A colleague just got in touch with me, as they'd heard about this brand new social network that was coming from Google, and wanted to know my opinions.

One of the first things I saw about Google+ was their lovely interactive tour, which uses the Google Maps engine to serve up a huge great big image – something we were talking about last night, at the Leamington Multipack meet-up, was this exact technology and how you don't need Silverlight or Flash to make it work.

Google's design, of late, has really stepped up a gear – the interface design shown in the tour is lovely, and there are a bunch of really nice little touches – when you drag a contact into a circle, for instance.

Having seen most of the 'bits' that make up Google+, it looks like they are nothing more than add-ons to the Google experience. So the social aspect will be handled by the Circles 'app'. Talking to groups of people will be handled by the Huddle 'app'. Photos and image sharing by the Images 'app'.

Why quote 'app'? Because I think these individual bits are akin to the way that Facebook refers to 'apps' on their platform. So while both Facebook and Google+ are apps built atop their respective platforms, Google's collection of services and apps are an evolution of what's already there, with the addition of a few new things.

Arguably, Circles already exists, to a certain extent, if you're a Google Profile user – you can add contacts to groups on your profile – but it looks like Google are taking this a step further. Additionally, while there are bound to be tons of differences in the way that Google+ and Facebook are perceived, my take is that Google+ will be more of an experience built on top of the things you already do on Google.

What do I mean by that? Well, different to Facebook, I don't think that Google+ will be a destination, per sé. You won’t need to go to plus.google.com to do everything – though I'm sure you'll be able to – but you’ll go to the individual bits that you want to use Google Circles, or Google Huddle.

This is, in a way, analogous to going to the different apps within Facebook, with the exception that while Facebook is a walled garden that does its best to keep the internet out, Google will embrace the internet and make your ‘social experience’ part of it – especially when you’re searching for things, because that's where most people will see their interactions and, knowing Google, they'll do their best to make your friends suggestions have an impact on the results they serve to you.

So, if you think of Google+ as a social network, my honest opinion is that it’ll take a couple of years – at least – for it to gain any sort of critical mass. For the vast majority of users, I don't see a mass exodus from Facebook any time soon, especially given that Google is doing this on an invitation-only basis right now.

But, if you think of Google+ as an extension of Google’s current service offerings, who knows what to expect. It's something to watch, certainly; something to think about, definitely; but something to do something about right now?

I can't say I'm sure it is.