Major redesign as Google+ hits the 100 million mark

GOOGLE HAS introduced a major redesign of its Google+ social network which, it says, accelerates “efforts to create a simpler, more beautiful Google”.

Ade Oshineye, a senior developer advocate who works on Google+, said the changes incorporated user feedback and reflected that “different people want to use it in different ways”.

Navigation within Google+ is now totally customisable by the user, with apps such as Hangouts, Photos, Games and Circles appearing on the left of the screen.

Users can drag and reorder apps, hovering over them reveals a search engine ranking of quick actions, while little used apps can be hidden under “More”.

While it remains dominant in internet search, Google has been seeking to gain ground against competitors such as Facebook and Twitter in the social space.

Chief executive Larry Page last week revealed that Google+ has 100 million active users. Facebook, in comparison, has 845 million active users, which it defines as those who use the site at least once a month.

Mr Oshineye said 170 million Google+ accounts had now been created and active users were defined as those who had used some of the features of the service.

The overhaul gives more visibility to Hangouts, the feature which allows video chats with multiple other users.

A new Explore page has also been added which shows what is interesting and trending across the Google+.

Although Google has made a big deal of the redesign, Mr Oshineye said the service was constantly being improved. “We have been releasing on average one new feature a day,” he said.

Through Google’s application programming interface (API), third parties can make improvements to the service, which meant new features were being added that the company never expected, said Mr Oshineye.

He said the Hangouts “photo share” feature, which allows a photo album to be shared with others on a video conference, had been built by a single developer in Germany using Google’s API.