Can Google+ conquer the world of Social Media? Short answer, Yes it can. The more relevant question is will it? Google+ was released into the wild last week to a small number of users and this is my initial thoughts and a review. Google quickly had to stop allowing new users to be invited. I was lucky enough to get into the trial of Google+ and here are my initial thoughts after using it for a few days. There is or Was a loophole to get in which I am not sure if it still exists but you could write a status and notify someone which would let them view it after signing up. Like I said I am not sure this is still a valid loophole so if you know please let me know whether it works or not.

My first thoughts are I really like Google+, whether this is because it's all new and shiny I guess time will tell but on the face of it I like it. The Circles idea meaning I can share different things with different people is good and the interface for adding new people seems quite slick. There isn't a way to get all of your friends directly from Facebook yet but there is a way around it. For anyone who doesn't know if you have a Yahoo mail account you can link it to Facebook and then link that with Google+ to import the contacts.

I do find it strange that when I +1 something there isn't an option to share on my stream and with which circles or public. This seems especially strange when +1ing (not sure if that is a real term) a video on Youtube that it doesn't add it to my stream in the same way a like does on Facebook. If I have not done something I should have please let me know.

Huddles look very interesting and although I haven't had a chance to try these out yet I can see they could be very useful rather than relying on texting everyone when we are meeting up.

Hangouts also look really good and I can see them having a lot of use in business terms. Personally i've never been one for chatting with friends on a web cam, much in any case. I have a web cam but it's in a box somewhere.

Sparks is fantastic. By adding an Interest on your profile you can quickly see whats going on any related subject. Kind of like doing a search for a keyword on twitter but with lots more information. It does seem a bit buggy at times but I know Google+ is a work in progress.

Tagging a name in Google+ is simple too just like in Twitter or Facebook adding an “@” sign then typing their name gives a list of options and you can also use “#”. Adding formatting is also very simple and its easy to bold, underline or strike through words. You can make something bold by adding a * before and after the word. You can underline something by adding an underscore before and after the word (_) and to strikethrough you add a dash (-) before and after the word.

An amazing option for someone who doesn't always proof read my posts as well as I should is the ability to edit a post I have posted on my stream after posting it. This is something Facebook really could use.

In fact Google+ has loads of really useful things like being able to stop anyone re-sharing your posts or stop anyone commenting on it. Its amazingly simple to see who something was shared with when you only send it to a Limited number of people by just clicking where it says limited. By clicking extended circles it gives you the option to share with everyone in your circles and everyone in their circles too. This is kind of like the your whole network on Myspace where it told you how many people you were connected to via other people.

All in all Google+ has massive potential in the social media world with everything I have listed above plus the easy ability to edit photos, embed Google chat into Google +, Lots of Notifications and sharing options as well as easily being able to link to posts, mute a post, block a person and report abuse simply. All of this makes Google definitely something to watch. Its biggest drawback currently is its lack of users and integrated support so i can post to twitter and Google+ at the same time.

One final thing I missed above is you can edit your profile screen to appear differently to specific users. Something unique to Google+ I believe.

On Google Plus and want to add me? My profile is here https://plus.google.com/114342445048778706675/posts