by J. Christopher Baggett

Created on: August 17, 2011

We live in an era where social media websites come and go. You all remember MySpace? Now a ghost town (though celebrity Justin Timberlake apparently sees potential, as he's trying to revive the sleeping giant). How about MySpace's predecessor, Friendster? It used to be the place to keep up with your friends; now you're lucky to find someone with a profile picture on it.

Right now the social media site of choice is, of course, Facebook. With millions of users, this sometimes controversial website is now home to everyone you know, be it your childhood best friend, the girl sitting in your classroom that you can't work up the courage to talk to, or even your mom. But now Google has stepped in to take the social media crown from Facebook with their recently launched Google+.

In many ways, Google+ is and isn't Facebook. You've still got your profile, but now it's got the added benefit of Google. Did you put a bunch of really cool pictures in your Picasa profile? They're on Google+ now, and you can do with them as you please. Got a slew of e-mail contacts you're close with? Not only can you put them in Google+ now, but you can be notified once they've got the service and have started following you.

Google+ also allows you the unique method of "circles" for sorting your friends. Similar to Facebook's groups, "circles" are where you put your friends, either in one of Google's pre-determined circles such as Friends, or a custom one of your choosing such as Authors, or you can even put them in multiple circles. You can then choose to not only post only to specific circles (either one at a time or several at once), but you can look at those circles specifically and see who is posting what.

Google has also taken the initiative to integrate not only their popular GTalk within Google+, but also the new Hangouts feature. With the click of a button, you can start a webcam conference with multiple friends, in all or specific circles, and these friends can drop in or out at their convenience, simplifying the arduous that sites like Facebook sloppily implemented shortly after Google+'s release.

There have been some issues raised about personal information on Google+ and privacy, but I've found it to be no less secure than Facebook, who have been somewhat famous recently for their willingness to allow government officials to sift through personal data. While Google+ may carry it's own set of concerns, this is again a burden the user must carry; however, as long as you remember that you are posting things on the Internet, you should be fine. 

In short, it's the ease of Google+ combined with the existing powerhouse of Google that makes it a clear successor to the social network throne. All your friends are already here or on their way, and all the information you've already implemented into your existing Google accounts can carry over with the click of a button.  Though once hard to come by at the beginning of Google+'s beta release, the invites to the program are now fairly easy to come across. Why not get in on the future of social networking now?

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