First Impressions
When you first arrive at G+ (after you have received your invite), you are presented with your Stream.  This is similar to Facebook’s feed in that all of your contacts information is listed with comments and links and all the fun stuff that makes social networking fun.

What you don’t get are games, apps, and other junk that make Facebook a little too much for those of us just wanting a place to share information and ideas.  One complaint I do have with the stream is that the photos are really, really big in comparison to those you would see on Facebook.  While being able to see the extra detail is nice, I feel that they take up a tad bit too much screen real estate.  Not a deal killer by any means, but just one of the little cosmetic things that I think Google should work on.

Another great feature of the G+ stream is the ability to see what you are sharing to your various circles.  In Facebook, finding out what your friends see can often be a challenge.  But not with G+.  Simply click one of the stream links on the left to filter your feed how your circles would see it.  Quite handy if you think you accidently slipped up and posted to the wrong circles.  And that brings up another great feature that is probably overlooked in other reviews — you can edit a posted post without having to delete and start over.  You can also disable sharing and commenting so others cannot share or you can make a statement without starting a long line of brouhaha.

As I’m sure many of you have already seen, Google has been updating all their properties to match the look and feel of G+.  This includes the bar that is present on all Google sites as well.   What used to be a nice, clean white bar with some links is now this black bar with the same links, but also a few new ones.  First, there is the +Name on the left where you can easily get to your G+ content.  The other is a notifications box and a share box, both located by the gear on the right side of the screen.  Any time a friend tags you, mentions you, posts about you, or whatever, the notification box turns red and the number of updates are displayed inside.  Very handy if you are in, say Gmail, and someone replies to a post you made earlier. 

You also have the luxury of being able to quickly create a new post or share whatever you want from within the site you are currently visiting — no need to go back to G+ to create a simple post about something you just watched on Youtube.

Circles:  The key to G+.

As I mentioned earlier, all of your communication on Google Plus is handled by your circles.  In Facebook, if you want to hide a post from a particular group of people, you must jump through hoops setting up friends groups and setting their privacy, etc.  Not here.  In G+, simply drag your contacts into a circle that you have set up (there are a few defaults) and that is all you have to do.  When you go to create a post, simply tell G+ which circles you wish to share to and voila, only the folks in those circles will be able to see your shared post.  You also have the option of sharing to individuals by typing their name or email address, or sharing to the public web as a whole.  Very transparent and easy to understand.

Finding New Content (Sparks)
Where Facebook has games, apps, and all sorts of junk that most people really don’t care too much to see, Google has gone the opposite direction with Sparks.  Think of Sparks as conversation starters…news feeds from various sources that live on your sidebar that you can read at your leisure.  As you read, the hope is you will share this content with your circles and get a lively conversation going.
I personally use several Sparks from Android to Recipes to Web Marketing…but you can customize your topics to your hearts content and create your own as you see fit.

Don’t be alarmed if all you see are 12 or so Sparks listed…those are just the stock idea’s that Google provides.  At the top, you can type in your own interests and a list will drop down showing you all the various sparks that are available.  And I have been told that more topics are being added all the time, so if your’s isn’t in the list, check back soon as I’m sure it will be added in the near future.

Huddles and Hangouts — Social the way it should be….

Another handy little feature of G+ is its chat system.  Integrated with the existing Google Talk client (or Chat in GMAIL), all your previous users carry over to the new system as well as your new circle contacts.  But that is the old stuff.  What are Huddles and Hangouts?  Google has put alot of effort into group collaboration with the Hangout feature.  Clicking on the “Start a Hangout” button will open a new screen to share video and audio with your friends, in real time…like Skype, but without 3rd party software.  In my experience, the quality was superior to Skype, and the multi user functions are free, rather than a paid service as they are on Skype.  One of the handy little features here is that as one person speaks, the camera will change to focus on the speaker, so you don’t see alot of people just staring off into space while someone else is talking….it gives the speaker the attention he or she deserves.

Huddles are a mobile version of Hangouts, in a sense.  While no video or audio options are currently available, Huddles allow for group collaboration and chat from your mobile to your circles and individuals.  Think of them as group SMS right now.  Google will most likely put more video and audio options into this product in the future, but for now, it is pretty barren, and as far as I know, only Android has an app for this…but Google does promise iOS and Blackberry users their own dedicated apps as well.

Photos and Tagging

Here is another area Google has gone out of the way to improve over the other social networks.  While Facebook and the others all allow tagging of photos and users, G+ sorts them in a more easy to understand way than what you get on Facebook.  Clicking on the photos link will bring up your main photos page where you can see all photos that you have posted (tied nicely with Google’s existing Picasa Web Albums), as well as those that have been posted by others and tagged with your name.  But the kicker here is, you can also see photos with you and your friends in them…so not only do you see your photos, your friends photos, but you also get a list of all photos with both of you tagged in it.  Quite nice if you are trying to remember that one day when you were with someone and can’t quite remember the picture.

Another great feature here (at least for Androids at the moment) is the auto upload feature for your phone.  Every video and photo you take on your phone will be automatically uploaded to G+ into a private album (nobody can see them, don’t worry) where you will then have the option to share them, or embed them in a post.  For us shutterbugs, this is very handy as not only do we not have to manually upload every photo, but it gives us a nice, easy backup to the cloud as well.  I will say that there is a potential to let slip some unsavory photos if you aren’t careful with your posts.

Chances are, you will never have this problem, but if you do use the auto upload feature, be cognizant of what photos you take and if you take one of yourself or others that you probably don’t want getting out, do delete it from the website so its not accidentally posted.

Conclusions
As I mentioned above, I’m fully confident that Google can overtake Facebook in the upcoming war over your social media hearts and minds.  While it will be a few months, if not a year or more before this takeover happens, the tide has started to turn.  Most of my friends and contacts are in the process now of setting up their G+ accounts, and several have said that once it becomes open to the public, they will probably spend a lot less time on Facebook and other social sites.

Having said that, there are people there who like the idea of publishing to the masses, playing cheesy little games like Farmville, and getting junk and spam from ads and folks who you really may not know.  While Google is the worlds largest ad agency, I do suspect some type of adverts to flow into G+ in the not to distant future, but as of right now, it is ad-free and nice and clean.  As Google starts implementing ads into G+, hopefully they will not be as intrusive or outright perverse as those on Facebook, and it is my hope that they will limit them to text ads on the side…not featured posts or whatever like Twitter does.

The mobile integration with G+ is top notch over Facebook’s, even while still in early early beta.  That tells me that Google is in this to win this, and that they are trying their hardest to make up what ground was lost in their failed Buzz and Orkut offerings….will it pay off?  Only time shall tell.