Support NeoGAF

[Terrell]

is G+ still 18+ because a lot of lame kids want to move after the facebook update.

Yes. Thank god.

I've just been wishing that they'd iterate new features faster. Integration with Google Calendar for events is really a natural progression and I'm surprised that it's not there. But I also know it's not like flipping a light switch and some degree of patience needs to be exercised.

And please oh please oh please, if Google Places is going to continue to disallow user-created Places on mobile devices (which I wholeheartedly agree with), can you at least provide some way of having users recommend that a business sign up for it? There's a lot of places I wanted to check-in at, but didn't have a verified presence on Places yet (mostly because their existence on other services was due to user-generated locations and the proprietor didn't know that any work was involved on their part)
Also, on the subject of Places, since some of us put our home location in our G+ profiles, could there be a way to check-in at your home or the home of a friend you're visiting in a way that doesn't publish the address except to people who you've allowed to see it via privacy settings?

fugimax, I hope you're writing this stuff down. Check-ins and events are the main sticking point for people when asked why they stay with Facebook and don't consider another service. If you can take those 2 things and really make them awesome, the sign-up numbers will grow. "If you build it..." and so on.

 

[Polari]

I've just been wishing that they'd iterate new features faster. Integration with Google Calendar for events is really a natural progression and I'm surprised that it's not there. But I also know it's not like flipping a light switch and some degree of patience needs to be exercised.

I'm surprised that hasn't appeared yet. I would have thought that would have been rolled out a lot more quickly. I guess there's an element of not wanting to overwhelm new users with a buttload of features on day one.

A few comments...

- New Android app is excellent.

- Messenger needs a web interface. It would make it a whole lot more useful and solve a complaint I have heard expressed by a lot of novice users, which is that there's no way to PM someone. I've read a couple of comments today suggesting Messenger overlaps with Chat, but I beg to differ... it's like the difference between Facebook Messages and Chat.

- Can't wait until + is integrated at the Docs end. Still seems kind of backwards I can't share Docs with my circles.

- The notification counter is really slow to appear. Not sure why this is but it's one of those minor things that might not seem like a big deal but in practice is really irritating.

- Sparks isn't as dead as I first thought, sadly. It's still almost entirely useless though. Unless there's going to be a considerable amount of functionality added to it, it needs to be killed. Buzz should be finally put of its misery while they're at it.

 

[JonathanEx]

Arrgh.

New Android app, install it, and it goes "the package file is invalid" so doesn't install it.

But still takes up the 10mb and I can't find where to clear that. FFS.

Edit: Installed. But it still seems to be leaving a huge chunk on the phone when I move to SD card. Arrrggggh.

 

[Vek]

Arrgh.

New Android app, install it, and it goes "the package file is invalid" so doesn't install it.

But still takes up the 10mb and I can't find where to clear that. FFS.

Have you tried using Settings > Manage Applications to uninstall then reinstall?

So, is anyone else all of a sudden being added to circles by random Russians? I understand that G+ is open now, but I'm perplexed as to how they are finding me :S

 

[eznark]

One thing I wish they had was the ability to designate preferred posters or something where you'd get a notification if they post.

That'd be nice. Easy to do too. Just allow notification settings on a per circle basis then put your preferred posters into a preferred circle with email notifications.

 

[bob page]

I just checked out Google Plus again for the first time in a few weeks (thanks to the little arrow that Google slammed on their homepage), and surprise, it's still just a bunch of tech bloggers circlejerking each other! Not one person that I know in real life actually uses it and posts to it.

Again, one of the main problems with the service (to me, anyways) is its identity. Facebook is for my friends in real life, Twitter is for people I don't know but would like to hear from. Google Plus is lost somewhere in between.

 

[Chorazin]

Have you tried using Settings > Manage Applications to uninstall then reinstall?

So, is anyone else all of a sudden being added to circles by random Russians? I understand that G+ is open now, but I'm perplexed as to how they are finding me :S

Yeah, I had some weird Russian dude and a German dude add me, and they were quickly blocked.

 

[CaptainABAB]

I just checked out Google Plus again for the first time in a few weeks (thanks to the little arrow that Google slammed on their homepage), and surprise, it's still just a bunch of tech bloggers circlejerking each other! Not one person that I know in real life actually uses it and posts to it.

Again, one of the main problems with the service (to me, anyways) is its identity. Facebook is for my friends in real life, Twitter is for people I don't know but would like to hear from. Google Plus is lost somewhere in between.

I have nearly the same experience - it is everyone from work (programming) or tech-related. I seriously cannot find a single female in the recommendation list.

 

[eznark]

I have nearly the same experience - it is everyone from work (programming) or tech-related. I seriously cannot find a single female in the recommendation list.

http://www.recommendedusers.com/peoples-choice/

 

[industrian]

This may sound stupid, but does anyone know how to set up a corporate/company Google+ account?

 

[VanMardigan]

I just checked out Google Plus again for the first time in a few weeks (thanks to the little arrow that Google slammed on their homepage), and surprise, it's still just a bunch of tech bloggers circlejerking each other! Not one person that I know in real life actually uses it and posts to it.

Again, one of the main problems with the service (to me, anyways) is its identity. Facebook is for my friends in real life, Twitter is for people I don't know but would like to hear from. Google Plus is lost somewhere in between.

And now that FB has simplified the process of creating/editing lists, I honestly don't see a reason to use Google +. I like the cleaner interface, but I want to be where my friends/family are, and that's FB. Plus, Google + doesn't have an app for my phone, while FB is heavily integrated. It's an uphill battle for Google. If this thing ever takes off, I'll gladly switch over, but for now, it makes no sense for me to use G+. If I want to follow tech bloggers, I'll do that on Twitter (which is also heavily integrated into my phone).

 

[LiquidMetal14]

It feels like facebook but with a little less to it. This is based on like 5 minutes of looking though. Mind you I'm not the resident FB advocate either.

 

[JonathanEx]

This may sound stupid, but does anyone know how to set up a corporate/company Google+ account?

As in, the way Facebook pages? They don't exist yet, but you can sign up in some form for more information.

If you mean as in your company uses Google Apps, then it's waiting for it to happen.

 

[gcubed]

And now that FB has simplified the process of creating/editing lists, I honestly don't see a reason to use Google +. I like the cleaner interface, but I want to be where my friends/family are, and that's FB. Plus, Google + doesn't have an app for my phone, while FB is heavily integrated. It's an uphill battle for Google. If this thing ever takes off, I'll gladly switch over, but for now, it makes no sense for me to use G+. If I want to follow tech bloggers, I'll do that on Twitter (which is also heavily integrated into my phone).

in a few years when over 1,000 people own your phone OS or it dies, you'll be able to use it

 

[JasoNsider]

I just checked out Google Plus again for the first time in a few weeks (thanks to the little arrow that Google slammed on their homepage), and surprise, it's still just a bunch of tech bloggers circlejerking each other! Not one person that I know in real life actually uses it and posts to it.

I bolded your problem. Surprise, surprise, a social network is about people using it. If you are not posting stuff yourself, why would you expect your friends to?

It's the essential problem with ANY social service - it takes a nucleus of activity to take place before an explosion of events can happen. If that nucleus itself does not shake, there will never be the following explosion.

USE G+, people. Post relevant stuff that you'd normally share to different groups. It's not going to take off until everyone starts using it instead of sitting back waiting for everyone else to.

 

[bob page]

I bolded your problem. Surprise, surprise, a social network is about people using it. If you are not posting stuff yourself, why would you expect your friends to?

It's the essential problem with ANY social service - it takes a nucleus of activity to take place before an explosion of events can happen. If that nucleus itself does not shake, there will never be the following explosion.

USE G+, people. Post relevant stuff that you'd normally share to different groups. It's not going to take off until everyone starts using it instead of sitting back waiting for everyone else to.

Why would I want to post things to it? I could just post stuff to FB and Twitter, and easier. I'm not going to post the same link to all 3 services. I post quick links of interest to Twitter and things that interest my friends to Facebook. If I have to struggle to find a reason to post things to G+ and put forth effort to make the service meaningful, then it will fail for me.

Like I said, it's all about the service's identity (it definitely has a huge identity problem). I know what I should post to Facebook and what to post to Twitter, seeing as I have separate audiences on both (for the most part). G+ is in a limbo and is trying to be everything, but as a result is nothing.

 

[SUPREME1]

- Sparks isn't as dead as I first thought, sadly. It's still almost entirely useless though. Unless there's going to be a considerable amount of functionality added to it, it needs to be killed. Buzz should be finally put of its misery while they're at it.

Why?

It sits there minding it's business. If you use it great, if not... great. I actually do use it and I think it's a cool little way to get content geared to specific interests in a quick and easy manner. I think it works well with the +1 system.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Does the IOS app do background uploading? Everyone who has an android handset would have to go to extreme lengths to justify using Facebook over Google+... I use both, but the cloud uploading of pictures and videos that I can later share, meaning I never have to dig out the phone USB cable, is awesome. That and Hangouts are the core reasons I love the service... it's hard to explain why it's good to someone who doesn't see the appeal in those. I think it offers the best of the big two (Facebook and Twitter) while introducing elements that are evocative of Tumblr and StumbleUpon, the chrome extensions for +1'ing websites and things like that are going to make it more useful over time, and the +snippets API will improve things further I'm sure. It's clean looking, privacy is controlled at the post level for every post, in a clean and simple way. The final piece of the puzzle for me is integration of Google Calendar, full integration of Picasa, integration of Google Docs... getting rid of things that Google+ have made redundant, like Latitude, Buzz and GTalk text chat.

I have been trying to will people on over from other services, but in some respects they have to experience something on there themselves in order to be won over -- for my mother and sister it was a private family hangout session bringing us all together over hundreds of miles -- and I had to go out of my way to talk them into doing that. They were seriously amazed by it. Obviously, not everyone can have that experience of utility in their social circles.

 

[REV 09]

the Circles idea is a huge improvement over Facebook. I find that the people who live on Facebook are the people who you don't want to tell things to. Segmenting people by groups and circles should facilitate more meaningful discussions instead of the "oh, i just ate a hamburger" posts.

 

[bob page]

the Circles idea is a huge improvement over Facebook. I find that the people who live on Facebook are the people who you don't want to tell things to. Segmenting people by groups and circles should facilitate more meaningful discussions instead of the "oh, i just ate a hamburger" posts.

The new FB list function is pretty much the same as this, though.

 

[AndyD]

The new FB list function is pretty much the same as this, though.

It is, but with G+ everyone uses it by default. With FB, only those who want to go back and sort their friends. And I doubt a lot of people will.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I bolded your problem. Surprise, surprise, a social network is about people using it. If you are not posting stuff yourself, why would you expect your friends to?

It's the essential problem with ANY social service - it takes a nucleus of activity to take place before an explosion of events can happen. If that nucleus itself does not shake, there will never be the following explosion.

USE G+, people. Post relevant stuff that you'd normally share to different groups. It's not going to take off until everyone starts using it instead of sitting back waiting for everyone else to.

Google+ should have given them an incentive to do so. People won't just use it out of pity.

 

[Terrell]

Google+ should have given them an incentive to do so. People won't just use it out of pity.

I can't tell if this is a troll or not.

There's no more incentive to post there than there was to post to Facebook when you first started using it with a handful of friends. Facebook lurking gives you NO incentive to use the service, and a limited friend base at first gave you the same incentives G+ does now.

But people obviously persisted with Facebook despite the initial lack of incentive, so the "incentive" is obvious: you get out of social media what you put into it in the beginning. If you're not putting anything into it, of course you'll get nothing out of it.

 

[VanMardigan]

in a few years when over 1,000 people own your phone OS or it dies, you'll be able to use it

Low blow, man. I really like the OS

 

[gcubed]

Low blow, man. I really like the OS

i do too man, i do too. Thats why i want one to play with, but its not ready for prime time yet until it can get more support. I think its beautiful

 

[kehs]

Vic welcomes will.i.am to google plus:

https://plus.google.com/107117483540235115863/posts/iU84bBLaPXA

As soon as I saw that I knew the comments would be filled with people bitching about fake names. haha, so predictable.

 

[erpg]

Ugh, I hope Opera/Google sort out Google+ soon. I've kind of been neglecting it, but that's mostly because none of the Google sites integrate properly in Opera.

If Opera somehow magically gains marketshare overnight, Google will support them.

Until then, use Chrome for Google services.

But I don't wanna!

 

[kehs]

Ugh, I hope Opera/Google sort out Google+ soon. I've kind of been neglecting but, but that's mostly because none of the Google sites integrate properly in Opera.

If Opera somehow magically gains marketshare overnight, Google will support them.

Until then, use Chrome for Google services.

 

[Terrell]

Purely anecdotal evidence, but I got a bunch of circle additions from non-tech users on G+ today. Seems the big blue arrow is working.

 

[Kinitari]

Purely anecdotal evidence, but I got a bunch of circle additions from non-tech users on G+ today. Seems the big blue arrow is working.

Oh that could have been it. I assumed it was just all my facebook friends upset about the new changes on facebook.

 

[esquire]

What's so great about Google+?

I follow one person on Google+ and their profile is public, so I'm missing the point of why I would actually join it.

 

[Kinitari]

What's so great about Google+?

I follow one person on Google+ and their profile is public, so I'm missing the point of why I would actually join it.

It's a different way to look at social media information sharing (I don't want to cross the streams, if you will), it is pretty intuitive and the interface is a lot less 'busy' than facebook, now more than ever.

 

[AstroLad]

What's so great about Google+?

I follow one person on Google+ and their profile is public, so I'm missing the point of why I would actually join it.

Yes, indeed.

Purely anecdotal evidence, but I got a bunch of circle additions from non-tech users on G+ today. Seems the big blue arrow is working.

Yeah it's kind of a perfect storm.

 

[Terrell]

Yeah it's kind of a perfect storm.

Yeah. In the past, when people bitched because of the Facebook layout changes, the prevailing retort was "yeah, well, what are you gonna do, go back to MySpace?"
There's a legitimate alternative now, and it just happens to be advertised right on the main page of the 2nd-most visited website on the internet. So yeah.... it'll be interesting to watch this play out.

But let's be honest... when we say "perfect storm", it's not like we couldn't have predicted that Facebook would piss off its users. It's just so uncommon to see this kind of amazing timing that it happened RIGHT when G+ went public. But to say it's a one-off is not quite right either, cuz I'm sure it could have been orchestrated that G+ gets new features when Facebook does another update like this in the future to achieve the same effect.

 

[The Friendly Monster]

What's so great about Google+?

I follow one person on Google+ and their profile is public, so I'm missing the point of why I would actually join it.

I don't think you can have a "public" profile. Privacy is done on a post by post basis.

 

[zoku88]

This may sound stupid, but does anyone know how to set up a corporate/company Google+ account?

I don't think you can yet. I could be mistaken.

 

[Polari]

Yeah. In the past, when people bitched because of the Facebook layout changes, the prevailing retort was "yeah, well, what are you gonna do, go back to MySpace?"
There's a legitimate alternative now, and it just happens to be advertised right on the main page of the 2nd-most visited website on the internet. So yeah.... it'll be interesting to watch this play out.

This is true, but I think building Google+ is a long term project. Essentially they've got three main avenues "in" to the service where they're trying to snatch users from competitors.

- Facebook like functionality but with better privacy controls and features such as Hangouts in order to attract Facebook users. Google has an advantage here as their stable of web apps is far more developed than Facebook's, so it's a matter of integrating these apps into Google+ like Calendar, Docs, Youtube and I wouldn't be surprised if even Gmail eventually became more tightly integrated (although in a way that is entirely optional). I also wouldn't be surprised if Google had userbase milestones for integrating these apps, in order to make sure that if the Google+ ship fails to gain legitimacy and sinks it doesn't take everything else down with it. For example, implementing and promoting integration with Calendars when say, 40% of Calendar users are also using Google+.

- Twitter like functionality in the sense of celebrities that users will want to follow in order to attract Twitter users. I don't tweet, but I have a Twitter account so I can follow people. I guess that's why they have the likes of Britney Spears and will.i.am on board for what's presumably a considerable chunk of cash.

- Blackberry Messenger like functionality in order to attract BBM users. I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually see a native Google+ app for Blackberry and Windows Phone. I'm not sure how popular BBM is in the US but in the UK it's huge, but the fact it's limited to the Blackberry platform means it's going to be relatively easy to snatch those users if their friends have Google+ Messenger on Android or iOS.

Anyway, I see that as the strength of the Google+ platform. Even if people initially adopt it as a Facebook replacement, but stop using it after a few weeks because most of their friends aren't on it, Google can catch them further down the line with the Twitter-like functionality or BBM-like functionality. Also the fact that you only have to log in with your Google/Gmail account to start using the service makes it that much more potent.

...and after writing all that I realised Skype is another service they're trying to kill with this. Anyway, in summation, load up with a ton of features that may or may not actually have much in common and brand them all under a single roof, and they will (eventually) come.

 

[travisbickle]

The integration with Picasa and Hangouts are the two things that justify having Google+.

The fact that is one click on the google homepage means it's no trouble to get to, and with the way you can distribute posts I am considering blogging on there.

 

[JonCha]

Erm, I've got the GAF circle link but is there no way to add everyone into a Circle at once? Do I really have to add everyone manually?

 

[Gary Whitta]

I think I am going to to wind up regretting being on that list of suggested users Google+ gives news members when they sign up. I've picked up about 5000 new followers (or whatever we call them) in the past 48 hours, most of them seemingly from China and Indonesia and places like that. Wonder how many of them are just spambots. I'm definitely seeing a lot of spam and gibberish posts. Either way, my feed has suddenly turned into a hot mess! Is the dream over?

 

[kehs]

Erm, I've got the GAF circle link but is there no way to add everyone into a Circle at once? Do I really have to add everyone manually?

There's a .vcf files floating around with everyone from the gaf circle, you basically import it through the circles page.

(note: I do not have that vcf file anymore)

 

[Kentpaul]

I need some friends on google plus, all my friends are still on facebook.

Who wants to add me

i also wan't in a big gaf network on it

 

[Kinitari]

I think I am going to to wind up regretting being on that list of suggested users Google+ gives news members when they sign up. I've picked up about 5000 new followers (or whatever we call them) in the past 48 hours, most of them seemingly from China and Indonesia and places like that. Wonder how many of them are just spambots. I'm definitely seeing a lot of spam and gibberish posts. Either way, my feed has suddenly turned into a hot mess! Is the dream over?

I've suggested it forever, and others have as well - 'feed lists' - where you can separate feeds by priority. I.E. Default feed is friends and family, then you 'switch tabs' to... I don't know... celebrities, and finally you can have one for 'all the rest'. That way, you aren't forced to weed through all of them, or look through them one at a time.

 

[AstroLad]

I think I am going to to wind up regretting being on that list of suggested users Google+ gives news members when they sign up. I've picked up about 5000 new followers (or whatever we call them) in the past 48 hours, most of them seemingly from China and Indonesia and places like that. Wonder how many of them are just spambots. I'm definitely seeing a lot of spam and gibberish posts. Either way, my feed has suddenly turned into a hot mess! Is the dream over?

Are you just using the Incoming stream? Your main stream should only show people you've circled. Beyond that I have another circle called Inbox for people who I know personally whose posts I don't want to miss. I just ignore the random adds, it's basically like Twitter followers. And frankly I never use the Incoming stream unless I notice that I have an Incoming message from someone I actually know that I just forgot to circle back.

 

[jvalioli]

I'm guessing he means the comments on his posts are all shitty now.

 

[Gary Whitta]

Yeah sorry, what I meant was, everything I post gets shitted up by spam and gibberish responses in the comments thread. I daren't even look at my Incoming

Oh someone on G+ pointed out that every comment now has a "report abuse" flag right next to it to make spam management easier. Yay!

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

Yeah sorry, what I meant was, everything I post gets shitted up by spam and gibberish responses in the comments thread. I daren't even look at my Incoming

This is true. I started to follow you yesterday with the sole intent of selling you male enhancement pills.

Social network growing pains...

 

[Gary Whitta]

This is true. I started to follow you yesterday with the sole intent of selling you male enhancement pills.

Social network growing pains...

You have male enhancement pills? We should talk, send me a PM.

 

[AstroLad]

oh ha. i need to read the comments to your posts more closely. i usually just scan for the +ed responses in those megathreads.

actually that makes me think. it would be cool if there was a special designation for +s received from the OP. like an editor's choice-type thing or whatever. also you should get a notification for +'d responses. currently you don't.

you're a mover and shaker gary, get these changes in

 

[kehs]

Ugh, I have a stuck notification.

hey astro, de circle me and circle me again, I want to see if that clears it up.


(that sounds dirty)