Google+

Google+ is Google's new online social media site, which integrates with many other popular Google services, such as Picasa, YouTube, Gmail, and Gmail chat.

One of the primary things that sets Google+ apart from other social networking sites is its use of Circles, which is a management tool for grouping your friends and contacts. You can share any of your posts, photos, videos and other content with only people who are grouped into a Circle that you make.

Photos in Google+ are displayed attractively. The number of comments on a photo are shown in the preview, and when you mouse over a preview it enlarges slightly, similar to the results on a Google Image search.

The profile you create on Google+ becomes your public Google profile. As of July 31, 2011, all Google account holders will be required to have a public profile that consists of their name and gender. There won't be any more private profiles after that time.

One feature that no one seems too crazy about in Google+ is Sparks, or areas of interest that you can define and save. Click on the Sparks you've created at any time, and Google+ will deliver links that will point you to news articles, blogs, and other recently written content about that topic.

Google+'s Notification panel is extremely handy, as it appears in the dark gray bar that's becoming ubiquitous across many Google sites, such as Gmail and Google Reader. A light gray square turns red when you have a notification, with a white number inside indicating how many unread notifications you have.

Similar to saving a "list" in Twitter, Google+ Streams make it very easy to see the status updates from only people you choose—that is, people you've grouped into a Circle. Click the name of the Cirlce, and the stream will populate with only content they've posted.

Editing your profile is dead simple in Google+. Every way that you interact with the profile is highly intuitive.