Google+

I got in just to check it out and see how it might help for work. Like most others, I'm on Facebook, so hard to see me converting over or constantly double posting. One thing which Google+ has going for it is the video chatting (and maybe even overall group chatting) that FB doesn't (not that I'd use it, but could see the younger crowd liking it).

 

I see a lot of potential in it, but that's coming from someone who is hoping it can effectively replace both Facebook and Twitter. Ideally, I'd like this thing to get big enough that I can have it function as my personal and professional Facebook and Twitter accounts. In other words, I want one Google+ account to eliminate those separate four accounts. It would be easier to manage one Google+ account centrally than have to deal with four distinct accounts to get the functionality I want/need out of social networking.

Here are some thoughts I posted the other day on my blog, as well as one key feature I think is missing for Google+ to effectively compete with Twitter.

Google+ has tools to overtake Facebook and Twitter

And then if you're interested in cruising my profile, I'll link it below. What you can see is limited if you're not in my circles. As a brief explanation, I have circles set up on my account so that I can essentially tweet to my customer base (Florida Gators fans), while also using Google+ as my personal social media account for my close friends.

Here's how I have my circles set up (number of people I have in each):

• Friends (19)
• Family (1)
• Acquaintances (29)
• Florida Fans (101)
• Gators Media (16)
• General Media (20)
• Sports Media (27)
• Work (4)

Side note - 81 people have me in their circles

I push personal Facebook-type updates to Friends and occasionally Family and Acquaintances. I push Florida Gators updates to Florida Fans and Gators Media and sometimes Sports Media, depending on what the update is. General Media is more any thoughts that I have on Google+, technology, etc.

The cool thing about this as opposed to Twitter is that if I were to break some news, I could break it only to my Florida Fans group and not the Gators Media group, which would automatically happen on Twitter. Just thought about that and it intrigues me.

Anyway, I also use my circles to get updates. My Sports Media stream is great for a general idea of what's breaking in the sports world, just like I used Twitter for. Gators Media allows me to easily see what's going on in Florida sports. And my Friends and Acquaintances circles essentially let me check Facebook.

Obviously there aren't enough people on G+ yet to give me full functionality, but it's really neat so far.

Here's a link to my profile:

Thomas Goldkamp on Google+

And the general description that's public on my profile that explains how I use Google+ for anyone that stumbles onto me and might be interested in following me.

 

Meh. It's whatever. I'm already bored with it. I don't think I've checked it once today where in comparison I checked twitter about 50 times.

 

Is Twitter still down? Hasn't worked for me in more than an hour.

 

It's working for me. Both on Chrome and my phone.

 

If anyone has an invite, I'd love to check it out. Please PM me!

 

I wait until things get huge before I try them. I'm not a cutting-edge person.

 

I'd love an invite to try it out, and to have a fallback if the "Facebook is charging" rumors turn out to be true. If I have to pay for Facebook, I will part ways with it.

 

Facebook has come out several times and said it will always be free. I think they even have that on the site.

 

What we need is a way to force everyone to have Snopes as their homepage.

 

This.

 

That being the case, I'll stick with FB. I'll probably poke around with google +. I wouldn't want to start that process over unless I had a compelling reason to do so.