Google has integrated its new social networking platform with its voice-over IP service.
“To help make it even easier for you to organize your contacts, today we’re adding Google+ Circles to Google Voice,” wrote Google’s Tom Ford in a blog post.
For starters, this means users will have all their friends and contact info from Google+ available in their Google Voice accounting, including Circles.
Google+ Circles make it easy for users to group their friends based on different categories, like coworkers, family, friends of friends, etc.
“Circles give you more control over how you manage your callers; for example, calls from your ‘Creepers’ circle can be sent straight to Voicemail, only your ‘College Buddies’ circle will hear you rap your voicemail greeting, or you can set your ‘Family’ circle to only ring your mobile phone,” said Ford.
Integrating the social networking aspect with a voice-over IP product is a step in the direction of making Google+ a more universal platform, but Facebook offers video chats and voice-over IP calling from its website as well.
It seems like Google is planning on making the Google+ interface and design the new standard for its products. It will probably be a much more integrated feature in future versions of Android, Gmail, and other Google properties in the near future.
