A UFO landed in everyone's yard this week: a social web-thing with Circles, Hangouts, Sparks and Huddles. It's like Facebook, but not like Facebook (http://www.xkcd.com/918/).

Though invites aren't openly available yet, Google+ (http://plus.google.com/) (or GooglePlus, if you prefer to write it out) got a great reception this week. Dan Gillmor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Gillmor) gave it a B+ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jun/29/google-facebook-skype); the Journal seems to like it (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304447804576413992112605886.html).

Together (and perhaps a special guest), let's discuss:

* What is Google+? How does it fit in the platform firmament?

* How are users finding it useful so far? Please check in.

* Where would you take G+ if you were Google?