Google launches new social network
Google launched a rival to market leader Facebook on Tuesday with its new Google+ service. However, the network is still in a test phase and can only be used by invitation for the time being.
At the heart of Google+, which is more a collection of tools for interaction than a single website, are so-called "circles" in which users can sort their online friends. All they have to do is drag and drop their friends into one or more circles. Google sees this as the major advantage of its offering: Google+ users can use this method to determine exactly which information is accessible to which user. With competitor Facebook, it is much more complicated to make status messages or photos invisible to individual online friends such as distant acquaintances or superiors.
