It’s been announced by Google that they are busy redesigning Google+ and putting the focus on two of the features Google+ that most everybody liked best about it – Communities and Collections.
This summer, the move was telegraphed by Google VP Bradley Horowitz, where Google+’s role in the social layer of Google products came to an end. This was the point when Google+ would begin a different path, where it would make it easier for users to share their interests on the network.
Google has spent the last few months gathering feedback about what users like. It seems that Communities and Collections have been the two biggest thing that users loved about Google+. Google said that Communities are forums that are meant for discussions about topics of interest, and are thriving, as over 1.2 million “joins” a day. Collections are ways to give users and brands a way to organize posts with topic categories. Collections seems to be growing at a fast rate, according to Google.
With the new Google+ design, Communities and Collection have been given a much more prominent location, which is located at the top of the tab list. Before, the links to those features had been buried in the Home pull-down menu.
A Google spokesperson described the changes:
We’ve made it easier to find Communities and Collections in search, post to Communities and Collections and browse all your favorite content in a beautiful new home stream. The new web experience loads fast and works beautifully on the smallest mobile screens and the biggest desktop displays.
The redesign on the web is rolling out today, and you have the option of opting-in by finding the “Let’s go” link in the lower left-hand corner. As of this writing, I have yet to be given the option to opt-in. The new Android and iOS apps are expected to come out in the coming days.