How would Google+ Benefit Me?

[FrankXS]

Some phrases that describe me are...

1) Not interested in "social web activity" such as Twitter, Facebook and such.

2) Technically savvy.

3) Enjoying my ThunderBolt 'cuz it (now) does everything I want

4) I'm signed up for Google sync of Mail, Calendar, I have GVVM and Google Docs. I like them okay.

5) I have "turned off" all Google browsing search history and personalized content because I prefer my privacy on those matters.

Oh... I almost forgot.... HANDSOME!

So, all I can see about Google+ is that it adds more social networking capability. Is that right? Or do I have it wrong? I can't decide if I should sign up. I've looked at Google's description but I just can't tell what the benefit is other than social networking.

Comments?

-Frank

 

[realitydigg]

If you don't want to do anything social... then you probably don't need Google+ You can however use hangouts to pull together group chats, set it to automatically upload you pictures (cloud storage). aside from that it is check in's, posts, responses, etc. You could use it voyeuristically, there is a "nearby" feature that lets you see what people are saying nearby....

 

[natehoy]

I use it mostly to automatically back up my photos to Picasa. Some might see that as a privacy risk, but I like having my photos backed up quickly and effortlessly.

But, yeah, it's mostly a social thing. Facebook with a friendlier privacy policy. If you're not into the social thing there are plenty of other solutions that will back up photos for you.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

The "messenger" app that comes with it is possibly the most under-rated feature of not just Google+, but Android in General.

BlackBerry marketed their BlackBerry messenger so much, and as a former owner of a BB, I understand why -- the only problem was that by the time I got rid of my last BB and brought Android, I had only about 2 or 3 friends left still using BBs, so BBM was pretty useless to me. Still though, it had a lot of great features, including group chat and the ability to send pics in the message thread.

Guess what, Google+ Messenger does that as well...and is available to all Android *and* iPhone users with a Google+ account (and maybe BB users too? I don't know). I have a few friends that now use it, and the group message functionality of it is great -- more "instant" and less inbox-congesting than using email, and more intuitive than standard text messaging.

Back to the original question... I admittedly don't use G+ very much, but what I really like about it is combines some of the best features of both Facebook and Twitter, and allows you to determine in what manner you'd prefer to use it. Fb, to me, is all about personal information -- sharing and interacting with specific people you know, and sharing things about yourself...this is probably why I don't really use Facebook at all, because I could really care less about that kind of stuff. Twitter, on the other hand, I've found to be an immensely useful tool, which I use like a news aggregate. If you want to only follow and interact with your friends on twitter, you *could* do that, but if facebook is about interacting with your friends, twitter is all about interacting with strangers, and because of that there's a lot less personal info shared on twitter. I think that Twitter is also the most underutilized and misunderstood (by those who have never used it) tool on the web today. When I check my timeline, for example, I see mostly updates from news sources, updates from beat writers that follow my favorite sports teams, techie sites, and stuff like that. Again, for me, twitter is like the best real-time news aggregate I've ever used.

G+ kinda combines the best of both worlds -- it provides an arena to share personal thoughts and status with (only) your close friends, but also allows you to "follow" anyone publicly (for example, I follow Android Central, and get updates of all their new posts in my feed). If you share anything on G+, you have the option to either share publicly, with only a group of friends, or only 1 person if you want.

The biggest problem with G+ right now is that simply not many folks use it, so it's not as useful as FB or Twitter for either sharing or following...but I'm betting it will get there.

ICS already appears to integrate a lot of G+ features (like contact "circles"), so my guess is that as more folks begin to own ICS devices, the more people will begin to give G+ a shot.

If you're not really into the whole "social" network thing, that's cool, but I figured I'd try to answer your question.

 

[Forgetful]

Looking at your OP you don't need/want it based on my understanding of G+
Us #6s don't need it.


Good summary by pete

 

[cadzilla74]

Hey Frank I'm in the same boat as you (except for #6 maybe, I ain't winnin' any beauty contests). I tried G+ when it first came out, even had a couple of Group Circles going but I just don't care for social media much.

Having said that, I might reinstall G+ for one purpose now that it seems to be catching on. I refuse to deal with Twitter or Facebook. A lot of the podcasts and vodcasts I subscribe to used to only have interaction through those two choices and abandoned IRC type chatrooms long ago. Most of them have now embraced G+ and I'm thinking I might reinstall and give it another chance if only to participate in those specific realms.

 

[recDNA]

hey frank...if u ever decide to give up the ghost and root there's a guy who uses google+ to help.

I'm not big on social media either. i use facebook for ads and mlb.com. i dont use twitter or g+ at all

 

[waker]

Honestly the messenger and video.chat with grandparents/baby are huge but the coolest thing is the high res photography you can check out on g+. World famous photographers posting high tez images all the time. It's nothongblike facebook or Twitter. Well it is but it isn't. Lol. It offers things the others just don't.


Oh google plus doesn't require account setup. Your gmail is your account. Just try it. Uninstall if you don't care for it. It's awesome once you start following folks you are interested in.

Sent from my Full Blown Thunderstick via Tapatalk.

 

[bigsyd]

I can't get enough of my peeps on G+ to make it worthy of me checking my account.

 

[FrankXS]

I can't get enough of my peeps on G+ to make it worthy of me checking my account.

Are you saying you like it or don't like it?

-Frank