So what is Google Offers? Apparently, the same thing as Groupon and LivingSocial; except it’s Google and just because of that I’ll try it out. I admit I drank the Google juice a long time ago and I’m quite bias. From looking at their ‘How Google Offers works’ page, I don’t see anything different from what Groupon and LivingSocial already offer.

1. You sign up for the service to receive daily emails with deals in your area (same with Groupon and LivingSocial)
2. You purchase the deal and they email you a confirmation (same with Groupon and LivingSocial)
3. You print out the confirmation or show the vendor your confirmation from your mobile phone. (I’m not sure if Groupon and LivingSocial allow you to show the confirmation from your mobile phone or not.)
4. Share daily deals with friends, colleagues and family. (You and share Groupon deals with others from within the app)

This ‘Look Inside’ feature may be different. You can view images of the best places to eat, shop, and play. Since it’s Google, I expect it to integrate seamlessly with Google Maps (to get directions to the venue I’ve just purchases a deal from), Google Voice (to call said venue), Google Calendar (to add the deal date to my calednar) and probably Picasa (to view photos of the venue – although I don’t use Picasa).

There is no mention of an app, but I can’t imagine there not being an Google Offers app. So, there doesn’t appear to be anything different from Groupon and Living Social in Google Offers, but it is Google, so we’ll just have to wait and see. Except for you New Yorkers and San Fran folks who get everything first. Let me know how you like and compare Google Offers with Groupon and LivingSocial….

Will you give Google Offers a try?

It’s been 13 days since I joined Google+ and I’ve beem monitoring my activity between Google+, Twitter and Facebook. I have totally abandoned Facebook since joining Google+ and I actually don’t feel guilty about it. While I haven’t actually logged into Facebook over the last 13 days, I still post certain things to Facebook. For instance, I track my runs and workouts with Cardio Trainer and I always share my activity with Facebook from the Cardio Trainer app. But once they add the ability to share with Google+, I probably won’t share it on Facebook anymore.

I still use Twitter, but not everyday and certainly not as much as I did say three or four years ago. But once there’s a Google+ to twitter integration, I have a feeling I’ll be using it a little more.

There is a discussion about cross-posting going on in Google+ right now. Some people are cross-posting Google+ posts to Twitter and Facebook. Someone commented and said cross-posting the same post to all three networks makes your updates static.

I base my posts on my audience. My Facebook is truly full of friends and family and they have no interest in my tech geekery. So, any techie, geeky or web thing I share on Twitter, I will most definitely not share on Facebook. But since I’ve been using Google+, I find my tech community is much more rich over there and I am inclined to post on Google+ first and tweet a link from said Google+ post.

Are you cross-posting the same posts to Twitter, Google+ and Facebook? Why or why not?

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From +Jason Calacanis

What I Like About Google Plus:

- It’s easy to add people to your circles. You simply drag and drop the contact to your chosen circle. It’s also extremely easy to create a new circle.
- I actually LOVE the circles. What I talk about with my academia friends is not the same topic of conversation I have with my techie friends. – So, I am loving circles more and more everyday. I find it incredibly useful in keeping those conversations separate, but not separating me from my entire “friend-base”.
- Loving the instant photo and video feature. When I take a photo on my Droid2, it automatically gets loaded to Google Plus (in private mode) and then I can elect to make that photo public or not and share it.
- I love how allow you to edit a post you already posted. Unlike Facebook where the only option is to delete the post and rewrite/repost it.

What I Like About the Google Plus App:

- The app is amazing and since I can’t access Google Plus at work because our browser is not supported, THIS MATTERS TO ME.
- You can still do things like create new circles (which I initially thought you were unable to do) and it’s really simple to do.

What I’d Like to See:

In the APP: When someone posts a status with a YouTube link; it would be nice if that video played within that status update. It currently directs you to YouTube.com to play the video.
In the APP: Would like to see circles where people have added ME. Right now you get a notification that someone has added you to their circle.
From the Web: I know Picasa is a Google product, but I’m still an avid Flickr Pro user and I wish there was a way to link to my Flickr photo albums, but of course their only pushing the Picasa photo integration.
From the Web: The ability to share a circle would be really nice.

Sidebar: I don’t know whether to refer to it as Google Plus or Google+

So far I like the UI, the ease of use and I love the android app. It’s so smooth. There are a couple of features within Google Plus I’m really excited to try out (not tonight because I’m too freaking sleepy; maybe this weekend) and that is Huddle and Hangouts. After I’ve played with Google Plus a bit more I’ll be able to write a more detailed review. But so far, I kinda like it.

Add me to a circle if you’re using Google Plus.

Do you use Read it Later? What browser extension or plugin are you using?

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