Nipped and tucked
After several years of hard labor, Google+ has finally undergone a Mommy Makeover, and damn does it look good post-surgery. Not only does Google+ look completely different, but it now offers new social features, is easier to use on mobile devices, and has done away with the components that were historically unpopular.
Collections and Communities
Instead of encouraging users to interact with your current friends on social media, G+ wants you to network with new people who have similar interests, and also have a separate place to express interest in your hobbies and passions.
This is where their Communities and Collections come in.
Communities is where you can interact with people you’re guaranteed to share interests with, and Collections is where you can get lost looking at posts all based on one certain subject. Google+ is essentially looking at social media from a completely unique angle. Stop networking with people you already know, start networking with your future best friends.
Redesigned stream
“But we didn’t stop with Collections and Communities; the new Google+ also makes it easier to post, search, connect, and keep up with great content in a fully redesigned home stream. And we’ve worked hard to make our new web experience load fast and work beautifully on devices of all sizes,” said Google Product Director Luke Wroblewski.
Visual uniformity and simplicity
The website has been pared down to keep things simple, making the mobile and desktop easier to use and surprisingly clean. In addition, the iOS and Android apps are purposely similar in appearance, continuing G+’s pursuit of visual uniformity.
“The new Google+ …makes it easier to post, search, connect and keep up with great content…we’ve worked hard to make our new web experience load fast and work beautifully on devices of all sizes,” said Wroblewski.
From sinking to swimming
The Google+ revamp is a huge surprise to most as many in the industry thought G+ would shut down within the next couple of years. Instead, it’s growing rapidly, with an average 1.2 million new Communities member joins each day, and Collections is growing even faster despite having launched just five months ago. This redesign could save G+ from potential disaster.
