Ask HN: Does anyone still uses Google+? - karimdag
======
janvdberg
I follow a bunch of GNU/Linux developers on it. They seem to have moved to G+
instead of personal blogs:

[https://plus.google.com/+LinusTorvalds](https://plus.google.com/+LinusTorvalds)

[https://plus.google.com/+gregkroahhartman](https://plus.google.com/+gregkroahhartman)

[https://plus.google.com/+AlanCoxLinux](https://plus.google.com/+AlanCoxLinux)

etc.

~~~
thomasahle
Other people who post interesting things in the Algorithms and Math areas:
David Eppstein, David Roberts, Terrence Tao.

I quite like reading people like those on G+ without all the noise and
distractions on Facebook and Twitter.

~~~
janvdberg
Yes, and the thing that bothers me most is that there are no RSS feeds
available. Having these would be even less noise/distraction. I understand why
they don't provide RSS feeds, but I don't like it.

~~~
commentzorro
My understanding is (was) that each group can choose to enable RSS if they
want. I seem to remember Go having RSS and Dart not (or vice versa). When I
asked the one that didn't, they said they choose not to enable it (in order to
draw people into the site).

------
maggit
Not really, but I miss it.

Not that it ever had the popularity it needed to be really useful, but I did
use it to reach out to my programmer friends. As a kind of minimal effort
blog. The biggest advantage with G+, as I used it, was that I could post
technical stuff (like I would on Twitter) without confusing my other friends
(like I would on Facebook) and it would actually be read (unlike Twitter).

~~~
chrisan
I rarely use either G+ or Facebook, but that feature was indeed a big drawing
factor when I originally tried out G+

Could you not do the same thing with Facebook now that it has "Audiences"? I
have a "Gamer Friends" one where I could post about DOOM or Overwatch and not
weird out "normal" people

Not that I post there as we use Telegram.. but in theory I could

------
msabalau
I do. It has enough users to be a good place to follow specialized communities
and topics of interest. I think of it as a long form version of Twitter.

Neither Twitter nor G+ have the ubiquity serve Facebook's purpose of
collecting every random person you know. I keep up with the people I actually
care about in real life, so personally find G+ and Twitter useful on a daily
basis, and Facebook as a once a month supplemental sort of thing.

~~~
gorbachev
The same here.

The way I use G+ is mostly as a source of more in-depth information compared
to the breaking news nature of Twitter.

I also have a G+ Collection for posting high quality online articles,
essentially my personal version of longreads.com.

------
m_sahaf
I don't understand why everyone complains about Google+ being a "ghost town."
Google+ has become a vibrant social network for individuals of common
interest, cliques if you may. Vibrant, active, and engaging communities of
science-enthusiasts, technology geeks, developers, politics, writers, etc. are
all reviving on G+. There are tons of interesting people on G+ who post
frequently and make a bunch of rather interesting and thought provoking posts.
For example, one Googler whom I follow, he's active, and always interesting is
Yonatan Zunger[0]. John Baez makes some very educational and interesting math-
related posts[1]. There are many others.

[0]
[https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger](https://plus.google.com/+YonatanZunger)

[1]
[https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905](https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905)

------
ramtatatam
I don't like using things when I'm forced and unfortunately for google+ - you
could not use youtube withoud signing up for google+, that was the tipping
point for me to decide I will never use this platform.

~~~
baldfat
Seems like you can't use a lot of things with that philosophy? Isn't all
technology forcing you to change all the time?

To be fair to Google it had to unify the sign in process instead of internal
walls between YouTube, GMail and etc..

~~~
enkiv2
Yeah, and in order to use youtube you are also forced to get broadband
internet and a computer... I'm sure you hate those things too.

~~~
ramtatatam
Nope, again you are misintepreting. Youtube was built on top of internet. If
there was no internet there would be no youtube. Since youtube was introduced
before google+ was invented I would say your example is rather wrong and a bit
aggressive.

~~~
baldfat
But isn't a company allowed to use a unified sign in process instead of
keeping the products they bought separated? It was more about a unified sign
in.

Do you also NOT use YouTube since that was where you were forced to use a new
sign in.

~~~
ramtatatam
I could not use youtube since I chosen not to use google+. By "using" I meant
active use, with comments and posting videos - I could do none of that because
of google+ being forced despite people not wanting it.

Of course - any company can do whatever they want, some actions will result in
people hating their products. And forcing google+ was one of those actions.

~~~
baldfat
Also I guess you don't use GMail or Google Docs?

~~~
ramtatatam
Does this bring anything to covnersation? What does gmail or docs have in
common with forcing youtube users to use google+? Please, read and understand
what was written rather than turning to bold statements disconnected from the
topic. I was very clear to mention youtube came out first, so neither of your
statements apply.

------
enkiv2
I used G+ actively for many years (more often than Facebook, in fact), up
until a year or two ago when a format change caused it to suddenly take up far
more resources -- I use fairly old machines & use them heavily, so having some
hunk of javascript taking up 100% of one CPU is grounds for ditching a site
entirely. If Google would improve their performance for that site, I would
still be using it regularly: it always had a better signal to noise ratio than
Facebook or Tumblr.

Today, my only involvement in G+ is as an administrator for a handful of
communities (mostly relating to the fandoms of 60s and 70s countercultural
figures -- one of a handful of subjects where, like tech, the G+ communities
are more active and have a better signal to noise ratio than FB).

------
skrowl
I use it to share Google Photos with my family. While Google Photos is great
for organizing your own pictures, it doesn't provide a built in means of
sharing.

~~~
raverbashing
Yes it does, you can create albums and give them a public link to that album

I think Google Photos call it "Share to social media" but they give you a link
when you do that

------
brianzelip
Some communities do, like Ingress[0] players for example.

[0][http://ingress.com/](http://ingress.com/)

~~~
SalimoS
Another Ask HN do people still use/play Ingress

------
cklar
Just to stay informed about Android Development

------
sevensor
I do. A fair number of Linux kernel and systemd folks like to post on G+.
Sometimes they gripe at each other. I wouldn't say they post often, but it's
usually interesting when they do.

------
maga
Depends on how one defines the use. I prefer it over every other general
purpose networks: in fact, I've never had an active Facebook or Twitter
account. However, I have not posted in public on G+ for a few years. I have
hard time keeping up with the info flow from RSS and GitHub, which leaves
little time for G+ or HM, and knowing that others are no less busy I really
don't want to bother people with my musings unduly. 1594 days on HM that
resulted in only a dozen or so comments can attest to that.

------
kintamanimatt
This question would have been good as a poll.

I don't. I actually forgot about it until this question was raised, and I
couldn't tell you the last time I visited it.

It is what it is.

~~~
huuu
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11822260](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11822260)

------
furyg3
A+ for circles, G+ for content.

------
mattkevan
Nope - I deleted my G+ profile last night.

I accidentally created a profile years ago, when it became a part of Google
Apps. I took one look round and haven't used it since.

It felt like work to use, and seemed like it was built for Google's needs to
counter Facebook and collect joined up data on its users rather than a
compelling platform for its own sake.

------
coldpie
I do. One guy I know (Dan Kegel) posts interesting stuff there, and so does
Torvalds. It's a very low volume, high signal stream. I don't use Facebook
because it's a very low signal (approaching zero) stream and I don't want to
waste my time with that crap.

------
fsloth
My employer uses it as an internal company wide message board for cross-
functionality cross-discipline communications (company composed of several
subsidiaries and offices across the continents, headcount just under 10K,
workforce composed mostly of engineers and B2B sales)..

------
panglott
Among my interest groups, it only found a niche among the old-school
renaissance RPG bloggers, people like Eric Tenkar of tenkarstavern.com. I
logged in, and those guys are still posting on Google+ regularly. I rarely go
there, however.

------
sidcool
I use it for tracking Tech communities. I use Hangouts and Photos a lot,
although they're no longer a part of Google+.

I am pretty sure Google will phase out G+ in a year or two. Like Allo and Duo,
they will bring something new.

------
owaislone
To follow communities like Ubuntu, etc

------
bgdwin
I don't have anyone in my circles and enjoy the guilty pleasure of seeing the
auto suggested bland but worldly "interesting stuff", hot cars, volcanoes, a
spicy recipe, pictures of mars,smart quips and bold quotes with pets followed
by my favorite happy ending of finding where click to log out...

------
LionessLover
I do, although rarely.

One ex-colleague of mine whom I was connected with at FB left that site and is
only available on G+, and in anger I "unfriended" another ex-colleague on FB
whom I'm still connected with on G+, and there is no way I'm going to send a
friend request on FB (I've only ever sent a single one myself). That's because
I think my anger was justified. Don't send _me_ friend requests if you then
basically tell me you don't like what I'm writing. I was not angry enough to
sever the connection on G+ too, however.

Since I only use FB as a "bookmark service" where I post links to stuff I want
to remember myself ("sciency" stuff mostly, zero politics or personal
information) it does not really matter much to me.

Very few connections on either website (FB or G+) post much that I'm actually
interested in, which is pretty limited: Anything posted that's not a science
or engineering topic (and nothing superficial from the mass media, please) is
just noise. I don't know those people well enough to care about their private
lives - when I do care I would not use FB to exchange such news.

------
nextweek2
As a general rule I don't use social networks because of the signal to noise
ratio, but G+ is certainly a more intelligent network.

G+ is certainly something I'll browse if I'm bored, which is probably couple
of times a month. It's replaced StumbleUpon (from years ago) for me.

------
ftrflyr
Never. I would though if they integrate with another platform - such as Slack.
But that will never happen.

------
raverbashing
I see some people still there, most of the content seems to be the one
replicated by some social tools that post it everywhere

(Most of my connections there are tech oriented so sometimes I post a one-off
thing that I found interesting)

------
alpeb
I do. I think it's great for providing public support / community for consumer
software, specially after their latest revamp, which undid the confusing
multi-column layout.

------
robotnoises
No. I wanted to, but it's never been a compelling platform.

------
zellyn
It's great for nerdy niche interests, like retrocomputing.

------
reitanqild
I do. Sometimes. I follow some IT stuff, chili growing, photography etc. Would
possibly have used it more if I had time.

(Don't use any other network either.)

------
hantusk
Yes, for sharing photos ~3 times a month with selected family. Good
integration with Google Photos for those small updates. Otherwise, no.

------
patricjansson
I Don´t.

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yoloxis
Yes, everyday. There are many communities for developers, woodworking,
vegan,... in one place

------
tmaly
Google still provides G+ results in search, so it does benefit some of your
posts if you have a blog

~~~
tacone
Which is conflict of interest at best.

------
mungoid
I use it all the time.. to sign into sites I don't feel like making an account
for

------
IntoBot
No, never figure it out... Do you think it helps to improve SEO ? (I read it
before)

------
ArmandGrillet
I still use it fo follow Googlers who share stuff only on G+ (e.g. François
Beaufort).

------
reitanqild
Why is this in free fall down the front page despite 36 points in less than an
hour?

~~~
sp332
Posts that attract many more comments than upvotes trigger a flamebait-
detector and are penalized on the front page.

~~~
reitanqild
Sometimes I think that is a shame like now when we are having an interesting
discussion instead of the usual g+ bashing :-|

------
jamescustard
Sometimes.

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mindcrime
I do.

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_RPM
the one person that I remember using it was Linus Torvalds.

------
sashk
I do daily. And there are many people who do more than I.

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chenster
I was wondering EXACTLY the same thing today!

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nerder92
Using hangout can be considered as using G+?

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meddlepal
Never.

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Daviey
A bit.

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ixtli
Every once and a while.

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romanovcode
Never was, never will.

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asdz
always... lots chinese friend there

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arunv10
Not at all

------
crispytx
no

