by Stina McClintock

Hey everyone, have you heard the news? There is a new social networking site out there for you to use!  At the end of last month Google+ was launched to compete against Facebook (and further render Myspace obsolete). This represents the latest Google attempt to get in the social networking game. And after only a few short weeks the site has reached 18 million users.

So why should I abandon my Friendster account for The Google+ Project? One of the more enticing features of Google+ is that it offers Circles. Essentially, users can place friends, acquaintances, family, and colleagues in Circles, and then choose status updates, contact information and images that only this particular group can see. So, if you wanted to discuss library matters strictly with colleagues, you can create a Circle to address them, this also allows for conversations to quickly be conducted in a group setting. Users can also follow others via a “Following” Circle, which mirrors Twitter.

While I don’t condone one social network site over another, it appears that Facebook is taking the launch of Google+ seriously. A feature of Google+ called “Hangouts” allows for videoconferencing right from the browser, a feature that many professionals, among others, may find quite useful. Interestingly, a week after the Google+ launched, Facebook quickly introduced a video partnership with Skype.

As of now Google+ is not open to everyone; but don’t despair if someone has yet to send you an invite, as you can always head over to eBay and bid on an invitation of your very own.