21 September 2011 | Author: R Wood Media Intern

Google+ opens doors to the masses

Social networking newcomer Google+ has opened its social networking site to everyone, inconspicuously advertising the change on its search homepage.























The project made its debut to fanfare in June, but was available by invitation only while the search titan stretched its sea legs in the competitive waters of social networking.

Senior vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra wrote on the Google Blog: "The Google+ project has been in field trial for just under 90 days, and in that time we've made 91 different improvements.

"We're nowhere near done, but with the improvements we've made so far, we're ready to move from field trial to beta, and introduce our 100th feature: open sign-ups."

"This way, anyone can visit Google.com/+, join the project, and connect with the people they care about."

Google is also rolling out new tweaks to its Hangouts feature, a service that facilitates group videoconferencing for up to ten people.

Previously, the Hangouts feature was only available to PC users on the social network, but now mobile devices running Android version 2.3 and later with front-facing cameras will be able to Hangout on the go, with promises of the feature being available to Apple iOS soon.

Google+ will also utilise Hangouts as a broadcast feature, where users can tune into Hangouts On Air. While the number of participants is still limited to 10 in a Hangout, the update allows users to record and broadcast their sessions for others to watch.

Gundotra said: "The extras are still under construction, but we wanted to preview these features and get your feedback sooner versus later."

The open call for new users and updates to the social networking site conveniently comes just two days before rival Facebook is expected to announce a host of new features, which could include a music streaming service, at the f8 conference in San Francisco.

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