Google+ and a New Era in Mobile Technology
By: Hillel Fuld
As you must have heard by now, Google launched its own competitor to Facebook, Google+. I say that because as soon as you take a look at the Google+ interface, you cannot help but notice that it looks like the design was copied almost one for one, from the social networking giant.
So I woke up to an invite, and jumped right in. As I tried out the new service, I tweeted my first impressions,and they were not good. My initial thoughts were that the UI was over crowded, the concepts of Google+ like Circles are going to confuse many users, myself included, and in general, the platform feels like a mess. Then I wasted some more time playing around, read a few TechCrunch posts on the topic, and I have to say, I keep getting drawn back in to Google+. You know what that means, right?
It won’t be long before users can add Google+ to their list of addictive services, joining sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others. However, this is not a review of Google+, there are enough of those on the Web.
What is interesting about this new service is that contrary to other new social platforms that launched on the Web first, and only then on mobile, Google+ launched on the Web with a full fledged HTML5 Web app, a native Android app, and an iPhone app awaiting Apple’s approval.
All in all, the way Google+ is designed and built, it’s as if it was created from day one with mobile in mind. The notification system, the photos and video interface, as well as the ability to share with certain people and not others… This is perfect for the mobile device and I have a feeling that Google+ will be getting most of its traffic from mobile, once the platform’s mobile portfolio is complete.
What do you think? Have you tried Google+ yet? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter, I am @hilzfuld.
