Using a Google account, you can share photos, track your favorite stocks, get more storage for your email, share your schedule, create web pages and collaborate on documents, make free phone calls and chat face to face, get personalized search results and personalized news, create custom maps and get the same experience on multiple devices. There's a lot you can do if you have a Google account.
While most of the new Google services and features require an account, back in January 2005 Google didn't have many services that required authentication. As the Wayback Machine shows, the initial services available with a Google account were Google Groups, Google Alerts, Google Answers and Google Web APIs, but Google promised that "in the future, your Google account will provide access to all Google programs requiring sign in including: Google AdWords, Google Store and more." One year later, Google already offered Froogle, Personalized Search and a Personalized Homepage and it was preparing to launch Google Calendar, Google Spreadsheets, Google Writely and to acquire YouTube.
It would be great if Google sites respected your Google Account settings for language, timezone and location. The experience is far from optimal if you're not an English-speaking resident of the PST zone of the United States - wait, isn't that where Google is headquartered? Lucky for them!
ReplyDeleteLooks a lot more professional than before.
ReplyDeleteBut good sake google just show us your social card already, I am bored waiting.
(Referring to the above image) You get access to Google Groups, AND Google Groups! How convenient... and redundant. Any idea what it means?
ReplyDeleteDear Google. These things are on my wish list for 2011-2012.
ReplyDelete1. Additional Google Software. An intelligent social network that has strict borders between private, work/study related items and social. The problem with Facebook is that it doesn't work for these three things. They promote it for work related collaboration but have been unsuccessful in this department. We as humans tend to be cautionous being professional in a shared space that we communly brand as fun, hanging out with friends, sharing pieces of information from our private life.
But there are big advantages of having one portal, one starting point - one market. Right? Google Wave was a product with some big shortages. The one thing that worked that was fun and intuitive was how you added people to conversations and the ease of communication. Facebook was built around social, the next product should be built around group sharing or hub collaborating. The next part is how you sort that information. If I love Ikea, heavy metal, private conversations with my friends and project discussions with my colleagues. Maybe I don't want to mix these hubs or having members see pieces of information from different hubs.
A smart network is one framework, different hubs with private configurations like options and tools. (One example is the ability to pick different profile photo per hub).Then assimilate these information parts down to one private stream. Much like email or Google Wave. Then I can get discounts offers from Ikea, information from my favorite band, discuss business ideas and joyful private things without people seeing this and making judgements based of these snippets of information.
How would my idea of Google Offers work? Individuals could get discounts deals based on my network configurations but say I go to the mall. I want to drink a coffee with my friend. I then pick up my phone, click the offers icon - my mobile phone pick up my location directly. I choose food and drinks, scroll down or enter coffee and immediately I get discounts offers. If I starr the cafe in my phone I can subscribe to information from this source. So the next time I visit Grand Monkey Mall. I get a message on my phone. - Hey we have special discounts today on coffee and cake. Visit us!
If Google social members see this, please think of my suggestions!
/Loyal Google user