Google is continuing its steady rollout of Google+ features. Yesterday, the search giant further integrated YouTube and Chrome into its new social network. The new features are intended to help users easily find YouTube videos and more easily share and +1 content from Chrome. Google Reader and Gmail both received Google+ inspired facelifts in the last week as well.
YouTube: A new, and awkwardly placed, little YouTube icon now appears above the “In Your Circles” section at the top right of Google+, but will stick to the side of G+ no matter where you scroll. Mousing over it will expand it to a search bar where you can type in a YouTube query. We searched for “Zelda,” and once we hit Enter, a new window, small window popped up and a random Zelda video started to play. A list of other popular videos are below and the window has a big Share button that lets you post the videos or playlists directly to Google+. Useful? We’re not so sure. Fun? Possibly.
Chrome: Two new Chrome extensions are now available. You can now install a +1 button extension, which lets you +1 and share any page that you’re on much like it’s done on Google+. More useful may be the Notifications extension though, which puts that big red Google+ notification dot into your browser. This means you can fully use Google+ from any website. Pretty powerful stuff. Facebook should do something similar.
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