Back in March I wrote about how to use Facebook lists to manage who sees what you post on Facebook. Since then Google+ has launched as a direct competitor to Facebook, and Facebook has quickly incorporated some of Google’s best features into their interface. But one thing Facebook is having trouble copying — despite best attempts — is the “Circles” feature.

Circles, on Google+, are pretty much the same thing as Facebook lists: a way to organize your contacts into groups, so you can choose what to share with whom. The difference is that Circles are intrinsic to Google+. You can’t not use them. On Facebook, however, chances are you don’t use lists, and if you wanted to use lists you would have to spend a lot of time hand-selecting which list to add which friends to. Total pain in the behind.

Advantage: Google.

I use Circles to sort people into friends (with whom I can be utterly juvenile and profane), family, acquaintances (e.g. people I know from Twitter only), and colleagues (with whom I share almost nothing – HA!).  It’s easy to do, and easy to create new Circles on the fly.

Why don’t you join me?

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