>What we’re hearing from multiple sources is that Google+ will no longer be considered a product, but a platform — essentially ending its competition with other

>What we’re hearing from multiple sources is that Google+ will no longer be considered a product, but a platform — essentially ending its competition with other social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Fantastic! The people who actually use Google+ don't use it like Facebook and it is misguided to try to think one will fight the other. (Nor do people use Facebook like Twitter. Nor do people use Facebook like they do LinkedIn or OKCupid) The Circles feature of Google+ makes it really easy to target only small groups. I most often now see Google+ used for posts that are set to private within a family. Thanksgiving plans shared just among a family. Your friends on Facebook don't care about that, but your siblings do, and Google+ makes it much easier than Facebook to maintain a circle for that sort of thing. You just create a Circle called Family, and after you use it a couple of times, Google defaults your posts to that circle. To the world it looks like you've never posted on Google+, but meanwhile you've been sharing pictures and funny jokes with your brothers and sisters every day And if you don't use Google+ this way, but most of your family has a Google+ account (is it possible to not have one anymore?) I'd highly recommend it for this sorta thing.