In Google+, people chat, share ideas, post photos and
videos, stay in touch and share personal news, play games, plan meetings and
get-togethers, send birthday and holiday wishes, do homework and business
together, find and contact long-lost friends and relatives, review
books,recommend restaurants and support charitable causes. The list goes on and
it also includes getting and giving validation and emotional support, lots of
informal learning and exploring personal, academic and future professional
interests.
In fact, there’s very little of human life that doesn’t get
expressed in a social network site. It’s sometimes called a “social utility.”
Like a power grid, it provides the supporting infrastructure for the constantly
changing everyday activities of millions of users, 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week.
In effect, the “product” called Google+ is a living thing
that changes constantly. Unlike the media we parents grew up with – books,
newspapers, and even radio and television – it’s extremely “user-driven,” the collective
product of its millions of users’ lives, updated spontaneously, moment by
moment around the world and part of the social Web that increasingly mirrors
all of human life.
