[Niall]

Social networking has long been Google's white whale. The company has done plenty of dabbling in the space, releasing Orkut, which has failed to catch on in the US, and rolling out Buzz to the relative indifference of its massive user base. Announced today after seemingly endless leaks, Google+ represents a major push for the software giant. The service began showing itself to a smattering of users last night, as a black bar across the top of various of the company's properties. A "+You" button on the far left of the bar currently brings you to the service's landing page, offering a tour of the many features that fall under the Google+ umbrella. Get to know the services better after the break.

Among the sub-services is Circles, which lets users divide up which of their friends / followers can see which content, assuring that only your "Epic Bros" and not your boss sees what you were up to at last night's bachelor party. Hangouts, meanwhile, offers up multi-person video chat with members of your Circle. Sparks is a customized feed aggregator of content you curate from across the web -- remember when RSS feeds were a thing? This is kind of like that.

There's also, not surprisingly, a mobile element to the service. Huddle offers up group messaging, largely targeted at arranging real-world meetups for those times you actually want to, you know, socialize with humans in the flesh. The Instant Upload feature makes it easy to transfer photos to private albums in the cloud.

Google+ is still in a limited trial mode and has a few "rough edges," according to the company. In the meantime, we want to know what you think. Is Google finally giving Facebook a run for its money? Is this just the latest social flop from the company?

From Engadget.

Some videos explaining the concept of the whole thing:

Spoiler:

Youtube video

Youtube video

Youtube video

Youtube video

Hmmm. Ima go try it out now...

[Smithy]

i wondered why google launches google was trending musta been this

[Niall]

I didn't see that. I saw that random black bar on Google earlier and I was all 'que wtf has happened' and I checked Engadget and saw this.

[Smithy]

jessica didn't want to go downtown, leslie the bitch forced her


and i only just noticed that bar

[Scarlett.]

I like the black bar on Google, it's sexy

[Niall]

Right so this service isn't actually up and running yet but you can signup to be notified when it will be. *Does that*

[Niall]

Originally Posted by Smithy

and i only just noticed that bar

Originally Posted by Chewy

I like the black bar on Google, it's sexy

This.

[Niall]

Oooo theres a demo of it here.

[Niall]

I actually really like the sound of this now. *Excited*

[Boothy]

Looks okay. Can't see many people using it though which defeats the purpose of it really. Everyone will just stick to Facebook.

[Jords]

Looks interesting but FB >

[Maia]

Looks massively better than the incredibly overrated Facebook. I can actually see myself using that.

[Novo]

Looks horrible

[Locke.]

Can't be bothered, facebook will do until this has been up for about a year an everyones already got it

[Maia]

Originally Posted by Novo

Looks horrible

-slaps-

[MTVN]

Not another social networking thing Just to leave it to Facebook, and maybe Twitter, cant see this doing very well

[Jordan.]

Looks like a complicted facebook & msn mixed together.

[Niall]

Engadget have a more in depth look in with this now. Here it is.

I actually really love the idea of this, especially the group messaging thing. It'd be a life saver for me. And this + Apple's iMessage will kill BBM thank God.

[Chuck]

I thought Orkut was a social network owned by Google

[Lewis.]

I reckon it'll be great and very useful, but I can't see many people changing over to it from facebook - it has affected the lives of so many people (unlike bebo which was generally for younger audiences) and I can't see people willing to let it go, especially the older users as they have probably only just gotten used to using it! Good idea though and I hope it works!

[CharlieO]

In a few years maybe but at the moment facebook does the little social networking that i need.

I generally don't like social networking but I just use facebook to send quick messages about nights out and stuff.

[Boothy]

Has anyone got this yet? Seems pretty decent so far.

[Novo]

I have just signed up now it looks pretty good so far

[Boothy]

It's like Twitter and Facebook in one. You can follow randomers and then add people you know to your friends list and stuff.

[Novo]

Yeah that's what i like about + the actual profile page looks smarter