I've been diving into Google+ for the past 24 hours or so and I have to say I'm thouroughly impressed. I was among legions of social media types who have watched Google's attempt at "social" fail time and time again. But, this time is different. In the past day I've seen some interesting comments to my posts and tweets and I wanted to clarify a few things for those of you who haven't seen Google+ in person just yet. It isn't Facebook. In fact, It's a lot better. Here's why:

1. The functionality is superior
This is expected. Often times, it is easier to build from scratch than to build-on to something that wasn't designed to do everything (I know first hand :). Google+ feels super-stable. No dissapearing images, spinning wheels while I await uploads, etc., Google's devlopers have thought through many of the hangups with Facebook and capatilized. For example, to quote a Google+er, "It's not 1996 anymore, I can edit my posts!"

2. No Games, pokes or birthdays
Out of the gate, Google+ just feels more productive. This may be a turn-off for certain Facebook users, but it's also why the social media and tech savvy types are flocking (and begging for invites) to Google+. I'm certain there will be people trying to make a buck here soon, but right now, it's incredibly clean.

3. Circles, not squares
In Google+ you create circles or groups of your friends, professional contacts, industries, rugby teammates, whatever. It's a simple drag-and-drop process that takes seconds, not minutes. All of your circles make up your stream, which can be filtered in a click displaying only those posts from specific circles.

4. Like Twitter, but with comments
INstead of "friending" people, you just add them to your circle. So, just like "following" someone on Twitter, these people are added to your stream of content. They can add you to their circle (follow back) and then you become "friends" which is yet another stream you can exclusively follow.

5. Hangout with your peeps
This feature is incredibly cool, but I haven't had an opportunity to test it out much yet. You can instantly create a video chat room full of your friends. It's one of the best group video applications I've ever seen. Here's a video that explains it in more detail:

6. +1 is the dealio
Instead of a "like" on Facebook, the +1 has a much larger impact on content. +1 ties directly into Google search making it a much more valuable button-push than any like. The implications of +1 could obviously be huge.

7. No Businesses or Brands
I'm not sure if this will hold, but I kind of like that there are no businesses or brands vying for my affection. A Facebook friend posted a comment on my post that he'd like to get an invite to Google+ so that he could create a page for his client. I'm not sure if this is the place, at least not in this format, for brands and businesses, rather endorsements of them. I think Google has some tricks up their sleeves here that could be winners.

Will Google+ myspace Facebook? My gut says Google+ is here to stay and that Facebook is too. My parents won't be using Google+ anytime soon, but my social media savvy friends certainly will.

Gotta run, my G+ tattoo is calling.