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by jkn 4509 days ago
I fire up my G+ stream and get:

A post by Timothy Gowers about Mobius strips and Valentine's Day: https://plus.google.com/103703080789076472131/posts/gYmEcGuN...

A repost by Michael Chui with an animation of a double star + planet system showing chaos: https://plus.google.com/113476531580617567600/posts/Y3yiBojn...

A post by an acquaintance about local politics with interesting infographics.

A post from Rajini Rao titled "An Academic Valentine: The Science Behind Flower Color": https://plus.google.com/114601143134471609087/posts/7mWzModf...

A post by David Brin on an interesting sci-fi TV series I hadn't heard of: https://plus.google.com/116665417191671711571/posts/CJFcZkUf...

A report from Human Rights Watch on sectarian violence in the Central African Republic: https://plus.google.com/113055770163061121890/posts/jYRxedAB...

A repost by Romain Guy about an open source live wallpaper for Android that shows works of art: https://plus.google.com/109538161516040592207/posts/1zueVNE8...

A post from the EFF on the history of surveillance and the Black community: https://plus.google.com/113175636916099066477/posts/ZUoVA3u5...

There's quite some noise around those posts of course, but far less than on Twitter, and the pictures make it easier for me to sift through it. I'm not a fan of social networks but I like to check my G+ stream now and then when I'm bored on the computer. I definitely don't use it as a Facebook replacement (which I don't really use at all actually...).

1 comments

So like a ghettoized version of RSS?

Thank you, I'll have the open web anyday.

For the rest, I can use Facebook.

Indeed it does what RSS used to do for me. It also adds comments and pictures, something RSS could also do depending on the reader. The real added value of G+ compared to RSS is the original content: a lot of people in Open Source and science, for example, use it as a blog platform. I do wish social networks were less ghettoized, but as a publication medium it doesn't seem less open than a blog to me. There are even tools to generate RSS feeds from G+ streams I think.