I like it. I have a feeling that someone who had never experienced Facebook before would be completely lost, just like everyone is the first couple of weeks they are on Facebook. But as someone who has used Facebook heavily for a few years now, the interface for Google+ was very intuitive.

Yes. Admit it, Google. It’s a Facebook clone. No amount of avoiding the “FB-word” is going to hide this very very obvious fact.

There’s two things I like about Google+ over Facebook. The first is aesthetic, the second is a truly fundamental innovation.

On the aesthetic front, the user interface is very clean, very white, reasonably sparse. More importantly, the things that you would want to catch your eye actually stand out and the things that are interface infrastructure are just a little muted. This makes the content, the posts from your friends, and stuff like that stand out and easy to read. There are also, no ads on Google+, which is surprising considering that Google invented the annoying context relevant ads on the right side, which Facebook has ramped up to an excrusiatingly annoying level.  Who knows how long Google+ will stay ad free. I hope forever.

The big innovation, IMHO, is Google’s concept of “circles.” In Google+ “circles” are collections of people you have an association with. it comes preloaded with some circles called “friends”, “family” etc. But it’s easy to create your own circles. So you can have as many circles as you want. For example, I have a circle for my friends who are into Radio. I have a circle for my friends who are into IT. I have a circle for my friends who are into Fandom. And while your friend can see that you have put them in at least on circle, they can’t tell which circles you have put them in. A good, diplomatic privacy preserving move.

So far Google+ Circles (or, as google would have it Circle+), sound pretty much exactly like Facebook Lists. But in google+ the circles concept is baked deeply into the whole thing. Most importantly, when you post something on your “stream” (their version of FaceBook’s “wall), you can choose which of your circles see the post. So it would be very easy for me to write the play list for my next radio show on my stream and share it just with my radio circle friends, and post a pointer to my latest IT blog post to my IT circle.  Using your circles as the basis of sharing permeates all of the various Google+ services.

As far as I know, you can’t do this in Facebook. When you post something to your Facebook Wall, you can share it with friends, friends of friends, everyone (public) or a list of specific people you specify. As far as I know, you can use a FaceBook list to sepcify who to share a wall post with.

It sounds like a small thing. But honestly it’s a fundamental difference that really improves the usability makes Google+ feel friendlier.

I expect it’s only a matter of time until Facebook catches up with Google Circles on this point. But I have to give google props for it.

Finally, there’s one more thing about Google+ that I like. I am not inundated with causes, groups, pages, comapnies, games, etc etc. So far, it’s just people and it’s refreshing. I suppose it’s just a matter of time before Google+ starts accumulating a layer of Facebook-like cruft. But for now it’s clean and simple and it reminds me of the early days of things like Friendster and LiveJournal. It’s a joy because you really feel like you are communicating with people.

Which leads me to the lesson learned. A big factor in making any of these social networking sites work is the control we exert over how many people we “friend” and share with. Now, I honestly enjoy reading posts from all my Facebook friends. Even the friends a barely know. I keep them on my friends list because their posts create a positive contribution to my life, even if in a small way. I weed out negative folks over time.  I intend to be even more vigorous about controlling the clutter of my Google+ experience and the “circles” concept is a great tool for doing just that.

So yeah, I like it.

Update: Ok make it three things I like. I haven’t tried it out yet. But there are items in the settings that give me the impression that when someone tags you in a photo or other item, you are notified and you have to approve it before it becomes public. Very Good Job Google! That is one of the features I’ve heard many people complain about Facebook. There are lots of folks who hate being tagged in photos in Facebook.