Google's plans for total web domination have been scaled back to a simple, powerful social network with no shortage of killer features.

Social behavior is a strangely integral part of the Internet as we know and use it today, and in many ways it has been from the very beginning. Message boards, IRC channels, image hosting sites, and email have always existed as important social components to the Internet. And in much the same way smartphones have pulled together many different single-purpose technologies into a single thought, social networks have come to exist as massive communication hubs that act for many people as the homepage of the Internet.

Google's efforts in social networking are many, and while none of them has seen the kind of global acceptance that its search, video, and email services have enjoyed, Google's most recent efforts in this space have advanced the state of the market in some unique ways. Google+ is, first and foremost, a platform focused on bringing all of Google together for users to enjoy. Whether that also means it's a social network for everyone is for you to decide for yourself.