Wendy Schollum: Poking around Google+

This month Google launched a new social network called Google+, to combat the growing threat of their key competitor: Facebook.   Already the number of Google+ users has surged to over 10 million (despite the social network still being an "invite only" service, for the time being) and Google CEO, Larry Page, reported late last week that Google+ users are now sharing over 1 billion items every day.
When an invite arrived in my inbox to beta test the new Google+ social network, I admit that it momentarily mustered up nostalgic feelings of when a Primary school  chum selects you (from a lineup of peers) to join their bullrush team - it's just plain exciting.
Having a chance to "poke around" the newest social network is a web columnists dream and gives me a great opportunity to share some of the more notable features and my observations with you.  
Like on virtually every other social network, Google+ includes user profiles, which displays information such as recent posts, interests, location, etc.  However, unlike rivals Twitter and Facebook, Google+ does not currently provide the ability for users to set a profile vanity URL (for example, on Facebook our vanity URL is www.facebook.com/xploreNET).
This said, where Google may have left a hole in their service offering, entrepreneurial developers have been quick to provide a solution.  Gplus.to (http://gplus.to) allows you to enter a desired "nickname" and your Google+ ID number to automatically create an "unofficial" (and easy to remember) vanity URL for your Google+ profile (for example, mine is http://gplus.to/wendys).
At present, there is no way for businesses to create business profiles on Google+, but Google has specifically requested that users to refrain from setting up profiles to promote businesses, as they are currently working on beta release of functionality to cater for this.  So, this shouldn't be too far away.
Other "standard" social network functions include Google+ Stream (comparable to the newsfeed in Facebook) and the Google+ button (similar to Facebook's "like" button).  However, unlike Facebook, Google+ Circles has created a creatively simple way to manage your social network contracts - laying the ground work for Google+ to potentially become the "one social network to rule them all". 
An issue many social network users currently face is keeping their professional and personal lives separate online.  Using Google+ Circles slick, visual interface, you can create categorised Circles that you literally drag and drop contacts into (for example, I've got Circles for family, friends, business contacts, etc ), which allows you to manage who you share any content you post to Google+ with (e.g. you may select to spare your work contacts the updates about your furry, feathered of fishy friends daily antics) - creating the much needed separation between public and private personas.
Another more notable feature is Google+ Hangouts.  Hangouts are a way for up to 10 people to participate in a video chat session. 
While Google has promoted this feature as a "way for you to say, 'I'm online and want to hangout!'", this new functionality could also be used as a business tool to coordinate meetings, discuss a project or even facilitate a remote board meeting.  The great thing about hangouts is that there is a built in camera switching function that only shows the person who is talking, on screen - making it less confusing to follow than some other bulk video conferencing tools.
Aside from these standout features, Google+ has a range of other great tools (that will, no doubt, be added to over time), but, for the time being, it is Google+'s simplicity that makes this new social network a "stand out" for me.  There a no social games, gimmicky apps or serial posters yet included in this temporarily gated online community - sparing us from the "send me a chicken", "poke me" and "my life's worse than yours, because..." posts - for now, anyhow.
Whether Google+ will prove to be a viable online competitor to Facebook is yet to be seen, but, if you would like an invite to try Google+ for yourself, please email your name and Gmail email account to support@xplore.net or direct message us @XploreNET on Twitter.
Wendy Schollum is a web strategist and managing director of Xplore - your web agency (www.xplore.net).  If you have a web related question you would like Wendy or the Xplore team to answer, follow Xplore on Twitter (www.twitter.com/xploreNET), join us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/xploreNET) or call 0800 100 900.