroid)
Google today announced two new features for its +1 social button that web site owners can embed on their pages. Google’s senior vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra explained in a blog post that the +1 button (Chrome extension here) can now broadcast posts to your Google+ circles and do so with custom layouts. Previously, clicking the +1 button would only share web content with your contacts in their search results and on your Google Profile. Beginning today, you can choose the scope of sharing by clicking the +1 button and select the new “Share on Google+” option. You’ll be presented with options to choose a circle on Google+ to share with and write an optional comment.
Also new is the ability for publishers to customize a link, an image and a description (so-called +snippets”). Google writes over at the official Google Webmaster blog that “+Snippets let you put your best face forward by customizing exactly what appears when your content is shared”. An example includes Rotten Tomatoes, a popular movie review site where +1 posts include the movie title, poster and a brief synopsis (see the above screenshot). The new features will be rolling out over the next week so be patient. Another little nugget: The +1 button is today doing four billion daily views, twice as much it did back in July. The button is installed on more than a million web sites, which is not bad at all for yet another social button a little over two months old.
Earlier today, Google released update 3.1.3 to the Android Market. The update is pretty minor, but does pack a couple of new features. First off, users can now use Google’s +1 button as a way of liking apps and games. More importantly, Google has introduced the ability to set a pin number for making purchases — like you’re used to doing when you awake your device.
Other minor updates include an updated Market icon, settings menu, and the size of the app is now in plain view (noted by Android Police). Check out another screenshot and how to get your hands on the update after the break. (via AndroidCentral)
Google’s Mark Striebeck noted on Google+ tonight that in Gmail you can now see the most recent Google+ post made by the sender. Hopefully, those are only public posts or posts meant to be shared with the recipiant or oh, boy another privacy stink coming.
YouTube’s Brian Glick gave Google+ a short feature update this evening. We’ve enjoyed watching YouTube video in Google+Hangouts ever since the product launched earlier this year, but today you can now start watching a YouTube video with just one click. After clicking the “Start a Google+ Hangout” when watching a video on YouTube, you’re brought into the Hangout you know and love, where you can invite your friends to take part. We’re looking forward to seeing how much traffic this drives to Google+. (via The Next Web)
Social postings from Twitter, Youtube, and Flickr have appeared in Google Search for quite awhile, and with the launch of Google+ it was only a matter of time until public Google+ posts were appearing too (as seen above). Google announced via their blog Friday that public Google+ posts are now available in Search.
Note, ONLY public posts will be appearing — private posts will not. To see this feature you will need to have a Google+ account and be logged in to your Google account. Expand Expanding Close
Google today announced that the Google Plus platform is also a gaming platform.
Today we’re adding games to Google+. With the Google+ project, we want to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to the web. But sharing is about more than just conversations. The experiences we have together are just as important to our relationships. We want to make playing games online just as fun, and just as meaningful, as playing in real life.
That means giving you control over when you see games, how you play them and with whom you share your experiences. Games in Google+ are there when you want them and gone when you don’t.
Facebook stalwart and Google fundee Zynga is already on the list having built an app called Poker. So are Bejeweled and Angry Birds(below).
Tab for Google+ is an app available on the Mac App Store that brings Google+’s web functionality to the Mac desktop. The app is available for free and offers just about every feature plus.google.com offers — except Hangouts. Upon logging in via your Google account, you’ll be greeted with the main sections of the app: Streams, Photos, Circles, Profile and Notifications.
The sections follow suit with the functionality of the website. Streams and Photos curates content from the people you’re following. Circles allows you to see your list of circles and the content coming in from each specific one. Lastly, Notifications let’s you know what’s going on with your account.
Of course, this application won’t replace Google+’s website, rather it’s just a nice app that sits in your applications bar to view while you work. Perhaps if the website is more your thing, check out Google+ for Mac which is essentially just a browser window. We’re hearing the developer is working to make it native though. Check out another screenshot after the break:
We’ve showed how Google+ Hangouts has been used for politicians to connect with citizens and to host live concerts, but Lee Allison has another cool take. Lee Allison, a technology consultant in New York, hosts a hour long cooking show on Google+, called Google+ Cooking School, three times a week. He uses multiple camera angles to show his viewers exactly what he is cooking up. Allison posts the ingredients for the food he is making on the show, and invites his viewers to cook with him — or he says you can just sit back and relax with a glass of wine.
Since Google+ Hangouts does have limits to only 10 people and people constantly popping in and out, Allison is moving part of his show to WebEx. Though he will continue his show on Hangouts, he will charge $20 for his show on WebEx dubbed The Social Skillet.
Bloomberg has discovered Google’s recently released social network Google+ is gaining ground fast — with 13% of U.S. males registered. Interestingly, Bloomberg doesn’t think Google+ will lose much traction, because they predict the service will gain 9% of U.S. males within the next year — making a grand total of 22%. If Google+ does gain this much ground they can pass LinkedIn and Twitter to become the second most popular social network, in only a year.
Google Inc.’s new social-networking service may grow to claim 22 percent of online U.S. adults in a year, passing Twitter Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. to be the second- most-used social site after Facebook Inc., a survey found.
The floodgates are officially opening this weekend as Google is giving everyone 150 invites to Google Plus. Pop them into your Twitter and Facebook streams to get your friends signed up.
While it hasn’t officially been announced, Google Operating System has discovered how to enable the new design for Google Docs. The new design matches the Google+ design we’ve seen Google enabling across all products over the last month — adding more whitespace and new colors. To enable, all you have to do is select “enable new look” below the settings icon in the Google+ bar (shown after the break).
Along with the new design are five new keyboard shortcuts: up and down arrows will highlight documents to open, shift + T creates a new text document, shift + S creates a new spreadsheet, shift + C creates a new collection, and “?” opens the shortcut guide. If the new design isn’t for you, you can enable the old theme back, but we don’t think you’ll want to change. Check out a few more screenshots after the break.
Much like the long-forgotten Buzz social service, Google also quickly abandoned their Realtime Search feature after an agreement to display Twitter updates in search results expired on July 2, 2011. However, it seems the success of Google+ may have encouraged the team to revive the product and possibly integrate it right into search results within the Google+ stream.
Mashable reports Googler Amit Singhal told a crowd during a search panel, while “The value the product was providing was not enough,” the team is, “actively working” on reviving realtime search in one way or another. He also noted that Google+ integration and data from other social and realtime services is something the team is evaluating.
Why not just bring realtime search results right into your Google+ stream you ask? When SearchEngineLand asked the panel about a potential search engine within the recently 25-million strong service, Singhal responded, “We are on it.” Expand Expanding Close
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