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Google+ opens to everyone, so get set for video 'hangouts'

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By The Drum Team | Editorial

September 20, 2011 | 2 min read

Google+, the social networking service launched to rival Facebook, has opened up to everyone two-and-a-half months after it began closed testing.

It had initially been opened to journalists and technology professionals, although members were able to invite friends. There are now said to be over 25 million users

In all 91 improvements have been made to the service during the test period said Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering in a blog post.

“For the past 12 weeks we’ve been in field trial, and during that time we’ve listened and learned a great deal. 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 signups. This way anyone can visit google.com/+, join the project and connect with the people they care about.”

At the same time Google has introduced new features, including the ability to search on topics such as cooking and photography.

The new network is aimed squarely at Facebook which has 750 million users. But Google+ has one significant technical advantage over its rival - in video technology.

Google+ can let as many as 10 people communicate simultaneously in a video "hangout"and today the company also said people can broadcast a "hangout" to the public, just as Google's YouTube video site lets some partners broadcast a live event. Facebook is not standing still on video, however. It has signed a deal with Skype to allow its users to communicate with each other through their computer's built-in video cameras. The Google+ version that works on mobile devices powered by Google's Android software, with front-facing cameras, can also take part in a "hangout" , similar to the feature on Apple 's iPhone that lets people do video chats face-to-face.
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