Who Can You Find on Google+?

With over 62 million members (and counting) Google+ is off to a good start, and chances are that you’ll find most of your friends and work colleagues already on Google+. It helps that Google has spent many years building a collection of successful services that require a Google account, which people can use to sign up for Google+ immediately. Facebook is still ahead in the numbers game, so you’ll probably find some friends and family members (especially the ones who aren’t as technically forward as you) may not have signed up for Google+ yet.

Google also makes it easy to search through your contacts and find them (or invite them) to hook up with you on Google+. You can search for people you know using the built-in search engine, and Google+ uses people in your Circles (and the people who they know) to provide suggestions of people you might want to add to your Circles. It’s also possible to use Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger accounts to search through your contacts or upload your address book to add people you know into your Circles. Chapter 4 explains how to use Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger with Google+.