back to article Do+ you+ use+ Google+? Seemingly+ you+ DO+

Google has upgraded picture, video and Hangout functions that will be added to its Google+ social network – and claim that numbers of its active users have been underreported. "With 540 million people active across Google each month, 300 million people active in just the stream and more than 1.5 billion photos uploaded every …

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  1. Michael Habel

    While I have a Google+ Account... I tend to stick with Facebook, if only cause its stock on my Phone, and everyone I want to keep in contact with also uses it. I don't know anyone who'd say that about G+ though...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      While I have a Facebook account... I tend to stick with Google+, if only cause it's stock on my phone, and everyone I want to keep in contact with also uses it. I don't know anyone who'd say that about Facebook though...

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        @AC 07:35

        Weak. So very, very weak.

        1. Matt Siddall

          Re: @AC 07:35

          I dunno - maybe I'm weird but I prefer G+. When I (briefly) had a facebook account, I kept getting emails, notifications, all sorts of spammy game things - I spent as much time clearing out the messages from people I didn't know and didn't want to interact with as I did actually interacting with friends. On G+ I get no annoying "see what your friends have been up to" emails and just get to look at what I want. It's there when I want to have a look, and otherwise leaves me alone. I much prefer it.

  2. MrDamage Silver badge

    I signed up for it once

    It then told me it suspected my name of being a fake. I could have verified it by jumping through a few dozen hoops, while whistling dixie and dancing a jig in spandex and a tie-died tutu, but I didnt think their poxy "services" were worth the hassle of doing that, plus having whatever info I posted up there sent out to their advertisers for all that spammy goodness.

    Fuck'em. Fuck'em right in the ear.

    1. frank ly

      Re: I signed up for it once

      One of my Google account names is so obviously fake that an idiot could spot it, but I've had no problems. So, what kind of people are we dealing with here? I'm quite happy with my 2 x 15GB of cloudy storage but not impressed by Google+.

      1. RISC OS

        My fake google plus

        https://plus.google.com/106198735266040588562/posts

        is still there lol

        1. frank ly

          @RISC OS Re: My fake google plus

          I tried to add you but you said I wasn't cool enough. :(

    2. phil 27

      Re: I signed up for it once

      I actually opened a google+ account very early on and was experimenting with hangouts and things then the automated real name scanning algo crap came out and they suspended my account. I started the hoop jumping then gave up as its about as big brother forced as it gets. So if you want to borrow my rusty screwdriver your welcome.

      They probably still count me in the stats though. Lies, damn lies and stats eh?

  3. poopypants

    How dare they

    offer everyone free software and services. Must be some kind of commie plot.

    1. marcyd

      Re: How dare they

      Not this again. IT ISN'T FREE. There's a cost, it just isn't monetary. And the bullshit moves they've been making to trick people into joining are straight out of the malware cookbook imo.

  4. Sil

    Was forced into Google account then google+ to use YouTube so I guess Google is proud to declare me a user although account creation is the full extent I'll ever have with it.

    1. Not That Andrew

      Still avoiding a google+ account with YouTube, although I keep having to dismiss the nag box every week or so. What part of specifically opting out of a google+ account do they not understand?

    2. M Gale

      Just so you know in future:

      When you've done creating the Youtube account, and it starts with the "yay, now give us your real name so we can make a Plus profile for you", just close the browser window. You now have a Youtube account, minus the extra added unwanted shit.

      No, I don't know why they do it like that either. Force me to make a Plus account though, and my "real name" will be Fuckmeister McFuck, and every post will be a Fuckwall, and every picture will be the most awful porn I can find.

  5. oolor

    One Google

    That is what the page said on sign-in, wouldn't let me go through Gmail direct, that was an advertising done in the vein of the new nexus7. Then it landed me inside my dashboard and I had to click Gmail to get to my mail. I guess that makes me 387,286,834th as a plus user - though earlier I locked down the privacy settings, so maybe I was in the first 300 million.

    Something to contemplate for sure. One thing is for certain, we know that they are forcing the likes of me to click on sign-in instead of Gmail to get in the system. I guess I get to be one of the inflated number of users who log-in with whatever frequency I do to be show ads that I never see.

    The bastards. They got me. And that doesn't bother me so much as not knowing what number I was. Do I get credit for being an early adopter by privatising it? Is my real account credited to way back when it was invite only (like when people laughed at you for having Gmail as opposed to a phone company provided email, because that was more 'professional')?

    Surely someone must know the answer. I'll Google it.

  6. Filippo Silver badge

    Depends on what they mean by "on" Google+. At some point I turned my gmail account into a Google+ account, for reasons I can't remember, but I've never even visited the actual service. I suspect I'm not the only one.

  7. Potemkine Silver badge
    Flame

    Antisocial

    I tried twitter during some times but was so disgusted by the flood of racism, xenophobia and other hate speeches I leaved the service with relief. Why would I try another 'social' network, to face another time the mediocrity of most of Earth's inhabitants? Screw you people, let me live alone in my cave and choose by myself who I want to speak with.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Antisocial @Potemkine 07:49

      So you choose to come to the place of well-reasoned argument and tolerance that is The Register's forums? Okaaayyy ...

  8. No Quarter
    Meh

    Could do better.

    It's quite incredible that Google with all their resources and man-power can come up with something so difficult to use and of such little usefulness.

    I would gladly swap it for the really useful iGoogle service they think is a good idea to close next week.

    And who are these freaks that claim to be my friend on iGoogle?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    problems reading?

    300m active users in the steam (ie posting and using Google plus). You are in the minority..

    I have adopted Google plus as my primary social network simply because out classes ask the others by miles. Friends and family are also slowly migrating from Facebook too, each new security screwup brings more.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What is this Google+ of which you speak?

    If I know anyone who uses it, then they haven't told me.

  11. JC_

    Our small but distributed workplace - which uses google apps for email and increasingly for collaborative documents - has now moved to using google+ for the Hangouts video & IM feature.

    We'd used various IM clients and Skype - which all had their problems - before switching to google+; is there any alternative to Hangouts, even a paid one, that is at least as good and no more hassle to setup?

    Lync seems like a royal pain in the arse and we have no desire to setup Exchange. What else is there that's competitive and doesn't require a fulltime support person?

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Have to agree that Hangout has become the best OTT messaging application out there and it runs on everything.

      1. Steven Raith

        This. Well, that. G+ hangouts are fast, stable and generally worth doing. I tend to use it as my infrequent video-chat-system.

        Fullscreen video has been a damned long time coming though. Seems to have been an odd omission from an otherwise pretty good system (Assuming you're in the google ecosystem, natch).

        Steven R

  12. ISYS
    Coat

    I'm surprised the lady in the video didn't crash the car, she was paying so little attention to the road.

    Colonel Hurrumphy D'Stressflair (retd)

    Busybody Cottage

    Little Mindington

    1. TheProf
      Happy

      That was no lady, that was my wife!

      Boom-boom.

  13. cyclical

    I'm one of their 'active' users because my phone backs up photos to G+ and I sometimes hit the G+ button on websites by accident - The only people I know who use the service as it is intended are a few people who dislike facebook for some reason or other, and a few google employees and their partners who I know. Having said that, I think it's actually nicer to use than Facebook - but about 80% of the people I know socially are on Facebook and not g+, and the other 20% are on both.

  14. PaulR79

    Wait for updates to 4.3?

    "Sadly that feature is only available on some Android 4.3 devices, so the vast majority of fandroids will have to wait for an update before they try it."

    I can't confirm this as I haven't made a series of small movies while waving my arms in a car but I have the updated APK installed on two separate phones running 4.2.2 with no issues. I have the other things the new APK brings like the Photos icon replacing G+ Photos so unless they specifically have a setting that refuses to do the "Auto Awesome Movies" unless a device is running 4.3 or above it should work with just the new APK.

  15. Rob

    Good communities

    The majority of folk I know are on Facebook and that seems to just fill my news feed with rubbish most of the time. G+ on the other hand has some good communities, generally speaking the folk on G+ seem a lot less aggressive and a lot nicer to talk to compared to Twitter. My G+ feed provides a good chunk of news and interesting articles and as for Twitter, it just seems to be broadcast channel of crap.

    1. Steven Raith

      Re: Good communities

      Has to be said, I've noticed that - some of the Linux communities are pretty good on there, light on abuse and heavy on advice.

      Try doing the same thing on Facebook and pretty much every popular group is spammed or trolled into obsolescence. And never, ever look at the FB profiles of news sites/programs, your faith in humanity will drop through the floor in seconds...!

      Steven R

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
        Trollface

        You go on Facebook and you worry about your faith in Humanity ?

        1. Steven Raith
          Thumb Up

          Bravo, sir ;-)

  16. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Down

    Please+ tell+ me+

    ... that adding a + sign to every word in a headline about Google+ is not going to become another one of those tiresome "Look! Aren'!t We! Being! Clever!" in-house quirks like we get on Yahoo! stories...

    1. roselan

      Re: Please+ tell+ me+

      I+ hate+ it+ too+, yet+ i+ love+ el+ reg+ for+ doing+ it+

      And+ when+ Google+ buys+ yahoo! the! minus! sign! can! be! used!

      indded: !+ = -

      So- this- is- the- future- of- google-

  17. Guillermo Lo Coco

    Im with G+

    Google made an awesome mobile OS for free.

    What Facebook did to the community ??

    1. Not That Andrew

      Re: Im with G+

      Google also owns Doubleclick, which at on time was the worst ad network for drive by malware downloads and generally incredibly annoying ads.

      1. ISYS

        Re: Im with G+

        Ghostery is your friend

        www.ghostery.com

        1. Not That Andrew

          Re: Im with G+

          They are (still) blocked at the router.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    G+ features

    Nothing there for me, I'll keep moving along.

    (Hey, at least I read the article to find out!)

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I have made the switch.

    While G+ is only marginally better privacy wise, it is better. And with a slicker and more manageable UI I decided last week to say good bye to facebook and stick to G+. About 60% of my friends and family on facebook have G+ accounts so I got contact details of the rest and deactivated my facebook account the day before yesterday.

    I have had no inclination what so ever of going back as yet and I am fairly happy sticking with G+ now. But as with all "Social Network" venues on the net, I am sure I will be moving on to the next new one in a few years time. Flashback to MySpace and Yahoo Groups gel my feelings on that.

  20. Rattus Rattus

    I gave Google+ a try

    It was okay, I guess. I couldn't really see the point.

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