Not sure if I really care, but still…
Google+ gets more social: Network now open to any interested users
By Mike Swift
Posted: 09/20/2011 09:28:18 AM PDT
Updated: 09/20/2011 09:57:11 AM PDT
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Portrait of Google’s senior vice president of social Vic Gundotra,… ( Dai Sugano/Mercury News )
Three months after the Google (GOOG)+ social network launched on an invitation-only basis, Google is opening up the gates to everybody.
Since its launch June 28, Mountain View-based Google said it has made 100 feature improvements to Google+, including the ability to search for content on Web from within the service and for anyone to sign up without getting an invitation from a current user, which were added Tuesday.
“For the past 12 weeks we’ve been in field trial, and during that time we’ve listened and learned a great deal,” Vic Gundotra, Google’s top social media executive, wrote in a post on the company’s official blog Tuesday. “We’re nowhere near done, but with the improvements we’ve made so far we’re ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open signups.”
Among the other new features announced Tuesday are the ability to access group video chats – called “Hangouts” on Google+ – through a smartphone. Initially, that service will only be available on phones with front-facing cameras running the newest versions of Google’s Android operating system, but the service will be available soon for Apple’s (AAPL)
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iPhone and iPad, Google said.
The new features will roll out globally through Wednesday. Amid the heated battle between Google and Facebook, the Google+ announcement comes with Facebook preparing for its f8 conference on Thursday, where the leading social network is expected to announce a new music-sharing service, new mobile apps and, perhaps, new additions to its “Like” button.
Another high-ranking Google executive also hinted at the coming integration of Google+ with software apps the company sells to colleges and businesses.
“This is just the beginning of many cool features that our business and education customers will love,” Dave Girouard – who manages Google’s cloud applications for consumers, schools, and businesses, including Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Docs – wrote in a post Tuesday on Google+. “Stay tuned – we’re working hard to bring features in the Google+ project to Google Apps in the very near future!”
