Google+ Now Open to Everyone With New Features

Invitations are no longer needed as Google has thrown open the doors to its social website, Google+.

ZoomTuesday Google finally threw open the doors of its social website to the public, allowing everyone to access Google+ and its unique way of sorting friends, family, acquaintances and everyone else users choose to follow. Now the general public can see why Facebook is in a frantic state of change as seen with the latest update taking place on Wednesday.

For the uninitiated, Google+ feels like a mix of Facebook and Twitter features. The "Home" page provides a stream of posts from followed users in real time, but can be filtered by choosing "Friends," "Family" and whatever Circles users have created. A Circle is simply a grouping of followed Google+ users, and any post you submit to Google+ can be shared to whatever Circle you choose. For example, a picture showing a nasty flesh wound resulting from a bread-slicing mishap can be shared with the "Friends" and "Family" circles, but not to all followers.

As indicated, users can share pictures and videos, and can even play Angry Birds, Monster World and Zynga Poker via the just-launched Games section -- there's even a dedicated feed that's locked to the Games section, and doesn't spill into the main news Stream, which means you won't see updates about your friends achievements unless you specifically visit the Games feed. Google+ also provides a cool "Hangouts" feature that groups people together for a video chat session. As a whole, Google+ definitely has some growing to do, but the search engine giant did an excellent job providing a great service during the first 90 "beta" days prior to the official launch.

Tuesday Google revealed a handful of new features that were recently added to Google+ including Hangouts support for Android 2.3+ devices (sorry Froyo), a new service called Hangouts On Air which essentially allows users to broadcast (and record) their video feed to anyone willing to watch, and a few additional extras for the browser-based version including screen sharing, a sketch pad, Google Docs support, and the ability to name a specific Hangout (as in "Fringe Chat" or "Why I Loved DNF").

"The extras are still under construction, but we wanted to preview these features and get your feedback sooner versus later. So start a hangout, click “Try Hangouts with extras” in the green room, and let us know what you think," Google said in a blog.

The company also said that its releasing a basic set of Hangout APIs, and has already integrated a search feature into the social website. To discover the full list of changes, check out Google's blog here.