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new &notableGoogle+ Gives the Rare Gift ofInternet Privacy to Social NetworkingBy Matthew WeigandGoogle Plus, or Google+, is the new socialnetworking offering from Google.This is the third timethat Google has triedto get into the socialIf you add someone toyour Google+ contact list,and put them in a circle,and they are not a memberof Google+ themselves, youcan still communicate withthem without any problem.networking sphere,and this time they mayhave gotten things exactlyright. Google+ isnot quite Twitter, but itdoes have some Twitterlikefeatures. Google+ is notquite Facebook, but likewise hassome Facebook-like features. It isnot quite a newsletter program,but has some components of oneas well. And it has something thatneither of those social networkinggiants have – extensive and easilycustomizableprivacy settings. Forthe segment of the online populationthat has always been reluctantto get into social networking due toa vague sense of unease about privacy,Google+ is probably going tosatisfy them completely.This is because Google+ is allabout privacy. As a social networkingplatform, you add contacts toyour contact list by name and emailaddress. Then, Google+ promptsyou to add these contacts to Circles.Google+’s Circles are the key to privacy online, and they are thereto ease to everyone’s worries. Default circles include Friends, family,and Acquaintances, but you can quickly add your own. Onepopular circle is Coworkers, and another is Online Friends. Sometimesyou have a funny picture of a cat that you want to share, butyou know that while your online buddies would probably love tosee it, your boss might not appreciate the humor involved. Yousimply post the picture to your Google+ stream, and select theOnline Friends circle. Then, only people who are in that circle willsee the hilarious cat photo.But things get much more interesting than that. Google+ canand does function similarly to Twitter. If you feel like sharing ashort message with the whole world, just like on Twitter, you canpost it publicly. Then, anybody who cares to look at your profile,or who has you in one of their Circles, will get the message. Anadvantage that Google+ has over Twitter in this case is that themessages can be longer than the 140 characters allowed there,which means you don’t have to mangle the English language toget your point across.If you only want to share a message with a select group ofpeople, you can choose only your Coworkers circle or your BusinessContacts circle to share things with. So when you want totalk about your latest insights into better TPS reports, you canshare that with only the circles who care. And when you wantto share hilarious cat photos with your family, just post it tothe Family circle, and your boss at work will not be annoyedwith your attempt at humor, since he is in the Boss circle. Thisparticular functionality in Twitter would have saved AnthonyWeiner’s political career. He could have posted his public musingson Rex Ryan’s plans for Medicare to the Constituents circle,and he could have posted pictures of his ripped pecs to his Hottiescircle, and there would neverhave been any scandal. For him,it’s a pity Google+ didn’t comeout last month.Like Facebook, Google+also lets you upload and showphotos on your profile. However,unlike Facebook, any photo thatyou upload to Google+ can only beseen by you until you share it withcertain Circles. This default privacyfunctionality goes quite wellwith Google+’s mobile application,which has the option to let you automaticallyupload every photo thatyou take with your phone. So youhave automatic backups for all thephotos you take, and they are availableonline for anything you’d liketo do, but not everyone has to seethem. You can show wedding photosto your Family circle, photos ofyour coworkers slacking off to yourBoss circle, and never the twainshall meet.One important difference betweenGoogle+ and Facebook is theabsence of a Wall. This is likely partof the emphasis on privacy thatGoogle+ obsesses about, becausehaving other people post random messages to your wall that anyoneelse can then see could create some embarrassing situationsthat it would be better to avoid. Just another privacy-related tweakthat puts Google+ ahead of the other social networking optionsavailable today.But one unique feature that no other social network offers reallyshows off the power of Google+. If you add someone to yourGoogle+ contact list, and put them in a circle, and they are not amember of Google+ themselves, you can still communicate withthem without any problem. When you post a message or sharesome photos with the Circle they are in, Google+ asks you if youwould like to email the people who are not yet part of Google+.Therefore, you can still send those wedding photos to your grandparentseven though they are not hip to the latest computer-relatedshenanigans that you get up to. Most grandparents are emailliterate, if not social networking literate, so it should be a breezefor you to stay in touch with them, now more than ever. Also, youcan take that stack of ten thousand business cards lying in a box inthe corner, enter them into Google+, and use it as a sleek businesscontact mailing list. Email messages sent with Google+ have botha link to join Google+ and an unsubscribe link at the bottom, soyou would not even be bothering people unnecessarily.Google+ combines existing online communication products togetherin the cleanest, most easily-usable interface yet seen online.Communication using Google+ is safe, private, and far-reaching.Even though the system is in beta now, and signups are hard tocome by, it is already showing itself to be the next-generation socialnetwork backed up by the largest and most customer-orientedonline company today. This reporter is definitely going to be usingit for the foreseeable future, and I hope to see you in one of mycircles soon! A-P50 | A-P BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY REPORT