Google + and Google's Unified Interactions Hub (UIH)

Google this week rolled out two new/revised pieces of what I envision being it's latest 'killer app.' The two pieces are (1) Google + and (2) the announced updates for Gmail. Their new killer app is what I'm currently dubbing the Google UIH (Unified Interactions Hub).

If you like GoogleStuff and haven't tried Google Plus yet, I urge you to give it a try. I've spent waaaay too many hours on it since I got invited yesterday (thanks restless, jello and Hannah!). Part of those hours was spent on reading all the humorous and creative ways in which other + users said that Gplus was addictive and too much fun. One excellent phrase capturing the crackiness of + that I just read in a Search Engine Land post was about Danny Sullivan "complaining that Google + had kept him from taking a shower yesterday."

In Jason Cornwell's post about the Gmail updates, he says,

"Over the years, adding countless features to Gmail has made it an increasingly powerful communications hub [i.e. Unified Interactions Hub! - ed.], but along the way the interface has also become more cluttered and complex. That's one of the reasons we're embarking on a series of interface updates to help strip out unnecessary clutter and make Gmail as beautiful as it is powerful. This is part of a Google-wide effort to bring you an experience that's more focused, elastic, and effortless across all of our products."

I'm calling the Google UIH an 'interaction' hub rather than a communication hub because of Om Malik's post about G+ where he says,

"...instead of getting bogged down by the old-fashioned notion of communication – phone calls, emails, instant messages and text messages – it needs to think about interactions…Google needs to think of a world beyond Google Talk, Google Chat and Google Voice…interactions are synchronous, are highly personal, are location-aware and allow the sharing of experiences…Interactions are supposed to mimic the feeling of actually being there…Google is thinking along these lines..."

The Google UIH has not yet become the creature I think/hope it will be, but I suspect it will be a continuously evolving tool. My expectation is that a year from now it will be very close to what I've felt it's been moving toward ever since the bigG integrated Gchat into Gmail and bought Grand Central and Gizmo5.

DHMN members have begun climbing onto the G+ train. Mike P figured out how to invite people into + and Joel K has also being doing DHMN invites. If any DHMN members want in and haven't gotten an invite, check with those two PlusWizards.

Many more ideas about the Google UIH bouncing around upstairs, but no time to write about them now. Gotta get back to G+!

(For those who didn't connect the dots yet, the Google UIH, otherwise known as GUIH, is pronounced 'gooey!')

*****