Google Apps Users Can Now Join Google+

One point of criticism surrounding Google's social networking site Google+ (Google Plus) was the fact that Google Apps users could not join the service.

That was irritating for many Google Apps users, not only because they pay money for the Google Service but also because it was not really clear why they were not allowed to join.

Google today announced on the Google Enterprise blog that Google+ is as of today available with Google Apps. Google Apps administrators can now turn on Google+ manually for their organization. so that users can join the service.

Google has posted a page with Google+ rollout tips that list suggested steps that admins should untertake to roll out Google+ to their users.

• Review the list of considerations for enabling Google+ - It's important to understand how Google+ works, what your users can do, and what they can share outside your organization before you enable the service.
• Review system requirements for Hangouts - Make sure users' computers meet the browser, operating system, and other requirements for Hangouts and Hangouts with extras.
• Check firewall settings for Hangouts - You might need to adjust your firewall settings for Hangouts and Hangouts with extras to work.
• Enable Google+ - You can enable the service for your entire organization or just specific users. Consider enabling Google+ for a small group of users first as a trial, and then enable the service for the rest of your organization.
• Tell your users about their new service - Make sure you let your users know that Google+ is available for their Google Apps accounts and how they can sign up.

Google notes that Google+ requires access to Picasa Web Albums for photo sharing and Google Talk for chat. Both services need to be enabled as Google+ would otherwise not become available.

Google Apps users can then sign up for Google+ at google.com/+. Google Apps users who join Google+ get the same set of features that other Google+ users get. They in addition to that get an option to share messages with everyone in the same organization, even without adding all of the members to a specific circle first.

Google is currently building a migration tool to aid Google+ users who used a personal Google Account to join the social networking site but would prefer to use their Google Apps account instead. Users will be able to use the migration tool to migrate their circles and people automatically to the new profile. Google expects the migration tool to be ready in a few weeks. (via)

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