Despite a few false starts (Google Buzz and Google Wave) in the social media game, Google recently launched their answer to social networking, and it seems to be working well.
Google+ (G+) is not open to the public yet, only to those with a pre-existing Gmail account. While it’s popular with the early adopters and techies, I’m not sure it has not been embraced by the general public.
The response to the few invites I sent out to non-techie friends have been lukewarm at best.
“Why do I need another social networking site? I’m on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.”
“I don’t have time to build my network here.”
“No one I know is using Google+”
G+ does have some cool features like the ability to segment your network into groups, called Circles, and only post to specific circles. It connects all your Google tools (blog, photos, mail, ect.) which makes for easy access. It allows for video chatting in “Hangouts” with a group of folks, not just one on one chats, and you can follow topics of interest to you in Sparks.
I understand that G+ is still in the testing phase, and may turn out to be just what everyone has been looking for. But my initial thoughts are that “regular” people won’t be switching if they already have a presence on other social networks.
One Kansas Girl 