I have to admit that my short time inside Google + (or Google Plus) has been quite enjoyable. I suppose a bit of reference would help. I don't like Facebook. It's not that I think there is anything specifically flawed with it, it's just that I never really enjoyed it much. I use it now and then for business purposes and I help clients set up their profiles and pages, but I log in maybe once a week.  That's why after a few hours of looking around Google + I was already a fan.

Clean, Easy layout

This is one of my favourite things about Google +. While Facebook was certainly minimal, Google + has a very clean feel to it. No clutter (at least not yet).  It has a Facebook style with the 2 columns but it just seems to me to be slicker.  I also like that everything is right there within 1 click. Facebook is clumsy in its navigation (for example if I click on Home and then Friends I get a very different screen from when I click on Profile and then Friends).

Integrate Google bar

If you are not a user of Google's other products then maybe this isn't a big deal, but I like that I can log in once and then have access to my Google +, documents, calendar, gmail etc. all from one location. I am sure they are trying to rival Facebook in that they want us all to stay on their site for all our needs.  One thing I don't like about it is that it opens a new tab when you click another app instead of staying on the same tab.  Not a big deal though.

Circles

Circles seem to be the backbone of Google +.  I'm not sure I fully understand the power of them yet, but I do like being able to isolate the people I follow into groups and view the streams in an easy manner. I LOVE how easy it is to create a circle and add users to them. It's very fast to build a network of users and start streaming.

Commenting

I like that commenting is like Facebook and easy to do, however I wish there was better threading so that comments can be nested. To me that would better facilitate discussion between users.

Sharing

Google has made it very easy to share content on Google + and that is part of the reason I like it.  It doesn't take long to share a number of posts and distribute content to a lot of people. This is going to be really helpful once we start using this more for business marketing.

Privacy

There will always be some who are paranoid about privacy and will stay away from networks like Google +.  My first thoughts are that Google has done a good job to put the control of privacy in to the hands of the users. I don't have to share what I don't want to share. I'm sure there is fine print that will make people scurry, but for now it has enough privacy controls that I am happy.  Let's face it - the web in general is a very public place so we should all take care as to what we share and post about ourselves.

Notifications

I like that in the Google bar you can easily see what notifications you have and can view all of the notifications right from within the dropdown bar that comes up when you click on the little notification icon. From a user interface point I think this is genius and very handy.  In Facebook if you click on a notification, the entire screen is changed and focused only on that notification - clumsy.  I like this approach much better.

Conclusion

I'm already a big fan of Google +.  While I'm sure there is a lot I need to learn, my first test drives have been very exciting. I will most certainly use this much more than Facebook and can already see a better use for business networking. Please share your experiences as you get to know Google + better.