Google Plus is the latest social networking site over 21 million users

Google Plus is the latest social networking to hit the mainstream. Oh, it is in beta and invite only, but there are are over 21 million users and growing everyday. It combines many of the same capabilities as current existing social networking tools, like Twitter and Facebook, but also provides for ease of management in terms of what you, and with whom you, share. Need an invite?

What Google Plus offers

Circles: You place your online contacts into groups called circles. You can create circles for family, friends, acquaintances, work - the possibilities are endless - and share your personal information and posts with only the circles you choose. Facebook offers similar functionality, but Google's intuitive interface is a grand slam.

Hangout: The video chat service is like Skype on steroids. Up to 10 participants can be in a hangout at any given time, and video windows arrange themselves based on who is speaking.

Sparks: This is a baked-in recommendation engine. Create Sparks for topics that interest you, and Google will cull the Web's best content and tailor fit a feed for you. When you find something cool, you're one click away from sharing it with your circles.

Huddle: This is a free group messaging service that incorporates your individual contacts or circles. This feature is only available on mobile devices via the Google Plus app or SMS.

One-stop shop: Google knows it's near impossible to make it through your day without using one of their services. Google Plus takes advantage of this with an ever-present navigation bar that displays all your notifications and even lets you share posts or update your status.

What Google Plus needs

Groups: Google has offered a groups service for many years, but it hasn't been integrated into Google Plus.

Events: Google has a terrific calendar service but no integration with Google Plus. Also missing are birthday notifications.

Entity pages: Pages for businesses, organizations, bands and more are coming soon.

An API: An application programming interface is the underlying framework for a service that allows other entities to incorporate features of that service into their own applications and websites. Facebook's API, for example, allows its login credentials to be used to sign in to other sites.

Aunt Maggie: Google developers can innovate all they want, but until you can find and connect with everybody in the real world (Facebook is more than 700 million users closer), Google Plus will have trouble dethroning the current social king.

I personally find that surprising, because I find my visits to Google+ often end up much longer than I intended, particularly if I get engaged in conversations through the site.

Are you using Google+? How much time do you spend on the site per visit?