[sid-ant]

Doesn't it seem like too much of a work? Just as you were using Hacker News, most people I know use a social network, passively. That is, there are only a few people who post regularly while others just react to it.

Also I think WA / Telegram groups basically replaced what Path / Google+ / FB Lists set out to do. It's just more convenient.

Right now Instagram does all of what I would want from a "public" social network while I have whatsapp groups for close friends.

[jstrafy]

Thanks for the feedback! It depends on the context, I think for most it is too much work but we're not focused on building a tool for everyone right now (on that I wish we could be more targeted in our marketing).

True most networks are passive, and the public networks are catering for this. I would also agree that the chat apps is a great solution for close connections and often use this as their primary social network for this reason.

From experience, because chat is a linear thread, conversation focused and notification heavy, it's really not good for sharing things that don't directly concern the person/group you're talking to.

So Circles is all about creating a space for sharing your life with those who matter most, sharing things that you don't necessarily need to share but would like to away from the spotlight of social media. For example I've been sharing my travels in Portugal to my close friends and family circles (around 20 people who are mainly not interconnected). If I did this on chat I would be opening/maintaining 10+ conversations about myself! This is the problem we're solving currently.

That said, overall I agree that there's an overlap there that takes away from the value we offer to people right now. Gotta start somewhere though!