Hm, so every time I get a tweet the site is closed again before I get there? Hm, seeing as those tweets is global and there’s probably an immense run on it that makes sense.
I still find it an odd way of introducing something though, but then again I’m not a marketeer, so what do I know? 
Marketer or not, your point is one of the big debates on Plus right now.
There’s a certain value in the hype factor for a new venture, and there’s certainly prudence in making sure it all works / can support the load, but that has to be balanced against an empty sandbox and of course, dissipating hype.
My tech circle grows and grows as I discover new people but in actual real world friends I’ve got under 10 on Plus which means I’m still tied to facebook with no reason to think about changing. For those 10, half are non-techies and they’ve been less and less active as there’s just not much for them to do.
Facebook’s amazing growth can really be attributed to the way in which it launched both in access and adoption. One day a school had never heard of Facebook, the next it was the only thing people were using. When the doors opened up beyond colleges a similar spill over would happen to friend circles as early adopters roped people in.
At some point very soon Google has to replicate that mass effect or Plus becomes relegated to a second network. Of course they only get one real shot so making sure the ducks are all lined up is worth some about of hype burn… it’s just a matter of how much.
Same thing happened when google introduced gmail in the beginning. I think google should focus on “search” instead of social networking where their expertise lies in. You can’t become monopoly.
Google+ is only under public testing. Access to the Google+ is currently by invitations only and also it is under test by limited number of users only. I just submitted the entry form for Google+. I think Hangouts - Group video chat feature is a notable thing.
Very limited - I got an invite ages ago and have made dozens of attempts to use it without success.
Homepage awesome !
We can’t communicate with other members, Atleast i couldn’t find one…
The video chat, which allows 10 person on video chat at a time is an awesome feature !
Well I finally managed to get in so that’s a start.
I think Google launched Google+ very late. Now it can’t give strong competition to Facebook. Facebook is the most popular site used now a days.
Why can’t it?
I joined FaceBook a week before joining Google+ and I already know how to do lots more things with Google+ than I can with FaceBook (even though FaceBook can supposedly do lots more than Google+ - I can’t figure out how to do much at all with FaceBook as everything is hidden away).
Also Google+ has separate security options for everything which come up as you enter them whereas FaceBook has almost no security options at all - basically hide in a hole where noone can see you where you may as well not have an account or stand naked where everyone can see you.
Google+ is so comparatively easy to use that I would expect a decent number of FaceBook users to start using it as well as FaceBook. After all they’ll need to because it integrates into all of the other popular Google tools making all of them far easier to use.
Also it doesn’t need to directly compete with FaceBook - while there is some overlap in what it is expected to be able to do, it is probably going to compete more directly with Twitter than it will with FaceBook.
Agree with Felgall completely. Within about 5-10 minutes of starting up on Google plus I knew how to use anything I really cared to, it’s incredibly intuitive.
Regarding Google being too late to the game, I disagree. Keep in mind that MySpace also had hundreds of millions of users at one point, they simply jumped ship to a better social network when it appeared. The main reason that Facebook is so huge was that there was no good alternative… now there is.
From a personal viewpoint, I doubt Plus will be going the way of buzz or wave. A number of my friends are already on the network at beta stage when they were never interested in wave, if that’s any indication.
Does anyone have an idea of how long it’ll take before it’s released to the general public?
No one [other than the Google team] knows. They could pull the trigger tomorrow or wait another quarter while they keep developing.
I suspect we’re down to weeks but then again I figured the initial closed release would also end fairly quickly.
Knowing Google, thats what I figured! Thanks Ted!
If you [or any other regular SPF member] needs an invite they’ve been allowing them out for a few days. No telling if it will last but it’s the longest run thus far.
Just PM me an email address.
Mashable has said they’ve been told to expect an official release before July 31st.
Source: EXCLUSIVE: Google To Retire Blogger & Picasa Brands in Google+ Push
In terms of the user interface, Facebook is better; Google+ seems a bit dull. In terms of the functionability, I have not much comment because I has yet fully discover Google+.
I disagree. I signed up for FaceBook 10 days ago and Google+ two days ago and Google+ is a million times easier to use. FaceBook looks like it will take me a year or two to find how to do the things I’ve already figured out with Google+.
Presumably you only think that FaceBook is easier because you already spent those years figuring it out.
Facebook has already been THAT network for people to literally wrap their lives around and who has more time to spend on ANOTHER social network? Really, most of Facebook users don’t want to have to go and form a new group (circles) of friends. People are plain lazy and Google+ wont amount to another Facebook. Sure, the techy guys will catch onto google+. I just heard today that Google+ is expected to reach 10 million users by this weekend.
also, Google is known to all non-techy people as the Internet’s search engine and nothing more. Google+ will have a hard hard time getting to be known as a Facebook alternative to those same people!!!
also, just think about all those mothers, fathers and grandparents that JUSt got on Facebook… you think they are going to switch to Google+? Don’t think so! Lets just wait another 6 months and see what happens.
I got a chance to try it out tonight, and I must say it’s pretty sweet! It took me about 15 minutes to figure out where almost everything is, whereas Facebook is quite a bit more difficult as its not as smartly laid out. I’m really liking the whole “circles” idea, great for separating friends from family, family from coworkers etc… The interface is nice, clean and easy to navigate, Google really knows their stuff when it comes to this.
Will it kill Facebook? I doubt it, but I definitely think Facebook has some serious competition here.
Off Topic:
Also a bit off-topic but it is rumored that Google wants Skype… interesting as Facebook wants to implement Skype.