When you think of Google+, you normally tend to shake your head and think it is no more important. Google tried but failed to present any challenges to Facebook. This is true to some extent but calling Google+, a failed product will not be right. I have already said and have been of the opinion that Google+ is not just another social network. The problem comes when you think that it is just that and until and unless you think about it as something more then social network, you will continue to say that it is doomed. Apart from being a layer on all Google products and so as changing everything that search giant does, Google+ is also better when it comes to technology evolution. Whether it is uploading photo or just updating some status it feels great to actually use the product as compared to Facebook which is bizarre most of the time. The most shining aspect is that Google is fully behind this and has not gone on to kill the product like it has the habit to. The introduction of Google+ Communities is another result of the innovation process behind Google+.
The concept is relatively simple to understand if you has been an old school user of internet. Google+ communities is very similar to Yahoo groups, Google groups which existed in pre social era. Facebook has a very similar concept known as Facebook Groups. Google+ communities or Facebook groups are similar concepts in that both are neither personal profiles and none of them has business motive. Both are supposed to be discussion groups which you can create on certain topics. Thus their name has be related to the discussion topics for which they are created for.But due to +1 button appearing on almost every Google product the reach and usefulness of Google+ Communities will be much more to that Facebook groups.
The basic purpose for creating them as always been sharing of knowledge. However you do have the control over who can access the Community. There are four different options for this. Google+ community can be public, public but require membership for interaction, private and private but discoverable. The concept is exceptionally good when you think that it is on top of Google+ which is integrated with every other Google product or service. So you hardly need to go anywhere else for interaction unlike the previous Google groups which were a bit self contained and there was no way to interact with the world outside the group. Creating them is no brainier as well. The left pane navigation will have the Communities button as you can see in the picture below. It can be used to search the already existent communities or you can create one by yourself.
The Google+ Communities is not yet available on Google+ Apps for mobile phones or tablets. Although you can access it using browser on your Smart Phone or Tablet but having a native application has a different experience.
