HN Explorer

Ideas for Google+ improvements

4 points by ignifero ↗ HN
Since HN likes Google+ so much, maybe we can point out what we don't like in the social service.

Here's my list:

- The 'Buzz' tab : Why is that thing there? If i want to share something with the world, i just would. New users don't know what Buzz is and it's confusing, maybe it's best to just remove it.

- Stream: Add more people: "Public" - Why not just add "The Whole World" as a circle - it's catchy

- "Suggestions": This is a very facebooky/spammy type of thing. I want controlled social, not to be constantly reminded to friend people.

- Post calendar: Since posts are usually long, and many people use their feed as a blog, add a calendar so we can browse the user's feed archive

- Threaded comments: Be better than facebook, allow fully threaded comments. Also, smaller icons on comments (and possibly smaller font)

I m gonna stop here. You can add yours own below.

13 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 39.1 ms ] thread
revorad
As far as I can tell, there is no way to send a direct message to anyone in G+, privately or publicly. There is no concept of a wall or a direct message. If I have to load Gmail in another window to do this, it is quite dumb. I see no reason why Gmail and G+ are not merged into the same product.

Also, showing the +1 button on comments only on hover makes it much less likely that I'm going to click on them. Why not just show them all the time?

sootzoo
The "send email" button, which is disabled/confusing to enable on most profiles, probably fits the "direct message" bill. Having a G+ profile implies you have (if not necessarily use) GMail, after all, and G+ does claim that your actual e-mail address is not revealed to the sender, either.

On the other hand, I could conceivably see a need to converse pseudonymously via the service, but being that G+ has taken the FB-like approach that urges users to create profiles that mirror their identity "as you are known to others," they probably do not have any urgent plans to implement a separate messaging service on top of G+ when they see GMail as a natural replacement.

revorad
I see no "send email" button, so I guess it's not enabled for me. Being able to send you a direct message does not require you to reveal your identity.

they probably do not have any urgent plans to implement a separate messaging service on top of G+ when they see GMail as a natural replacement.

That's why I don't see why Gmail's not already embedded in G+. But as you said, maybe it's just something which is not enabled for me yet. If it is enabled for you, how does the interface work? Does it pop up a new Gmail window? Does the receiver get an email or G+ notification?

sootzoo
Switch to Profile view, click Edit Profile, and click the (probably shaded/barely visible) "Send an email" button underneath your profile picture. There are a number of privacy options here, although, notably, "anybody on the web" still means "anybody with a Google profile" (or at least I couldn't get it to work unless I was logged in).

Senders see a popup window and indeed G+ does not reveal your e-mail address, which is as it should be. Receivers get an e-mail entitled something like "Message via your Google Profile" with the sender's Gmail account's from name/address.

My comment on G+ encouraging the use of your "real" identity was just meant to highlight that apparently Twitter is the outlier as far as social networking sites go, with regard to whether you can have a completely anonymous (or pseudonymous) conversation via PM. With G+, it seems clear they just want you to use GMail.

FilterJoe
* filtering options for the main stream - at the very least be able to choose circles to include/exclude

* a "muted" stream (then I'll quickly mute the 90+% of the stream I find of little interest - but can still access or unmute if I want to)

* clubs (special interest groups) - let's say there's a dozen people that love to share about passwords. They all join this "club" and agree to only share password related information. I know this can be done elsewhere (Ning, reddit, etc.) but Google+ has the potential to integrate small groups into my daily workflow.

All 3 of these specific suggestions are under the same umbrella: reduce noise while engaging in more meaningful conversation and information sharing on topics I care about.

nextparadigms
I want to see search within Google+ Their search bar at the top should work exactly like Twitter's search. You should be able to look for both people and content shared within Google+.
mike-cardwell
The lack of events functionality. Facebook events is why I keep my Facebook account open. My friends organise events through Facebook. Even if they move to Google, they'll stay on Facebook for the events functionality.
namank
Facebook Groups. Where I or anyone else in the group can post to a specific set of people about specific information
Andrenid
That's pretty much the only thing that is holding me back at the moment. I've already completely switched to using G+ over FB (I was lucky to get my entire immediate social circle in quite early so we all switched), and the only thing missing is some form of Groups function.

Other things that i'd like to see ASAP are threaded discussions, show my +1'd items on my public wall, merge buzz into my public posts, events, and letting me pick which circles I see by default on the main page.

namank
Items that you +1 on the internet appear under "+1's" on your profile. Although you are right, cannot say the same for items you +1 within G+

These are all very good ideas. You should suggest them through 'Feedback' button at the bottom-right corner of your page!

dstein
They need to at least make an effort to test on things other than Android. It is unusable on an iPad at the moment. You cannot make a post because of some really bad JavaScript.
namank
I'm assuming this is an app? Or are you talking about plus.google.com on an iPad?

They have stand alone applications for Android; I'll go as far as to call them completely bug-free! It even uploads your pics recently taken pics to Google servers automagically in case you want to post it later on...pretty neat stuff

dstein
Yeah plus.google.com doesn't work very well on Safari for iPad.