Social Networking

Following the recent major Google Plus update and renewed focus on Communities and Collections, the social network’s web view recently updated with a few much-needed tweaks. Googler, Luke Wroblewski posted to his profile with details of the new changes being made to the online version.

As you’d expect, many of these new changes are being released to strengthen the Communities and Collections experiences. Within Community pages, the sidebar now has links taking you directly to individual categories specific to that Community. What’s more, you can now pin posts within Collections, and there’s a clearer notification indicator on the home stream to inform you how many notifications you have to read through. Google has also built in a new pop-up window to make sure you don’t lose new posts when you switch to a different page.

Perhaps of most relief is the new toggle which lets you switch auto-playing GIFs on or off. Apparently opinion was divided on whether they should auto-play, or not. Some loved it, others hated it, so Google gave users the option to choose. Details and images of the new features are below:

G+ Web Preview Update 12/11
Today we’re rolling out several updates to our G+ preview on the Web including:

* Visible links to categories on Community pages
* Auto-play of animated GIFs (with a setting to turn on/off)
* Ability to pin posts within Collections
* Clearer indication of notifications on the home stream
* Warning to ensure you don’t lose new posts when changing pages

Some of these changes were unanimously requested (people want community categories visible!). Others required us to strike an appropriate balance between opposing feedback (some people love animated GIFs, others don’t!). In all cases, we really appreciate your thoughts so please keep them coming using the Send Feedback menu item.

Okay, we know what you’re probably thinking – that of course he’d want Google to buy Twitter, as he’s a shareholder, and a particularly large one in Twitter, at that – and as such has a large financial interest in its success. But Chris Sacca, who has worked as the Head of Special Initiatives at Google, is a smart guy with early investments in a lot of now-successful companies including Uber, Instagram, Bitly, and many more. And he thinks that Twitter and Google would be mutually benefited if they were married together as one.

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Twitter has finally launched a version of its official Android client that is fully-optimized for the larger displays on tablets. The app has a multi-screen view for scrolling through tweets while reading links in an accompanying browser.

The app also brings a new Android home screen widget and illustrating of images that are to be shared via Twitter. Interestingly, the app is launching first on the Samsung 10.1-2014 tablet, with launches on other Android tablets to come in the future.

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