Google Plus is getting a few updates today which introduces a handful of features and changes, not the least of which is a service wide rollout of the new design interface that Google started pushing to users late last year. The new Google Plus UI, which was initially pushed to both the web and app interface last Fall, was available to users who wanted to opt into it upon signing in, but now Google is moving all users over to the new redesigned interface with a completion time frame set for the next few days. Until the rollout is completed, Google states that users will be able to switch back to the older Google Plus UI design if they prefer it.
While the new design is certainly a big change for some users if they haven’t yet opted into it, it isn’t the only change coming in today’s update, as Google highlights other key features. The first two and likely most notable will be the ability to insert links and photos into your comments. Google’s aim here is to make conversations a richer experience, which this feature should help facilitate. In addition to adding pictures and web links in the comments, the “approved posting” controls are being added in today so moderators and owners of communities can more easily manage the posts from other community members.
The notification center is also getting a slight overhaul today, and will now allow users to see as well as manage recent activity. This builds on the enhancement to notifications that Google made to Google Plus on the web back in February, where users started receiving alerts to new posts in real-time. Businesses are going to start seeing the benefits of today’s updates as well, as Google notes that over the next few weeks, Google Plus will end up as a core service of the Google Apps for Work, and for any of those businesses that are already using Google Plus, upon signing in today the new redesigned UI experience will populate just as it will for regular users. These changes should start appearing for some users today, but as stated above the changes will continue to rollout over the next few days before completion.