My nine-year-old came up to say goodnight, and saw my screen:

“Dad, what’s Google+? It looks kind of like that thing that Mom does. [facebook]”

“It’s kind of like that, but people don’t have to agree that they are friends. People can listen to me without me listening to them, and I can listen to other people without them having to listen to me.”

“Oh. That’s smart! What are `circles’?”

I showed her the circles page.

“Grandma is a friend? Isn’t she family? Oh, people can be in more than one circle! That makes sense! Can you say who can see what you write?”

“Yes, look, here are my posts — this one is public so everyone can see it; that picture I shared with only family and friends.”

“That’s better than facebook. Goodnight, Dad!”

Imported from Google+ — content and formatting may not be reliable