Is the name temporary? Google+ doesn't seem like an attractive name but who knows.

I spent one weekend building all of my lists up in FB, but it takes so long to reorganize or change anything that I haven't updated them since I did. Even though I have those lists, they're not nearly as functional or obvious to use as they need to be to be useful.

If anyone has an invite, my birthday is next week... I want in badly.

I got an invite, checking it out now

voidwalker@gmail.com - I want in, dammit.

No one has invites right now, they've shut down invitations again (except for very very specific people).

Well, I'm not gonna jump on the bandwagon now, but if it does kill Facebook, I will of course migrate.

BTW, I clicked on that Google+ link and it asked me to log in to my Google account. I don't HAVE a Google account. :/

Anywho, I don't know why you're so excited about this, CM - you don't seem to do much networking anyway, at least on FB. You have, what, 30 friends?

I just don't get it.

I don't understand how email and/or instant messaging isn't enough.

Uhm, why not? There's a ton of reasons to do so:

1. Google Reader is best RSS reader ever.
2. GMail.
3. Google Search history/personalization (really does a great job of making sure stuff you care about makes it to the top of searches)
4. Google Docs

Etc.



More like half that, really. I don't do much networking on Facebook because Facebook sucks. I have absolutely no intention of making everyone I know my "friend", or hear everything they have to say all day. I wasn't even comfortable adding a few Massassians, but just gave up and did it anyway.

Enlighten me then.

1. What is an RSS reader and what makes Google's so good?
2. I have an email. Why do I need another one? As far as I can tell, one email is as good as another.
3. This sounds interesting, but I generally find what I need pretty easily anyway.
4. What is a Google Doc?

Finally, are Google accounts free and easy to sign up for?



And here I thought I was special because I was one of your few friends. No, I understand completely. Tons of my old high school classmates friended me, and I added them because I didn't want to seem rude and turn them down. Eventually I just took my high school off my profile; of course, they can still find me as a friend of another classmate.

I am amused by the thought of someone who barely knows me taking offense because I refuse to friend them. Strange people, I tell ya.

1. Err, they're used on most major websites. What you do is, you add that site's RSS feed to your RSS reader (like Google Reader), and it will show you new articles posted, as they're posted. This becomes invaluable when you check more than 2-3 websites regularly. For instance, I have a lot of tech sites (Engadget, Ars Technica, etc), and a bunch of webcomics (xkcd, Penny Arcade, etc) in Google Reader, and I just check it every morning to see what's new. It's especially nice since reading in Google Reader loads a lot faster than dealing with loading each individual page.

2. This is impossible to answer in one paragraph, but there's a reason that GMail is basically the most popular email service. It's got labels, great automatic spam filter, integrates Google's search prowess, works on a "never delete" concept (instead, you archive it out of your inbox, but you can still find it if you ever need it later), has decent filter functionality, it created the concept of conversation views for emails, ridiculous amount of storage, etc. It can even help you move your email over. You don't HAVE to use GMail, but I've moved all my mail over to GMail. It's just so convenient.

4. Google Docs is basically web-based document editing. Word processor (with MS Word document support), Spreadsheet editor (with Excel support), Presentation support (with Powerpoint support), and it stores your documents online so you can access, edit, and view them anywhere. In addition, it also supports sharing and collaboration, so you can edit a word document, for instance, with other people, at the same time, live. You actually can see what they're typing as you edit.



Yes, it's all free. There's very little Google offers that ISN'T free, and it's explicitly stated. The only thing you can really buy from Google is extra storage space for your account (shared among Picasa photos service, GMail, etc). Although frankly, the many gigabytes of data they give you to start with is more than enough for most people (ever had 7GB of email? I haven't).

Easy is a relative term, but frankly I doubt it'd take you more than a minute if you type fast enough. It's only like 5-10 questions, including username/password



Yes, that's exactly what I avoided. I'm not friends with 99% of my school, and frankly I don't care what they think of me (I didn't like most of them anyway!).

Same here. And I'm sure that we're not the only ones.

This **** is pretty cool

And for the record, I love google docs, I use it regularly.

Alright, CM, I will look into it.

So I've been away from the forums here for a couple of years (maybe more) and I was thinking where could I go online where I can get on someone's radar to maybe get an invite from someone to Google+, and then I remembered that the massassi forums were the way I got into gmail while it was still invite only.I knew before I finished typing the URL in that someone here would have already have a thread on the topic. I am so looking forward to whenever I can try this new social network.

No offense, but I think I'm going to prioritize people who actually visit on a regular basis first

Wouldn't fault you for that. :-DHeck, back when I regularly visited, I'll bet most here didn't have much of an idea I was really on the site then.Back onto the topic at hand, with the trouble I've gone to in muting specific people who I don't want to loose coctact with, but who's inane post and FB game updates I can't stand, and seperating out some parts of my life with lists and all of that on FB, I really can't wait to try out Circles. This really sounds ideal for the way I've been trying to use FB.

Al ciao...i honestly can't believe you needed cm to answer those questions. You suck at using the internet.My 80 year old grandparent has gmail.

Yeah it's not great but at least it's a one word name. If Microsoft made this it would be "Microsoft Windows Live FriendShare" or some trash like that.

In all fairnss to Al Ciao, the only reason I officially switched over to Gmail is because the professional world scoffs at those using hotmail, yahoo, or pretty much anything else. After switching over from hotmail, the only feature I've found nice was that it'll keep all replies and forwards for an email topic in one 'conversation.' In theory, I could see myself liking google docs as well (I've used it a couple times, but I don't feel like I can't go back to editing via Word and attaching either). I personally feel CoolMatty has a difficult time understanding that not everyone needs or even wants all the things he likes tech/feature-wise, but he and I have already argued about that sort of thing numerous times before, so there's no need to rehash it.

As for Google+, scanning the tour, I see circles still being only half-useful. I have plenty of friends who would be in multiple "circles" and going by the tour, there doesn't seem to be any obvious way to have people in multiple circles. I imagine that won't be the case at the end, but again, just going by the tour. I trust Google to keep the feature-creep and clutter to a minimum (which is what I originally liked about Facebook back in the day compared to MySpace), so if I find enough people I care about will switch over, I likely will as well. As for now, though, I have no desire to be a pioneer in this case.

DAMN KIDS AND YOUR FACESPACES

Geb, you can most definitely add friends to multiple circles

As I said, I'm sure that'll be the case, but the tour didn't seem to show me how. I drag someone into a circle, and then there seems to be no option to have them also in another circle. I didn't study the tour too hard, though, but given how easy and intuitive everything else was, that was just what jumped out at me. I'm sure someone will say "STUPID GEB IT'S HERE HURR U R DUMB" and we'll be moving on with better things.

Don't worry about the tutorial, I did it for myself, it works.

Hah, I am almost computer illiterate. When I was using TechGuy Support Forums, I listed myself as "Intermediate" experience, but then felt unqualified after helpers had to tell me how to do what apparently is basic stuff like BIOS. Urgh.

I guess I'm just used to being the one around who knows more about computers than anyone else. Of course, that probably says more about the people I hang out with than myself.

I can surf, I can navigate Windows, I can play PC games. Good enough for me.

Facebook used to have the greatest list making feature: you could move people into different lists if they were online in chat. Sadly that drag and drop feature disappeared.

The FB groups used to be useful, if not a little annoying to use. Now it's just worthless.

Uhm, I don't even know how you could get into such a situation. You drag them into a circle, but they're still there on the top. You just drag them into another circle. Done.

You can also just edit the circles they are in from their profile page.

that's because coolmatty is a huge nerditron

It's reasoning like that though that general people should like Google+. Because Facebook is actually more complicated/feature-packed with crap.

Yeah the interface has a much better flow, facebook was always confusing and they always change things.

When I did it, they disappeared from the top and only existed in their 'circle.'

This thing is so simple it's almost confusing. I like it already.

I made an Invitation process guide for you people to spread.