[jsavimbi]

Not sure I'd use this explanation to convince any normals of anything if I would in fact try to convince them, but I think the reason that Fb took off beyond the early adopters is that there was a conversation taking place without them on Fb, which had become the post-email convention, and as social creatures they felt the inherent need to become a part of it and share/friend/poke accordingly, just like everyone else was doing, but I don't see that same need present with G+, aside from shiny new thing, and without the aura of exclusivity (friending), I see no value that normals would derive from it, especially if content producers continue to share among various communication networks.

I'll be the first to admit that I made a lot of new connections, strengthened current ones or reignited friendships based on the social need to be a pat of Fb, but after four years of Fb, I'm pretty sure that I won't carry that type of loose social activity forward and use G+ exclusively as an information share/catalog with my professional peers.

tl;dr: I hope my donkey friends don't follow me on G+ nor request a follow-back. I have enough cringe-inducing moments already.

[ddw]

It'll be interesting to see if people start requesting to be followed back on G+. The thing I've increasingly hated about FB is that I have to deny people access to me because I don't give a shit about what they are saying. Sure, I could friend them and then just hide them from my feed, but that's not giving me enough control over what they can see. With G+, I have complete control over that, after all, I don't mind them checking out what I'm doing, I just don't need to see their kid's pictures.

It'll also be great for following celebrities/people that you care about but don't know you. The best parts of Facebook and Twitter.

[jsavimbi]

> I just don't need to see their kid's pictures

Exactly. Also, someone, by request, added me to a circle and now I get those limited posts and I have now way to unsubscribe without unsubscribing that person entirely. They're putting the onus on the content creator to admin their circles. That's counter-productive.