I never really got into this social networking tool.  When it came out I gave it a try and set up some limited info, added maybe two dozen friends and then avoided it.  But since it came out, all I get is complete strangers adding me to circles. I don't want that.  Is this normal?

 

Never, ever in the 10 years I've been on Facebook have I gotten a request from someone I didn't know and for most of those years my profile was open to the public.  Despite facebook's commercial attitude it still seems safe if you are competent enough not to click on unfamiliar link or fall for fake story / page scams. And google will always be the first and worst when it comes to collecting and tracking data.

Circles are not FB friends/requests. They're more like twitter followers. Except this is G+, so you don't just have DMs, but really powerful audience tools (your circles). People circling you just means they will see what you post publicly on their feed, or when they look at the feed for whatever circle of their they put you into.

 

There is no daylight between FB and Google in regard to data/tracking.

I love Google+.  You have complete control over your privacy in Google+, where as FB is constantly changing their privacy settings.

Part of the reason Google+ didn't take off is that people don't want to sit down and categorize all of the people they know into different "circles". It's a pain. Some nerds will make the effort but most normal people only want to "friend" or "follow" someone like on Facebook or Twitter. Both Facebook and Twitter have introduced tools that allow you to put your friends into different groups/lists, but users have ignored them for the most part.

I enjoy using Google +, but I use it like I use twitter. Most of who I follow aren't people I know, but people / communities that participate in subjects that I find interesting. There's a great community about abandoned buildings, globally, which I think a lot of you would like. There's some pretty good photography communities and some interesting space and technology communities as well.

 

But I'd agree that generally the vibe is more for people with specific interests than a general sharing site. The people I see trying to use it as more of a facebook utility are younger (probably teenagers), and there's not many of them.

 

I still do get irritated with the random 'hot topic' that shows up on my feed, or the weird people who I don't know which show up in my hangout contacts, or who they recommend I might know. They definitely don't have that feature as finely tuned as Facebook does.

Also, the fact that this thread is titled "Google Circles" shows how poor of a job Google is doing marketing the whole Google+ concept. All of Google's social features are now branded Google+; Circles is the name of the tool for adding people to different circles (groups); Hangouts was originally a video conferencing tool but has now been expanded to cover all of their IM products. Google+ Pages have been merged Google's other products in a really half-a$$ed way that drives me insane.

Also, the fact that this thread is titled "Google Circles" shows how poor of a job Google is doing marketing the whole Google+ concept. All of Google's social features are now branded Google+; Circles is the name of the tool for adding people to different circles (groups); Hangouts was originally a video conferencing tool but has now been expanded to cover all of their IM products. Google+ Pages have been merged Google's other products in a really half-a$$ed way that drives me insane.

I disagree.  I think people "assume" google+ is suppose to be like facebook.  When they are two different beast.  I love google+ as its easy to communte with people you already know. and syncing and sharing is a breeze.  My 3 year old God children know how to hangout.  Granted they've grown up using video chat and using a phone is foreign to them.

I disagree.  I think people "assume" google+ is suppose to be like facebook.  When they are two different beast.  I love google+ as its easy to communte with people you already know. and syncing and sharing is a breeze.  My 3 year old God children know how to hangout.  Granted they've grown up using video chat and using a phone is foreign to them.

 

That's what I meant by "All of Google's social features are now branded Google+." People assume that Google+ a standalone product, but it's not. Google+ is just the brand name for all of Google social features now.

 

What I was trying to say is that the Circles brand has been downplayed. I think they realized that taking people to a page that lists all of their friends and making people put them into categories before they could start really using Google+ was not a good user experience. While you can still go to http://plus.google.com/circles, they don't actively promote it, and it seems like they're prefer you add people to circles from the "add" button on their profiles and elsewhere.

I disagree.  I think people "assume" google+ is suppose to be like facebook.  When they are two different beast.  I love google+ as its easy to communte with people you already know. and syncing and sharing is a breeze.  My 3 year old God children know how to hangout.  Granted they've grown up using video chat and using a phone is foreign to them.

 

That's what I meant by "All of Google's social features are now branded Google+." People assume that Google+ a standalone product, but it's not. Google+ is just the brand name for all of Google social features now.

 

What I was trying to say is that the Circles brand has been downplayed. I think they realized that taking people to a page that lists all of their friends and making people put them into categories before they could start really using Google+ was not a good user experience. While you can still go to http://plus.google.com/circles, they don't actively promote it, and it seems like they're prefer you add people to circles from the "add" button on their profiles and elsewhere.

All of googles products can be seperate.  You do not need to have a google plus account to have gmail.  Its just when you CHOSE to have all those things connected, it makes sharing very very easy.