Google has redesigned its social network, Google+, to focus on its two popular features: Communities and Collections.
"Now focused around interests, the new Google+ is much simpler," says Eddie Kessler, Google director of streams, in a blog post.
The Communities feature allows users to join dedicated groups to discuss a hobby or area of interest. It now averages 1.2 million new joins per day.
"Whether it's the Nonfiction Addiction Community, where people can be found discussing the best in crime or travel storytelling, or the Watch Project Collection, where more than 40 000 people are following an antique watch hobbyist, these are the places on Google+ where people around the world are spending their time discovering and sharing things they love," says Kessler.
Google+ Collections allows users to group their posts, photos, and videos by topic. These collections can only be modified by the user and appear on the user's profile. It was launched five months ago and Google says it is growing fast.
To access the new Google+, users will have to opt-in on the Web first. Thereafter, it will be available across devices.
Change of heart
Google+ was launched in 2011, and was the search engine's attempt at a social network and positioned as a competitor to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
In a bid to simplify the login process across its products, Google started requiring all users to create a Google+ profile to log on to all Google products. Users reacted by saying the company was forcing them to use a social network they were not interested in.
In July, Google announced it would no longer require users to create a Google+ profile to log onto other products. The team admitted: "While we got certain things right, we made a few choices that, in hindsight, we've needed to rethink."
Google now understands it can't push a product onto all users, as the redesigned Google+ focuses on niche markets.
Last week, the company released the About Me page. This product draws together all personal information, from all linked Google services, and places it in a convenient easy-to-edit profile manager.
The About Me page is a pared down version of a Google+ profile, without the social media functionalities, and can be made private.
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