G+ Circles was basically just a slicker implementation of LiveJournal friends groups, which have been around since before FaceBook. LiveJournal really doesn't

G+ Circles was basically just a slicker implementation of LiveJournal friends groups, which have been around since before FaceBook. LiveJournal really doesn't get the credit it deserves for doing so much of what we'd now call 'social media' - and learning how to do it reasonably well - before the bigger players moved in. I suspect that it was bought by a non-US company plays a large part in the lack of recognition - outside of 'Soviet Russia' jokes, it doesn't really fit the dominant narrative to have an innovative company not be American. (Even if all the innovation was actually driven by the American user base and development teams.)