YouTube and Chrome get Google+ integration
Google Plus is now plugged into YouTube and Chrome, continuing Google's quest to integrate all of its services with the new social network.
Google engineering chief Vic Gundotra announced the moves on Thursday, saying a YouTube 'slider' had been integrated into Google+ streams, and two extensions for the social platform were available for the Chrome browser. The same features in those two extensions are available in the latest Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, he added.
The YouTube slider takes the form of the video service's familiar icon, at the top right of the screen. Hovering over it with the cursor brings up a search field, in which the user can "enter whatever you're in the mood for (like a topic or a musical artist)", Gundotra said. A playlist of related videos then appears in a new pop-up window to the left of the screen.
"Sharing YouTube videos with your circles also works (of course), but there's a nice little twist: the people you share with can open a related playlist directly from your post," Gundotra said. "Last but not least, we're starting to include YouTube playlists in Google+ search results."
The two new Chrome extensions constitute a button for '+1'ing any webpage and sharing it with Google+ contacts, and a notifications icon so you can "check your Google+ notifications while you browse the web", Gundotra said.
"Of course, if you don't use Chrome, then you can use Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer. The new version — also rolling out today — includes these same sharing and notification features," Gundotra added.
The moves announced on Thursday are part of what Gundotra termed "shipping the Google in Google+". Company chief Larry Page said in October that Google would be "baking identity and sharing into all of our products, so that we build a real relationship with our users".
At the start of this month, Google fundamentally altered its Reader product to remove the social elements that were already in there and replace them with Google+ integration.