Google's latest foray into social networking already has 20 million users and 1bn items shared. This has not been a surprising move for many.
Google has opened its ambitious social networking site Google+ to the public, having attracted more than 20 million users for aits 12-week invitation-only trial. The public launch marks a significant moment in the search giant's challenge to Facebook, which has almost 800 million active users around the world, and the messaging service Twitter, which has more than 100 million members.
Unlike Facebook, where you have to be a "friend" with a counterpart, or Twitter, where "followers" and even unregistered visitors to Twitter's website can typically see anything that someone tweets, Google+ uses "circles", where a posting cannot be shared more widely than its creator wants. At its broadest, that can be completely public – but it can also be a circle only of one person, or just family or close friends.
Unlike Facebook, where you have to be a "friend" with a counterpart, or Twitter, where "followers" and even unregistered visitors to Twitter's website can typically see anything that someone tweets, Google+ uses "circles", where a posting cannot be shared more widely than its creator wants. At its broadest, that can be completely public – but it can also be a circle only of one person, or just family or close friends.
