Google+ updates: Improved stream, photo tagging, sneak previews

As an early Christmas present, Google has just announced adjustments planned to the Google+ social network.

We can expect the rollout to happen over the next few days. Here is a summary of the proposed changes you should expect to discover over the Christmas and New Year's holiday.

Fine-tuning your circles: Google is modifying circle controls so you will be able to "graphic equalize" and fine-tune your stream. When you are viewing a particular circle, you will now be able to adjust how many posts end up blending in to the main stream via a slider at the top.

Notifications: If you're a Gmail fan, no doubt you've probably seen the newly redesigned Google toolbar. Now, there is a red notifications indicator as part of the package.

Google has now included 'sneak previews' of the notification itself -- something I consider a vast improvement on the previous system. It shows what's new, and clearly.

You can also now see the +1's and shares your posts have received since any previous check in real-time.

Photos: The Google+ Photos component isn't necessarily the most user-friendly aspect of the Google+ package. Google have now decided to better integrate Lightbox -- one of the most popular slideshow scripts currently available -- to instigate better usability and comment legibility.

The web giant is taking a leaf out of the Facebook bible, and plans to improve the photo facility by adding a new tagging system.

Google+ Pages: The social network now enables businesses to be able to assign up to 50 administrators, and has also included a new notifications stream to allow better page management.

Businesses will also be able to view an aggregated count of users that have engaged with their page, either by +1’ing it or by adding it to a circle. This gives both the business and the page’s visitors can get an immediate summary of who is interacting with the page.

Related:

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• British Telecom sues Google over Android (and almost everything else)
• Bank of America's Google+ page is "brand-jacked"
• Google+ Pages: The power of search is the game-changer
• Google building out Circles with Gmail contacts