So my initial reaction to Google+ is very good. It can be as open as Twitter, but the conversations are significantly better and deeper. But at the same time, I can easily limit who sees anything I post to only a small subset of circles or even specific people. Very easily in fact.

Its still obviously a very young product, Google are making changes constantly. But they’re clearly listening to feedback from the users and making huge efforts to ensure the product is what it should be by the time its ready for everyone to start using it.

The concept of Circles takes a bit of getting used to. There is a bit of initial setup in that regard. But once it is set up, its very easy to maintain. Much easier than Facebook’s Friend Lists.

Will I use it long term? Its already starting to replace Twitter for me. Many of the people I follow/communicate with on Twitter are already on G+ so that was simple and straight forward.

As more people I know personally start to use it, it will definitely replace FB for me as well. Ultimately, that most people I know personally use FB is the only reason I still use FB myself.

Given the nature of commenting on each item, participating in the conversation is a significantly better experience than Twitter. More akin to Facebook’s commenting in that regard. I find that for me, the result is a significantly higher feedback loop and much deeper discussions into the subjects. Because of the better control of permissions on each thing you post, I find that the discussions on many public posts are more like those on Facebook Pages, but with the openness of Twitter. Its a very happy middle ground that never leaves you feeling too exposed or too closed off.

While brand pages/business pages are still not available on the system, they will be soon. This will make a huge difference for G+. At the moment, I am following a lot of the tech crowd. Obviously, given the early nature of Google Plus, these make up the majority of people in the network so far. Kevin Rose has even decided to redirect his own blog to his Google Plus profile.

I’ve also found a few New Zealand bloggers I follow as well. Right now, most of them seem to only publicly link to their blog post, which is fine. Google Reader does a better job in that regard still. But what will be interesting to see over time is whether the comments on Google Plus generate more comments on the network than happens on the blogs itself. I rarely visit blog sites directly, preferring to follow in Google Reader. But this may be a way to get me to interact more with those bloggers and their content.

Although, I would love to see better integration between Google Reader, Buzz and Plus, I understand why they won’t do it. Much the same reason they won’t import your Facebook or Twitter streams. Google Plus definitely stands on its own without needing to import from those other services.

Wait till you try the Hangout feature. That alone puts both Skype and Facebook to shame. Like every other product Google has released recently, it also integrates with Google Talk/Gmail Chat. Very nice in that regard. But Hangout allows a video conference with up to 10 people at once time, and does it very well indeed. That alone is good reason for Skype to be concerned and to put Facebook to shame. Skype still charge for their group conferencing, and Facebook only allows one on one video calls on their platform. I wouldn’t be surprised if Google Voice integration gets added in the near future too. Consider being able to call anyone on their phone simply by clicking a dial button beside the phone number on their public profile.

Will Google+ beat Facebook and Twitter?

At the moment, while the product is still being developed, it will come down to whether you already use Google’s other products. If you have a Google Account already, you’d be a fool not to use Google Plus. Sparks have already supplemented Google Alerts for me and make discovering new content much easier than the Google Reader “Explore” features. The conversations are significantly better than those on Twitter. That there is no size limit on either posts or comments is also a HUGE plus that neither Facebook or Twitter compete with right now. Twitter by design. Facebook for some arbitrary reason only they know of. Another advantage is that comments in Google Plus show in real time. A hang over from Wave. No need to refresh the post/page to see new comments since you started typing your own.

Having said that, Twitter is definitely going to be on the ropes against Google Plus. I see that already based on my own usage. Facebook has a bit of breathing room, but not much. Google Plus is developing rapidly and already has a lot of features that are significantly better than Facebook. Not to mention, Google’s Privacy Policy rarely ever changes where as Facebook’s reputation is that their Privacy Policy changes far too often, and never for the better.

Right now, Facebook is safe. But Twitter, Skype and others are on notice. Will that be true in a few months time? Who knows. Just as there are still people that use MySpace, there will always be people that continue to use Twitter and Facebook. But Google’s service, even at such a very young age, and with a rapidly developing platform, is already extremely compelling and a very good social network space.