google+

[bender1077]

Hello fellow Mint users!

Has anyone here joined google+? I think it would be cool to have a LMusers/linux users ring of contacts!

plus.google.com

[dawgdoc]

I was reading about google+ yesterday. Isn't it still by invitation? (Like Diaspora is by invitation.)

[bender1077]

I'll check to see if I can still invite more people.

[Kendall]

It's been nice thus far. Mostly the people I'm communicating with are the same people I talk to on Twitter all the time. The interface is top-notch and the integrated notification system across all Google services is absolutely fantastic. I'm probably going to stay with this one for a while.

[SimonTS]

Hopefully it'll be better than Diaspora. I've been on there about 3 months now, but it doesn't really seem to be going anywhere. Possibly that's partly coz I don't really do 'social networking'. I'm sure that with the might of Google it will be better thought out and prepared though.

[ThistleWeb]

Hopefully it'll be better than Diaspora. I've been on there about 3 months now, but it doesn't really seem to be going anywhere. Possibly that's partly coz I don't really do 'social networking'. I'm sure that with the might of Google it will be better thought out and prepared though.

Facebook and Google both have brands outside of the geek niche, Diaspora is going to be a niche market for this reason alone. They can't put adverts on mainstream places, subway posters, TV ads etc Mainstream companies with no connection to technology are on Facebook because that's where the chumps.....erm...I mean customers are. Every TV and radio show have a Facebook contact method because it's at the point where "if they're not on Facebook, they don't exist". The same applies to being found on Google's search engine, so they will flock to a Google branded network, even if it's just the same as Facebook.

You can tell when something has made it, when even your non-techie circle of family and friends have adopted it's lingo as part of their daily lives. Diaspora, like Linux will never compete in that space, where a LOT of VERY rich companies can throw a LOT of cash at deals and promotion.

[artouk]

Sounds good but I have no invite

I'm hoping plus takes off, facebook is very stale atm.

[dawgdoc]

...so they will flock to a Google branded network, even if it's just the same as Facebook.

from xkcd.com sometime last week

[dawgdoc]

HERE is a "Doomed to Obscurity" toon about the lack of Google+ invites.

[dawgdoc]

Jason Hiner posted a blog on TechRepublic that seems to be a good review of Google+

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/ ... ow-it/8642

One reason for the the invitation scarcity may be related to this

For now, it is open mostly to technology industry insiders and the press.

In the last half of the blog he posts why he thinks Google+ is important to Google and how he hopes/expects to see them use social networking

[Deafmute]

I managed to snag an invite this evening, so far I'm liking it, defiantly better than Facebook. Seeing as G+ is still in it's infancy I can potentially see it going toe to toe with Facebook w/o any problems.

Also lets not forget the best part, it uses HTTPS for everything rather than choosing to stick with HTTP for speed reasons.

Despite Google being evil, I trust them with my information more than most companies.

[bender1077]

Open invites back up! Let me know, or the thread know if you need one!

[ThistleWeb]

Google are generally better trusted to deliver a decent product, I can see this taking off. Not quite sure it's for me but it may turn into a social issue where it's just easier to join that constantly resist.

[dawgdoc]

Google are generally better trusted to deliver a decent product, I can see this taking off. Not quite sure it's for me but it may turn into a social issue where it's just easier to join that constantly resist.

I concur completely. For me - no Facebook, no Twitter, no IM accounts in years, not even identi.ca or diaspora (yet). I was thinking I had resisted all of the social sites so far, but I realized that it was really to no avail. Due to the fact that I use Gmail to a small degree and I have an Android phone, Google probably already has a lot of info on me.

Bender, if you have invites to share could you PM one to me?

[bender1077]

For those that get on the g+ train, feel free to add me to one of your circles!

https://plus.google.com/?gpcaz=3f7062d3 ... sts//p/pub

[Tannn3r]

In my opinion, it seems like its Facebook + Twitter = Google+, because you can add people but they don't need to add you back, but it has chat.

If anyone wants an invite, feel free to PM me or reply in this thread.

[jtaylor5309]

Hello fellow Mint users!

Has anyone here joined google+? I think it would be cool to have a LMusers/linux users ring of contacts!

plus.google.com

I would like to check it, but I have not been invited yet.

Regards,

John...

[dawgdoc]

Just read something interesting about Google+ and privacy. Google will require all profiles to be public. There will be no private profiles. The article did state that the only informatiion required to be in the profile is your name and gender.

From the Google+ help page re: Public Profiles

We believe that using Google Profiles to help people find and connect with you online is how the product is best used. Private profiles don’t allow this, so we have decided to require all profiles to be public.

Keep in mind that your full name and gender are the only required information that will be displayed on your profile; you’ll be able to edit or remove any other information that you don’t want to share.

If you currently have a private profile but you do not wish to make your profile public, you can delete your profile. Or, you can simply do nothing. All private profiles will be deleted after July 31, 2011.

Reading on another page I did see that deleting your profile will not delete your account.

[dawgdoc]

Re: the xkcd cartoon I posted above, there may be a better reason than before for having something like Facebook that is not Facebook. From articles at Business Insider and Forbes it would appear that China is trying to buy enough of Facebook "to matter." Business Insider goes on to explain that China and Middle-Eastern source are buying stock. Sources say that Citibank has been approached to buy upto $1.2 billion of stock. Chinese representatives are also approaching former Facebook employees directly. That article seems to take the stand that this is of no great significance.

There's little need for such concern. For one, even a billion dollar stake isn't a very big stake in Facebook, these days.

(EDIT: fixed the Forbes link)

Forbes would appear to think it is important.

The Communist Party, ...insists on its monopoly of political power. And to maintain that monopoly, it tightly controls its own instrumentalities. ...the Party is in the midst of the most comprehensive crackdown on society since the 1989 Beijing Spring. Chinese leaders clearly view social media as a threat to their rule, especially after seeing its force-multiplying effect in the ongoing Arab Spring protests that have toppled governments.

Of course, Google already has interests in China. So these articles may have no signficance on which social media a person uses.

[dawgdoc]

Google+ is again accepting. I was able to join based on the invite I received 4 days ago.

BTW, I was at the local county airport today at the skydiving center and wandered over to the avionics repair workshop. There was a former employee who stopped by while in town from California visiting family. He was helping the two guys in the workshop set up their Google+ accounts and going through circles, huddles, etc. He left here about 3 years ago to work in the IT dept at a college in Va. From their he went to the SF bay area to work at the big G as part of their Ad-Sense team.

Coincidences.