Google+ is officially on the market, and it’s being released in small doses in the form of invites. Much like how Gmail was initially spread in beta, the invite only model creates a sense of exclusivity and belonging. Facebook also used this method to market their network to college students, and eventually became part of the global definition of social media. Whether Google+ mirrors this success is anyone’s guess, but until that time it is time to get to know the features.
Privacy advocates have held Facebook's feet to the fire on several occasions over various privacy issues that have crept up since its inception, and if Google's to truly become a Facebook killer, the sultan of search would be wise not to follow in Zuckerberg's footsteps. It's interesting, then, that Google has decided to ban private Google+ profiles, requiring users to make their profiles public or face account deletion.
There's irony, like an old man turned 98 who wins the lottery and dies the next day, or a death row pardon two minutes too late, as well as several other examples Alanis Morissette gives in her song "Ironic." And then there's the fact that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is currently the most followed user on Google+, the so-called Facebook killer that's harder to get into than Disney's Club 33.
The changes kicked off by the Google+ launch continue to reverberate through other Google products. Google’s photo sharing and storage service, Picasa is getting a change for the better. For users of Google+, any photos uploaded to the social service are stored on Picasa and there is no storage limit. That’s right, nearly unlimited storage.
One of the things that has made Twitter such a success, even as Facebook continues growing, is its API access. Having an API allows developers to plug into a service to improve the experience and ecosystem. Google+ has only been live for a few days, but Google’s Vic Gundotra told Cnet that API access is coming soon.
Googlers are probably heartily patting each other on the backs up in Mountain View today. After a successful beta launch of Google+, demand for invites to the social networking service has been high. So high in fact, that the invite program had to be cut off late last night.
Google’s Facebook killer has arrived, and it is called Google+. The limited beta product is currently invite only, so don’t expect it to have the same massive social graph as Facebook does right now (if you can even get in). But Google has included some interesting features to help people share content. Google+ actually seems to be a few different products all rolled into one.
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