After playing a few days with Google+, I think I like it. I've never been a terrible fan of Facebook, which helps in this case. I like Twitter a lot, because with about 1,500 followers I'm sort of a public figure and want to be able to let people see what I'm up to, even if I might not care about what they are doing. On Facebook, i have many friends who are not my friends... and at times I'm not even able to read the language they write their posts into.

Google+ (or Plus) seems to be very good, as I can have a few family members and friends in it, and post some information specifically to them. While everything else I can post publicly, more or less like I do on Twitter. Why not use twitter, than? Well, Google seems to do much better with videos, pictures, and with comment threads. On Twitter you at times you see someone commenting on a post you never saw, and this gets very messy. In this terms Google+ is very like Facebook, with likes (ops, +1) and comments. Yes, it is a lot like Facebook... with circles !

By the way, the information on Google site about "circles" (that is the way you arrange people you want to listen to), is not very clear. if you post publicly, even people who "follow" you (that is, you are in their circles) and you don't follow (they are not in your circles) will get your post. This is a Twitter-like configuration. Now, if you want to follow posts of a public figure on Google+, you shoudl add him or her to the special "Following" circle, which is meant for asymmetrical situation (that is, not your friends, but people you want to follow). But this seems not be required.

Another plus of Google+ (pun intended) is the UI quality. Dragging your contacts into circles is intuitive and when you delete a circle it will roll away. Also you can generally see lots of information (like the details of recent notifications, or key info about a person) without having to open a separate window, as it is often the case with Facebook. I haven't tried the video conferencing, but if I can avoiding managing also Skype contacts, and use Google Plus also for this, it sounds good. Won't give up Skype, as I have local numbers and other goodies, but might end up using it less. And it is nice to get "sparks" of information and share them directly, although I'd love to do the same with blog posts (see later)..

What will make a big difference for me, will be further integration with other Google services I use a lot. For example, it is nice to see Google+ notifications in the topmost bar of GMail. But can I get a list of my mails on Google+, or even merge email notifications in my stream? And what abot the RSS Reader? I'd love to get rid of it and get my feeds right into my Google+ Stream. With the added ability to mark posts are read (like it currently marks new posts, with a colored side bar). I'm not sure how much Google plans integrating its various services, but Picasa got into Google+ right away, and I guess they might also unify the accounts with YouTube.

Of course this is just a techie opinion, and I have no idea if Google will succeed in even trying to compete with Facebook and Twitter. As some are saying, it might become the "Facebook of the Geeks".  In fact, a number of top Delphi developers are already in. What I want ASAP, though, is a way to post and track my stream programmatically... from a Delphi application! And a way to get my Google+ posts also on Twitter (since from Twitter they automatically get to Facebook!).

Some lInks:

• My Google+ account is at https://plus.google.com/u/0/109099686252303180605 (you can see it even if you are not on Google Plus)
• Short version (but nto by Google):  http://gplus.to/marc ocantu
• Long article on Wired (in case you missed it): http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-social/
• An interesting discussion on circles (but I'm not sure it is public): https://plus.google.com/115228296762448388615/posts/2AS6x2F93eR

And finally here comes a snapshot of my public profile page: