6 ms·

Google+: Communities and photos

76 points by ma2xd 14y ago

timothya 14y ago
Nice to see a groups-like feature make it to Google+ at last. One of the best features of G+ has always been communicating with people you don't know in person, and I think this will facilitate that more around common interests. I can also see this as being useful for groups of friends or family who always want to post content to each other.
AndrewHampton 14y ago
Anyone know why the photo app (Snapseed) is only Android 4.0+?
- tartuffe78 14y ago
  Checking it out, I don't see anything in the app that seems to be dependent on 4.0+ features, though obviously things are easier if you can use the latest and greatest APIs. I'm guessing that it was more of a support issue. Switching to 4.0+ drops the number of devices you have to support dramatically, and with that the headache of all of the obscure device users giving you 1 stars and angry emails. The team I'm on is transitioning from 2.3+ to 4.0+ support for some technical reasons, but easier development and support is a huge bonus.
- ZeroGravitas 14y ago
  Just a guess but I think I saw better render script support for image filters mentioned as a recent feature.
fourstar 14y ago
The problem with this I feel and one of the advantages of Twitter is that if a certain company controls their community page (e.g. Audi USA) and I go to post some sort of customer service complaint, they have the option of removing it. With Twitter, I can just add a hashtag or @message them and it'd be visible globally with search.
- JaggedJax 14y ago
  You can still make a public post not in the group with +Audi or #Audi and it will function the same way Twitter does.
  - fourstar 14y ago
    Good to know. I'm not a heavy G+ user so thanks for the explanation.
- tiziano88 14y ago
  wait, so what prevents you from +mentioning someone or #tagging a post in G+? Communities are completely independent and orthogonal to those already existing features
- bad_user 14y ago
  Google+ also has hashtags, e.g... https://plus.google.com/s/%23ThorsDay/posts https://plus.google.com/s/%23ThorsDay/posts And apparently you can search for anything and you'll get a realtime stream: https://plus.google.com/s/Santa%20Claus/posts https://plus.google.com/s/Santa%20Claus/posts
mudrast 14y ago
Still nothing for Google Apps users.
- notatoad 14y ago
  When you say nothing do you mean nothing special, or do you mean that you can't access G+ at all from google apps? Because on both of my apps accounts, google+ works just fine.
- potatolicious 14y ago
  I'm okay with that personally. The thing that bugs me is that it doesn't support multi-accounts yet. At work we use Google Apps, which I have signed in simultaneously with my personal Google account. I can pop between my personal and company GMails easily. Whenever I click on a G+ link it insists on using my company account, telling me I can't get Google+, etc etc. There's no way to switch over to my personal account to actually use it :(
  - tsycho 14y ago
    One temporary/hacky multiple account solution is to use multiple Chrome profiles (I think Firefox also has something similar). This way I have separate work and personal Gmails working smoothly, and using different themes for the profiles also means that I don't mistake the windows and send out something from the wrong email account.
    - jrockway 14y ago
      I don't think this is a hacky solution so much as a great solution. Chrome profiles are a very convenient feature because they can add multi-login support to anything, not just Google sites.
  - melvinmt 14y ago
    I have exactly the same problem. My half-baked solution is to use my Google+ account in my secondary browser (e.g. Safari) and use the Google Apps accounts in the other one. It's not perfect and it's frankly the reason why I don't check into G+ that often.
toddecus 14y ago
Did I really want this generations monopoly in on my social data as well? If Search== Windows and Apps == Office do I really want Google having access to my social data too? A healthy skeptic, getting more and more paranoid....
- RivieraKid 14y ago
  I like Google but I'm starting to have similar concerns. Google could possibly become dominant search, mobile, social, browsers and more. I'm not afraid (yet) that Google will abuse their power but that kind of monopoly would be unhealthy...
- hyperbovine 14y ago
  Don't post private information online and you should be fine.
  - sp332 14y ago
    Maybe the fact the Google knows what my friends search for and email each other about means they know more about me than I'm comfortable with them knowing.
GavinB 14y ago
Early warning: I recently learned that some kids under 13 are adopting Google+. They all have gmail accounts, but their parents won't let them go on Facebook. It's not really any different in terms of legality or functions, but parents understand (and often don't like) Facebook. So, most likely without the parents' knowledge, their kids are meeting up via Google+.
- esrauch 14y ago
  The horror!
shuw 14y ago
I don't know if Google announced this earlier, but this post just released more granular active (I assume monthly) user numbers for G+ than I've seen: "More than 500 million people have upgraded, 235 million are active across Google (+1'ing apps in Google Play, hanging out in Gmail, connecting with friends in Search...), and 135 million are active in just the stream."
- eungyu 14y ago
  I thought it was very odd that Google inserted this paragraph in the beginning of a feature announcement blog post. I think it only reaffirms the inferiority complex of G+ by explicitly explaining that they are indeed a vibrant community.
  - dannyr 14y ago
    Don't read into it much. Google announces its daily Android activations regularly and it has the largest smartphone share in the world. Facebook does that too. http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/23/facebook-announces-monthly-active-users-were-at-1-01-billion-as-of-september-30th/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/23/facebook-announces-monthly-... Remember when people knock Google for not announcing Google+ numbers? They are saying Google is announcing numbers because they are bad.
  - jxi 14y ago
    Inferiority complex? Seems like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. If they didn't, would you claim they didn't release numbers because they feel they have fewer users? I don't think they're trying to imply anything. What's wrong with just giving you some numbers without any motivation behind it?
webwanderings 14y ago
I am not sure if I'm following. These Communities appear to be as same as Pages with a +Name in the URL. I thought they released the feature of Pages and the + Name a while ago. So what makes Community different?
- endtime 14y ago
  Communities are more like Facebook groups...they have their own discussion threads, membership/ACLs, etc.

76 points by ma2xd 14y ago

Nice to see a groups-like feature make it to Google+ at last. One of the best features of G+ has always been communicating with people you don't know in person, and I think this will facilitate that more around common interests. I can also see this as being useful for groups of friends or family who always want to post content to each other.

AndrewHampton 14y ago

Anyone know why the photo app (Snapseed) is only Android 4.0+?

tartuffe78 14y ago
Checking it out, I don't see anything in the app that seems to be dependent on 4.0+ features, though obviously things are easier if you can use the latest and greatest APIs. I'm guessing that it was more of a support issue. Switching to 4.0+ drops the number of devices you have to support dramatically, and with that the headache of all of the obscure device users giving you 1 stars and angry emails. The team I'm on is transitioning from 2.3+ to 4.0+ support for some technical reasons, but easier development and support is a huge bonus.
ZeroGravitas 14y ago
Just a guess but I think I saw better render script support for image filters mentioned as a recent feature.

fourstar 14y ago

The problem with this I feel and one of the advantages of Twitter is that if a certain company controls their community page (e.g. Audi USA) and I go to post some sort of customer service complaint, they have the option of removing it. With Twitter, I can just add a hashtag or @message them and it'd be visible globally with search.

JaggedJax 14y ago
You can still make a public post not in the group with +Audi or #Audi and it will function the same way Twitter does.
- fourstar 14y ago
  Good to know. I'm not a heavy G+ user so thanks for the explanation.
tiziano88 14y ago
wait, so what prevents you from +mentioning someone or #tagging a post in G+? Communities are completely independent and orthogonal to those already existing features
bad_user 14y ago
Google+ also has hashtags, e.g... https://plus.google.com/s/%23ThorsDay/posts https://plus.google.com/s/%23ThorsDay/posts And apparently you can search for anything and you'll get a realtime stream: https://plus.google.com/s/Santa%20Claus/posts https://plus.google.com/s/Santa%20Claus/posts

mudrast 14y ago

Still nothing for Google Apps users.

notatoad 14y ago
When you say nothing do you mean nothing special, or do you mean that you can't access G+ at all from google apps? Because on both of my apps accounts, google+ works just fine.
potatolicious 14y ago
I'm okay with that personally. The thing that bugs me is that it doesn't support multi-accounts yet. At work we use Google Apps, which I have signed in simultaneously with my personal Google account. I can pop between my personal and company GMails easily. Whenever I click on a G+ link it insists on using my company account, telling me I can't get Google+, etc etc. There's no way to switch over to my personal account to actually use it :(
- tsycho 14y ago
  One temporary/hacky multiple account solution is to use multiple Chrome profiles (I think Firefox also has something similar). This way I have separate work and personal Gmails working smoothly, and using different themes for the profiles also means that I don't mistake the windows and send out something from the wrong email account.
  - jrockway 14y ago
    I don't think this is a hacky solution so much as a great solution. Chrome profiles are a very convenient feature because they can add multi-login support to anything, not just Google sites.
- melvinmt 14y ago
  I have exactly the same problem. My half-baked solution is to use my Google+ account in my secondary browser (e.g. Safari) and use the Google Apps accounts in the other one. It's not perfect and it's frankly the reason why I don't check into G+ that often.

toddecus 14y ago

Did I really want this generations monopoly in on my social data as well? If Search== Windows and Apps == Office do I really want Google having access to my social data too? A healthy skeptic, getting more and more paranoid....

RivieraKid 14y ago
I like Google but I'm starting to have similar concerns. Google could possibly become dominant search, mobile, social, browsers and more. I'm not afraid (yet) that Google will abuse their power but that kind of monopoly would be unhealthy...
hyperbovine 14y ago
Don't post private information online and you should be fine.
- sp332 14y ago
  Maybe the fact the Google knows what my friends search for and email each other about means they know more about me than I'm comfortable with them knowing.

GavinB 14y ago

Early warning: I recently learned that some kids under 13 are adopting Google+. They all have gmail accounts, but their parents won't let them go on Facebook. It's not really any different in terms of legality or functions, but parents understand (and often don't like) Facebook. So, most likely without the parents' knowledge, their kids are meeting up via Google+.

esrauch 14y ago
The horror!

shuw 14y ago

I don't know if Google announced this earlier, but this post just released more granular active (I assume monthly) user numbers for G+ than I've seen: "More than 500 million people have upgraded, 235 million are active across Google (+1'ing apps in Google Play, hanging out in Gmail, connecting with friends in Search...), and 135 million are active in just the stream."

eungyu 14y ago
I thought it was very odd that Google inserted this paragraph in the beginning of a feature announcement blog post. I think it only reaffirms the inferiority complex of G+ by explicitly explaining that they are indeed a vibrant community.
- dannyr 14y ago
  Don't read into it much. Google announces its daily Android activations regularly and it has the largest smartphone share in the world. Facebook does that too. http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/23/facebook-announces-monthly-active-users-were-at-1-01-billion-as-of-september-30th/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/23/facebook-announces-monthly-... Remember when people knock Google for not announcing Google+ numbers? They are saying Google is announcing numbers because they are bad.
- jxi 14y ago
  Inferiority complex? Seems like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. If they didn't, would you claim they didn't release numbers because they feel they have fewer users? I don't think they're trying to imply anything. What's wrong with just giving you some numbers without any motivation behind it?

webwanderings 14y ago

I am not sure if I'm following. These Communities appear to be as same as Pages with a +Name in the URL. I thought they released the feature of Pages and the + Name a while ago. So what makes Community different?

endtime 14y ago
Communities are more like Facebook groups...they have their own discussion threads, membership/ACLs, etc.