Google+

[Dason]

Google+ was launched a few days ago (wikipedia link). For those who haven't heard of what it is: it's basically a better version of facebook. It's a lot easier to modify who can see what you share and in general the privacy settings are just done a lot better than facebook. Currently the invite system is closed (it's still in a testing phase since it just launched) but there are ways to bypass this. There aren't any games or apps currently (but in my opinion this is a good thing).

One way is to share a photo or album with somebody via email. In the email they receive they can actually sign up for google+. This is how I was able to sign up for it.

I was just wondering if anybody would want an invite to try it out. I rarely use facebook but I think I'll end up using this service quite a bit because it's just a lot easier to use and control your privacy settings.

Anywho - if you want an invite send me a PM with an email address. I'm not sure if you have to be a gmail user to sign up so if you have a gmail account that would be the best bet.

 

[bryangoodrich]

And FB just altered their layout. I'm still trying to figure out exactly how it works and if it is better. I'm sure I'll want and invite next week, but for now I'm too busy to geek out on Google.

 

[Dason]

If I share something with you and you follow the link in the email you might end up being told that google+ is 'at capacity'. Check back after an hour or two - I've been told that they keep upping the capacity every now and then.

 

[Link]

Thanks Dason! It looks nice. Though I've been kind of lazy to actually upload pictures and set up my account... =/

 

[bugman]

I haven't seen Google + yet, but a couple of my American mates have already switched to it. Apparently one nice feature is that you can mark you friends as: close friends, work collegues, family etc... and decide who sees what. That would be handy.

 

[Dason]

You can create custom circles and you get to decide who sees what very easily.

For example I could make a TalkStats circle and then if I want to make a post that is about statistics then maybe I'll just share it with the TalkStats group and all of my friends in the stats department here. It's very easy to do that. You can also block things from being reshared. So lets say I make a post - typically if people like it they can reshare it on their wall - but I can mark my original post as not for reshare and then only the people I post it to originally can see it and they can't share it any further.

 

[bugman]

I like the sound of those features!

Any ideas when theinvite only restrictions will end? Im guessing they are just trialing it right now.

 

[Dason]

Well there was a workaround before. But I heard that the invite system is open again. If you send me your email I'll send an invite your way.

 

[vinux]

Hi Guys... I too can send the invite. Please feel free to add me too.
I liked the hangout part in the google+

 

[trinker]

Those of you tinkering with Google+ what is your analysis of it? Likes? Dislikes? etc.

 

[Dason]

I much prefer it to facebook. With facebook it's just too much of a hassle to control privacy - I'm sure you can do it but they don't make it easy or intuitive enough. With google+ controlling who gets to see what is very easy. They take more of a whitelist approach - you have to explicitly say who gets to see what (and it's easy to say "everybody can see this") - and it's customizable for pretty much everything.

Right now there aren't any games or apps - which makes me happy. Could be a con for some people but it's an absolute plus (ha!) for me.

 

[Dason]

It appears that the invite system is working again so if you wanted an invite before and the workaround didn't work for you just let me know and you'll get an actual invite.