Google+ is like the next version of Google, says G+ exec

That Google has been trying very hard to drive users towards using its social network Google+ is a well known fact. As it goes now, Google believes that G+ is Google’s future and – like it or not – it’s here to stay.

In an interview to Live Mint, Steve Grove, a Google+ executive said that the reason why the company has been trying to consolidate all its products like Search, YouTube and Google Play onto Google+ is because “Google+ is kind of like the next version of Google.” He believes that users across the Internet will realise that there is a lot of value in logging into the company’s services, before doing a search.

Google evolving into Google+?

As far as the debacle that was Google+’s integration into YouTube’s comment stream goes, Grove is sticking to his guns. Grove sincerely believes that people would not troll with their real names attached to their accounts. “We believe that having a unified online identity carries a lot of benefits, and also, we wanted to prioritize value…And we have seen that there’s been a positive impact, we’ve been able to build more robust conversations around YouTube videos, and that’s good for everyone.”

More importantly, Grove thinks that Google+ could make it very big this year. The company has pumped in some amount of effort to make Google+ feature-heavy. For example, he says, photos are a big focus area for the company. Auto-enhance, auto-correct, highlight reels have been introduced in Google+ and they sue algorithms to figure out what pictures you would like to see in them.

Mobiles, Grove says, is central to Google’s strategy currently, especially when it comes to photos. Hangouts, too, are being developed to contain more features. Combine the two – mobile and Hangouts – and Google+ says it could do wonders for live video. The aim is to make the social network a YouTube for live videos.