Sunday, September 4, 2011

Google+'s New Feature - 'Suggested Users List'


Google Plus has rolled out its new feature - “Suggested Users List" - that lists famous and well-known Google Plus users that you can add to your profile's personal circles.

This "Suggested Users List" takes cues from Twitter's "Who To Follow" feature. Users can browse celebrities, journalists, and more personalities featured on Google's general "Picks" list. Users can also sort through categories like Entertainment, Fun and Interesting, Photography and Art, Technology and others. Within these lists, you'll find celebrities like Paris Hilton and Ashton Kutcher, as well as entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and journalists such as MG Siegler.

This feature may alienate people and lead to an inevitable followers war that can hurt the health of the social network and inflate people's egos. "As the famous get more followers, the non-featured fall farther behind, and a giant gap is created between the two. This is what happened on Twitter.
In order to retain a position on the list, a user will need to continue creating compelling content. No one gets on the list "automatically."

Horowitz wrote that personalized lists will be coming soon, too:
At first personalization will be "lite" - users in different regions and languages will get different recommendations. [...] [W]e intend to allow people to deeply personalize and connect with like-minded people that create great content around almost any topic they care about. Just as Google Search helps connect you to web pages about almost anything, Google+ should help connect you to people who deliver content you'll find interesting - on any subject. Stay tuned!

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