Google boasted in October that its social network, Google+, now has 300 million monthly active users. It was a lofty claim, one to which many critics said: Uh, no way. Google has found sneaky ways to inflate its user numbers in the past, but even naysayers have to admit the company's 2-year-old social network has some diehard fans.
I've never encountered a person who uses Google+ exclusively—no one is fleeing Facebook and running straight into Google's protective embrace—but plenty of folks have a Google+ account, especially because the network is so closely tied to Gmail, Google Drive, Maps, and other popular services. Google+ is a natural extension of those products.
But it's not uncommon to sign up for Google+, fill out a bio, maybe add a photo, and then promptly forget about it. (Stop me if you've heard this before.) In its quest to become a superpower social network, Google+ baked in tons of settings, tools, and resources, and is constantly adding new ones, but that makes the whole thing overwhelming. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine—these are simple social networks. Google+ is a lot more complicated, starting with: Who should you add to your circles? Wait—what on earth is a circle? Let's go back to basics.
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