I do not have a Google+-shaped hole in my life right now.
If a) it starts to matter to non-technical Internet users and b) they tie it into search heavily (which is the Google go-to playbook for promoting properties of strategic importance), I will start caring with alacrity.
Just watch as your friends and family drag you through the don't-need-it wall carving a Google+ shaped hole.
Google+ will succeed because it's an exact clone of Facebook, but faster, more open to search engines (shocking!), integrated right into Gmail and makes it easier than Facebook to spam people.
The feature which Google is claiming to be the revolutionary new thing (Circles) has already existed in Facebook for a long time (lists and I've been using them). The problem with Facebook lists is that they are hidden, so most people don't know about them or can't be bothered to create them.
At first I thought Circles will fail like lists because it's too much work. But after playing with it for a few seconds, I realised Circles is going to be a huge win. Why? Because it's too much work and people LOVE wasting time on the internet. And it's fun dragging and dropping people into circles.
Whether you're a techie or not, you already know how to use Google+. Even if you want to avoid it, you won't be able to for long because it's going to be everywhere you go from now on.
Excuse the awful pun, but this thing's a vicious Circle.
Facebook lists are pretty much useless. Yes, you can hide all your status updates from a selected bunch of people, but if you want to show them a single one you've got to make a bunch of additional clicks and then type in the lists' name (if you can recall it). It seems as if the feature was on purpose crippled so no one would bother to use it. Simplifying the whole process should be quite easy - and that's what Google did (I guess).
That's right. By making the feature opt-in (choose who should see this), instead of opt-out (choose who should not see this), Google has made a better version of Lists.
Facebook didn't really create anything new when it launched, it was simply less annoying and more grown up than myspace. I'm already a heavy user of the Google stack (gmail, docs, maps, translate), so if G+ offers me a way to better integrate that while getting away from facebook's annoying immaturity, I can see myself as a regular user. What facebook does have right now is a reason to check it multiple times a day. G+ will get that if a lot of my friends start using it, but it doesn't appear to have that draw yet.
What makes me hate facebook is that it is closed, So yes I would switch to G+ as I see in future all my google services[mail, calenader, maps, doc] integrated into my social networks and devices with the onset Android and the Google TV, and chrome browser all well intergated, privacy is not my concern. Rather I would love all my digital services intergated witha single vendor so that it can provide me with the kind of AI services google is known for[that too for free].
Just could not stop myself from posting this comment from 'lifebyexperimentation' .. the blogger[with hands on experience ] says my point in much better manner
"Everything is smoothly integrated into one place, from Google Chat to the notification center in the upper right. I wonder if I will be able to access my gmail and iGoogle widgets from Google+? If so, then it could provide a one-stop-shop for everything and take over as my browser homepage (something Facebook never had a chance at doing). One thing I have to be thankful for in that Google+ works well internationally because it remembers my Google settings. No other company could manage this.
Overall, like any social network, the #1 determining factor will be adoption. If my friends use it, I will use it. But adoption is based upon a good user experience and a service that solves a problem, and to my surprise Google+ seems to be accomplishing just that (I actually did not expect to like it).
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If a) it starts to matter to non-technical Internet users and b) they tie it into search heavily (which is the Google go-to playbook for promoting properties of strategic importance), I will start caring with alacrity.