Google+: Why I Think Mom and Dad Will Use It | Hacker News Reader

Google+: Why I Think Mom and Dad Will Use It

jeanhsu.com

30 pointsrazin13 comments

I haven't personally used G+ (i wish i could) but from what I've heard so far, they've addressed some of the important issues (Circles & Hangouts), but i wonder whether they did something to reduce the noise from all these people.

Did they do something about this ?

the linked article specifically addresses this. you should read it.

There is a list of all your circles on the left. Clicking on any circle will only show you posts from the people in those circles.

As is said in the article, posts from people who added you but you didn’t add won’t show up in your stream but you can get to them easily if you want to.

There are ways to improve this. At the moment you can only display one circle at a time. It would be nice if you could select more than one circle at once. Also, Google+ defaults to showing you all circles when you load it up and there is no way to change that. It might be nice to be able to only display posts from people in certain circles by default.

But I think that’s some fairly capable filtering, at least if you manage your circles right.

As the other commenter said you can just click on a circle to see shares only from those people. Also, the shares from the people that have added you to their circles appear in Incoming (there's also a link at the top of the stream for Incoming)

You are on one of the best connected communities, want an invite to G+ and haven't put your email in your profile?

And no there isn't any good way to do that, yet.

I have an email in my profile, but no Google+ invite :(

FYI, your email needs to be in the 'about'-section for others to see it. the 'email'-field is not public.

Good point. I added an email to my profile but I am still reluctant to spam every G+ submission with pleas for an invite.

Circls is a two-way limiter of data input. The sharer limits a post to some circles, and the receiver only sees the post in a circle in which the sharer is in. This two-part filter is what Google is betting on is enough to sort the stream.

Also important: Google is really good at sifting through a big mass of information presenting you the relevant stuff. This in itself is enough that they have an edge in my opinion.

I am unconvinced. The author does not mention any of his parents unmet needs to which Google+ is the answer - though he does mention some of his (e.g. he hates dealing with those jumbo emails full of Dad's photos). On the other hand, he does mention something that Google+ does not address - Mom's privacy concerns...and her concerns illustrate a generational difference in the understanding of the term "privacy."

The author's privacy concerns are addressed by circles - Monica won't see comments about how hot Ginny looks in that photograph from the party. Mom's privacy concerns about her phone-number showing up on page three of a Google search are not.

None of this is made better by Mom and Dad's poor experience - they were invited, tried to sign up, and couldn't. For a service which they do not really believe they need (if they thought they needed social networking they would already be on Facebook), that sort of first impression is likely to color their attitude regarding additional interactions with Google+ well into the future.

Why does every post about Google+ have to be linked here?

I hate to be "that guy" but is this sort of contentless conjecture and armchair quarterbacking what the community really wants for HN?

Is there an alternative community that expressly discusses ideas and code?

It's a serious question, not some kind of ideal strawman.

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