Early Reviews of Google+

After days of whining on Twitter, Google finally let me in to their latest innovation, Google+.  As a self-appointed “social media guru,” it was a bit embarrassing that it took so long, but oh well.

Having now used Google+ for two full hours, I can say that I like what I see. (Full Disclosure: I lovedlovedloved the ill-fated Google Wave, and I never liked Google Buzz, Google’s previous attempts to compete in the Twitter/Facebook arena).  The Google+ interface is beautiful — the drag-and-drop function for circles, for instance, is far superior to Facebook’s cumbersome friend lists.

Google+ seems a bit more professional than Facebook — more like LinkedIn in that sense.  My profile, for instance, is less about my romantic interests and what TV shows I like, and more about where I’ve worked and what websites have information about me.

On the iPhone, Google+ looks nice, too.  But since I’ve only accessed it through Safari, it’s limited.  Once there’s a Google+ app, I bet it will be much better.

Bruce, who’s been at it a bit longer than me, has a more thorough review:

Big “ups” to those who have been oozing serious social media mojo and are maintaining twitter and facebook interactions all the while diving head first into Google+. If there were social media geek badges to hand out, you would all get one . . . you know who you are and we love you.

I still think that the rise or fall of Google+ will be how other google apps are integrated into the rest of the google+ structure.  There is a rumor that both blogger and picasa are going to be rebranded, so I am hopeful that Google is making some good decisions about app integration.