Facebook is the model they had in mind when building Google+. The default circles were “Friends”, “Family”, “Acquaintances”, “Following”. The main method of rec

Facebook is the model they had in mind when building Google+. The default circles were “Friends”, “Family”, “Acquaintances”, “Following”. The main method of recommendation was through your most contacted gmail contacts, a private form of communication. Discovery isn't structured like a forum, sorted by topics of interest. Instead, posts are limited in scope by circles, and organized by poster. (There is the stream, but that's built from people you've personally added) They wanted a product that took your social life online. To that end, they tried to attract those kinds of people. The majority of sites with pseudonyms are open forums or comment boards. Most of the people you meet there you've never met offline. You can't offer people like that photo-tagging software or groups to set up real-life meets. To chadmalik and gurkendoktor: Both of you are right. There are justifications for concern over privacy and I think Google went too far in enforcing its policy.