Google+ Gets a Major Facelift

Much like death and taxes, another inevitable fact of life is change. When it comes to products and services, often change is for the better and helps a product or service improve and attract new customers while solving some of the complaints of existing ones.

That’s one of the things Google is trying to accomplish by giving its relatively new, yet successful with over 170 million users, social media service Google+ a facelift. The changes, announced late yesterday and rolling out for all users over the next few days, introduces a more “functional and flexible user experience.”

The new interface focuses largely on customization and Google’s Hangout video chatting service which gets new features to make it easier to discover conversations and new profile pages. There’s also a new navigation bar perched to the left of the screen.

This so-called “ribbon of applications” can be dragged, dropped and placed in any order. The new interface also features a Facebook-like chat bar on the right with a “Trending” widget to help users discover popular topics. There’s also a dedicated Hangout page which will help users by giving them quick access to popular hangouts, tips and live broadcast.

For more on the new design, click through to check out Google’s official video on the subject.