Google gets social, again

Google's latest foray into the waters of social media will be a network-building tool called Google+, which will seek to control information better than other social networks.

Parsing the world of sharing into easier-to-digest pieces, Google+ hopes to build a sort of social intranet, where the right content finds the right people.

Here is a view of the Google+ home screen, showing a main stream of all friends' content down the center column; groups of friends, called Circles, run along the left side; with a user's interests, called Sparks, underneath them, giving recent topical news on those subjects.