So I have only been on Google+ for about a week or so, but I wanted to give a quick run down of what I like and don’t like about Google+. Not that I matter much in sea of opinions on the web. I just really like reading my own type.

Google+ really is like Twitter, Facebook, and tumblr got together, got drunk on cheap beer, fooled around, and the result of that one night of drunken debauchery was a social media love child. Like a special edition love child that only a few people can play with. Really it’s the Jesus of love childs with only a few people knowing the location of the manger so can take in peak and the new arrival in the social media world. Despite the much disliked exclusivity right now I think they might be on to something.

First off I really like Circles. The concept is not entirely new. Diaspora used a similar concept for setting up permissions, and to a lesser extent Facebook has groups. But for me it’s the combination of the privacy aspect with the intuitive editor. It’s just a great interface and it gives much more control of your content based on groups you interact with. Our social interactions offline are not the same so why should they be online? I only seldom share the same stories or details across every group I interact with offline. I tend to make some things private based on my groups and this is where Circles really shines. It mirrors offline social interactions in an online environment. And I think that is a first for any social media network to date. Not to mention, the whole idea that I define my relationships differently than the people I share content with is also refreshing. We no longer have to be separated into just followers and non-followers, or friends and non-friends. Now there is a social media site that will let you group your friends based on the beer they drink or their hair color or even based on the number of letters they have in their name. It’s like an OCD person’s dream come true.

Speaking of privacy I think Google’s intention and implementation of privacy is radical enough that many people are having issues. It seems there is an expectation around things like mentions and sharing that is causing some issues manifested in content being shared with a group larger than expected. I really think this comes down to people not bothering to understand Google+ and just jumping in and using it like they have used other social media sites. I see this same mentality in people migrating from Windows to Linux. It results in a lot of frustration for the user and the majority of the time those people say Linux is hard and go back to Windows. I’m not sure it serious enough to turn people off, but I think it will continue to cause some frustration. Developers will no doubt take the blame for the frustrations, but I tend to think it’s a user problem. Although that could just be the developer in me talking. Back to Google+.

The idea that I could really use it as the landing page for my online identity or even my blog is somewhat exciting although I’m not ready to go all in with Google+ myself. You really can’t do that with any of the other social media sites out there with the exception of Tumblr. Kevin Rose already made the move according to a twitter post. So it might give Google+ a slight edge when the masses join up.

I’m not sold on the idea of hangouts. Its a cool concept and it feels better implemented to me than Facebook’s Skype video calling, but I’m just not sure people outside the online celebs would use it. I could see it as a collaboration tool, but I wouldn’t get on a video conference call with 10 other people just to chat. Perhaps if Google+ was my only access to real-time, face to face social interaction with my friends it might be exciting. I would rather head to the bar with 10 of my friends. Of course they would probably just be hanging out Google+ on their phones so maybe Google was on to something.

I would love to be able to set a circle as my default stream. That way I can start my visit with the content I am most interested in and then work my way down the gradient. Now I just get everyone. And while I follow people that doesn’t mean I need to know their every move. It just makes it east to check in. Perhaps that already exists, but if it does I haven’t found it. Also I have not found a place to modify which events generates a automatic “post.” It would be nice to control that as well. I don’t think changing my profile picture is worthy of a post to my stream. Outside of that I would love some integration with Twitter and possibly some of the location based services.

I know a lot of people divide their use of social networks along product or service lines based on the content. For example someone might use Facebook for Family/Friends and Twitter for work. But a lot of the same people I follow and interact with on Google+ I follow on Twitter but many or not. For whatever reason (techno-phobic, Google-phobic, communist) some people just won’t be on every social network so why not integrate the systems so I can cross post without actually having to work to cross post. I hate the idea of having to post content to multiple services. If I re-tweet something on Twitter I want it to post to Google+ because the likelihood of me actually posting the same content on all the sites I use is zero. Perhaps we wont see that until we get Google+ API is released, but hopefully it will be soon. Personally I believe it will only help because I don’t think there is anything Google can do that will cause people – and by people I mean non-early-tech-adopters – to completely abandon their current social networks. So why not make it easier for them to start using Google+ without having to really use it. Perhaps it would grow on them. The only way Google would ever beat Facebook at this point is slowly overtime.

Overall, I think Google+ is off to a good start. I look forward to see what improvements they make. I think this social media love child has the potential to grow up to be a social media messiah of sorts. At the least they have my attention.