Our Initial Thoughts on Google+

A couple of weeks ago we saw the launch of Google+, the web giants latest attempt at cornering the Social Media market and more importantly dethroning Facebook from its monopoly.  Initially the hunt was on to find someone with a spare account invite – as usual, Google has chosen to ring-fence this early version of the site.

Invite secured, we stepped into Google’s new social world only to find no-one else had arrived yet.  Still, it gave us a chance to get a feel for the place before the revellers arrived, a chance to acclimatise without all the hassle and noise of people telling you to “do this”, “do that”.

So what can you expect from Google’s third attempt to crack the social code?

There’s no getting away from the Facebook similarities, but you could argued that with an interface which mainly relies on just a newsfeed and a handful of upload options it would‘ve been more hassle than it was worth to strive for something unique.

Though looking similar, it’s the functionality side of things where the site really comes to life. You might have seen all the hype about these ground-breaking “circles” and “hangouts”, but when you only know 6 other people lucky enough to have a coveted an invitation, it becomes a little hard to fully experience these features. That said, they have a lot of potential.

In theory it seems that Google+ could be the one to challenge Zuckerberg’s social network, the two features mentioned above looking like the big pluses, but who’s to say that by the time they have the users they need, Facebook won’t have also added these nifty features?

We’re only a couple of weeks into the site’s life and the web is already awash with theories and predictions on what to expect, but as usual it’ll be the masses who decide who wins this latest technological Clash of the Titans.