In Google+, you don’t follow or friend people, you circle them. Everything on the service revolves around circling people you want to follow, or applying content so that only particular circles can see that content. On Facebook, this can be compared to “friends lists,” although few people know that you can do the same things with friends lists on Facebook as you can with circles (friends lists are pretty hard to find on Facebook). To understand Circles in Google+ keep reading …
To try out Facebook friends lists, click the little drop-down arrow right next to the Post button below your status update before you post; from there you can customize the lists of people who see your post. To create new friends lists and add people to them, you’ll need to click on Friends in the left column and then Manage Friend List at the top of the next page. Check out this link at Facebook’s Help Center for more information about friends lists:
Circles play two distinct roles in Google+:
- They help you decide whom you want to share content with. With circles, you can choose who sees your posts. You can also use circles to target who can see certain elements of your profile as well as who can see your name in search results. Expect this to expand even further in the future as Google+ expands so that other websites can integrate circles.
- They help you decide whose content you want to see. You can view customized content from your circles just by clicking the circle name on the left column.