Google+ Hits Beta With 9 New Features Including Search, Mobile Hangouts, And Open Signups

hiyaas (signed in using Yahoo)
Sorry to hurt the facebook fanboys who fail to see how they are just slave to a monopoly named FB, G+ now rocks even more. It has real crowd compared to the tricks and fakes by FB. And surely hi5, myspace, yahoo and others are gearing up. Grow up and understand internet is not=FB. It is an internet of multitude of sites, and yes email is still used by *all* on the net :)
Reply · 21 · · September 20 at 9:51am

Jasper Alexander Vegt · Top Commenter · Lead Developer/Chief Executive Officer at Contritio (Minecraft Server)
....You do realize Google+ is closer to failing then ever right? The internet is shifting from Google to Facebook, and as long as Facebook remains even close to par with Google+, Google will never receive the traction it needs to receive the frontal position again.
Reply · 5 · · September 20 at 1:07pm

Hari Prasanth · Top Commenter · SSR2 at Unisys
Jasper Alexander Vegt may be or may be not.
Reply · · September 20 at 1:35pm

Shawn Whinnery
You guys are silly. First off: Google has the monopoly on the inteenet. 48% of all web traffic passes through Google before ending up at its destination. Secondly: Facebook is the largest social network there ever has been but Facebook's daily active user count has seen a steady decline since 2010. Mark zuckerburg is currently trying to sellhis shares for a reason. Google pluss might not be the next big social network but Facebook will eventually go the way of the sabre tooth tiger. Personally I'm sick of Facebook. The tacky advertising and shitty zynga games are getting old.
Reply · 6 · · September 20 at 2:45pm
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Shanmuga Subramanian · Top Commenter · Chennai (Madras), India
Google Plus = Google Buzz = Google Wave.

Any similarities? All have 4 letters! :D + Some waste concepts..Only Tech folks are using it and not normal people..

From the 1000 odd people I know I can bet that none of them are using it!
Reply · 16 · · September 20 at 9:20am

John Fernandez
every social product google does turns into mud. this is what happens when you make a bunch of antisocial google engineers attempt make a social product.
Reply · 4 · · September 20 at 9:23am

Shanmuga Subramanian · Top Commenter · Chennai (Madras), India
John Fernandez Because they don't understand what is meant by social !! Simply aping concepts from others won't do anything good..!! They need to think out of box and we don't need another social network that is nearly same as Facebook except certain features..
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 9:26am

James Pakele · Top Commenter · Waianae High School
Your loss...
Reply · 39 · · September 20 at 9:26am
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Fred Davis · Media Guy at The Internet
After Wave and Buzz my expectations were subterranean, but Google+ has pushed it's head above ground, and looks like it might even grow into something that's pretty useful. Doesn't hurt that Facebook seems to be trying to Yahoo themselves with an interface that's way too in your face (talk about stealing the wrong student's homework!).
Reply · 9 · · September 20 at 10:26am

Scott Frans · Interactive Marketing Manager, Websites and Content at Grand Ole Opry
Yet still no access for Google Apps users.

http://www.google.com/support/plus/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1407609
Reply · 8 · · September 20 at 9:22am

Todd Bloom · Top Commenter
Or people that actually want to use a nickname, or if you're under 18, or if you don't want your posts publically searchable.

Yeah, sorry, I'll pass on the Google's new marketing tool (if you think it's a social network, you're mistaken.. they just want your data).
Reply · · September 20 at 10:53am

Robert Basil · Top Commenter · Chief Technical Officer at Plexus Worldwide, Inc.
Todd Bloom "I'll pass on the Google's new marketing tool (if you think it's a social network, you're mistaken.. they just want your data)."

You think Facebook is any different? At least Google let's you export your data in a usable format, unlike FaceLockYourDataUpOnOurServiceBook.
Reply · 6 · · September 20 at 11:01am

Todd Bloom · Top Commenter
Robert Basil Going to https://www.facebook.com/download/ is hard?
Reply · 2 · · September 20 at 11:04am
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Sandeep Kongathi
Hangouts with extras is a killer and pitched against cisco webex, live meeting etc.
Reply · 5 · · September 20 at 9:28am

Ananth Uggirala
I wish Hangout was a standalone app. It would have been a great competitor to webex, live meeting etc. It is hard to imagine using Google+ in work context yet. What a waste of technology?
Reply · · September 20 at 2:22pm

Hari Prasanth · Top Commenter · SSR2 at Unisys
Ananth Uggirala You might get those features once the API's are rolled out with full features.
Reply · · September 20 at 2:41pm

Sandeep Kongathi
Ananth Uggirala : Google might open it to Google Apps Business Users, its not completely waste, it goes by Google strategy that everything should be enabled from browser and not standalone app
Reply · · September 20 at 2:52pm
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Nicusor Dumbrava · Top Commenter
When Google makes big announcements like that with 2 days before Facebook’s big f8... I say...

Google finally sent a CLEAR WAR INVITATION LETTER to Facebook :)
Reply · 3 · · September 20 at 11:24am

Sudharsan Raman
90 days for beta? It could have been beta from the beginning.. throttling sign-ups for 90 days killed all the early hype and excitement. Now nobody cares actually.
Reply · 3 · · September 20 at 9:28am

James Pakele · Top Commenter · Waianae High School
This is not a 90 day fight, this fight is in the long haul and in the entirety of it all 90 days isn't going to matter...
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 11:18pm

Sam Jones · Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wish I could block certain circles from appearing in my main stream.
Reply · 3 · · September 20 at 9:19am

Michael Howard · Code Drone at Property Insight
It's not elegant but if you are using Chrome you can install the Plus Minus extension https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pidkbnhjgdngcfcaikoocdanfijkgdli
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 10:39am

James Mallison · Top Commenter · Manchester Metropolitan University
As much as there are Facebook haters out there; FB > GPlus.
Reply · 3 · · September 20 at 9:25am

Adrian Scott · Top Commenter
Google+ will dethrone Facebook sooner than you might think. G+ is better integrated, more flexible, and it also feels more intimate. Google did what Google does best, they studied the concept and made it better. The things we like about Facebook are all there, but tweaked just a little to make them easier to use. I've heard a lot of people say that will carefully consider who their Google Plus friends will be. Many of us pretty much blindly friend back whoever friends us. We're not sure who is out there watching. And Google's Circles concept takes that sensitivity to an entirely new level. Facebook surely came up with something similar to the Circles idea. But the perception will remain that Facebook is the place where everybody sees what you're doing. At any given moment there are hundreds of ideas in some stage of development in Mountain View. The culture there is employee centered and encourages amazing levels of creativity across the board. Some Google ideas pop up and fail fast, some slowly take hold, others turn out to be home runs. Most importantly, Google learns from their mistakes and keeps swinging the bat.

If there's a way to do it better, Google will figure it out. And for those that say "Google+ copied FB" you should keep those words to yourself, let's not forget FB is ran by an asshoe who betrayed his own friends and ofc also copied ideas (MySpace was there first, and so were other social networks).
Reply · 1 · · September 21 at 1:27am

Patrick Duran · University of Akron
I feel like it would have been better for them to wait the three months at this point or perhaps another one or two, launch with these features and make it available to everyone. My friends who aren't into tech know about it but now that they heard about it three months ago and they aren't using it there won't be the big rush and excitement feeling to join.
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 11:00am

Hari Prasanth · Top Commenter · SSR2 at Unisys
But Patrick how will they fix any bugs that come around if they don't test it ? If G+ was released with full features but full of bugs then it will be like Buzz and Wave. Google is extra careful this time to make sure they are not making the same mistake again.
Reply · · September 20 at 2:48pm

Patrick Duran · University of Akron
Hari Prasanth On the fly in the same manner facebook has done
Reply · · September 20 at 9:28pm

Hari Prasanth · Top Commenter · SSR2 at Unisys
Patrick Duran ... But you do understand when Facebook was started there was not much hype and expectations around it..Google want's to make sure they do it right this time :)
Reply · · September 21 at 3:09pm

Nick Fleker Felker · Top Commenter
These are awesome features. Since f8 is coming, I hope Google rolls out more features soon. At this point, Facebook could do something to sweep Google+ away. I still say that the framework of Google+ is better than Facebook.
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 2:11pm

David Nguyen · Top Commenter
I was the biggest G+ fan when it first came out.......then I just stopped caring. But it's still awesome to use when you want to watch youtube videos together with friends over videochat though.
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 12:47pm

James Pakele · Top Commenter · Waianae High School
Try again, now that you can actually search for discussions and people with your same interests... it's a whole new animal
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 11:20pm

Nicusor Dumbrava · Top Commenter
"Google Docs: for when you want to write, plan or present something with others".

I'm glad when Google give us something that we all expected... :)
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 12:17pm

UncleBob Martin · Tech at National Telecommuting Institute
When will the hoi polloi wise up & join the elites @ G+?
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 11:32am

Alberto Barrera · Top Commenter · San Juan Hills High School
Still no access to those under 18
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 10:31am

Bill DeWitt · Winchester, Kentucky
Yay!
Reply · 3 · · September 20 at 11:30am

Alberto Barrera · Top Commenter · San Juan Hills High School
It will die just like google wave without us, just look at myspace and friendster.
Reply · · September 20 at 12:41pm

Hari Prasanth · Top Commenter · SSR2 at Unisys
Alberto Barrera Who knows after 5 years we might have to include Facebook in it :P
Reply · 1 · · September 20 at 2:49pm
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Ryan Jenkins · Salt Lake City, Utah
Anyone can sign up for Google+ accounts? Not true. Google Apps users are still hosed. "Google+ is not yet available for Google Apps. Thanks for your patience." I can't describe how frustrating this is.
Reply · · September 20 at 4:19pm

James Pakele · Top Commenter · Waianae High School
Use a standard account as a proxy... problem solved, done deal, very simple to do... No need to switch between accounts at all...
Reply · · September 20 at 11:25pm

Da Instrumentalz · Top Commenter · Artist at Rare Find Recordings
good, now all the facebook hataz can take their monkey azz over to google+.
Reply · · September 20 at 9:28am

Sriram Srinivasan · National Institute of Technology, Trichy
I think google+ will be dead before they come out of beta.
Reply · · September 20 at 8:53pm

James Pakele · Top Commenter · Waianae High School
This isn't buzz... don't get it twisted...
Reply · · September 20 at 11:27pm

Fawn Proper · Tioga Center
how do I sign up for google+? fb is getting to me.
Reply · · September 21 at 5:42am

Selorm Nelson · Works at Freelance Web Designer and developer
I barely even use it..
Reply · · September 20 at 9:30am

George Adams
NERDFIGHT
Reply · · September 20 at 10:38am

Kody Scalzi · McKinney North High School
Still 18+ =/
Reply · · September 20 at 6:08pm

Azziet Singh · Delhi, India
Top 10 Employers in the world.
http://azziet.blogspot.com/2011/09/worlds-top-10-biggest-employers.html
Reply · · September 20 at 11:09am

Azziet Singh · Delhi, India
http://azziet.blogspot.com/2011/09/google-launches-hangout-api-for.html
Reply · · September 20 at 11:07am