Google+ Circles interface

E474894

contact management tool social networking feature user interface

The Google+ Circles interface was the social networking feature of Google+ that let users organize contacts into visual, drag-and-drop groups for targeted sharing and privacy control.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Google+ Circles feature	1
Google+ Circles interface canonical	1
Google+ circles	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4850000 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Google+ Circles interface
Context triple: [Andy Hertzfeld, knownFor, Google+ Circles interface]

A. Google Contacts
Google Contacts is a contact management service by Google that stores and syncs users’ personal and professional contact information across Google’s apps and devices.
B. Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is a communication platform developed by Google that enables users to send messages and conduct voice and video calls across web and mobile devices.
C. OGLE
OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) is a long-term astronomical survey focused on detecting dark matter, exoplanets, and variable stars through gravitational microlensing and photometric monitoring.
D. Google Duo
Google Duo is a high-quality video and voice calling app developed by Google for simple, reliable one-to-one and group communication across mobile and web platforms.
E. Friendster
Friendster was one of the earliest major social networking websites, popular in the early 2000s for connecting friends online before eventually declining and shutting down.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Google+ Circles interface
Target entity description: The Google+ Circles interface was the social networking feature of Google+ that let users organize contacts into visual, drag-and-drop groups for targeted sharing and privacy control.

A. Google Contacts
Google Contacts is a contact management service by Google that stores and syncs users’ personal and professional contact information across Google’s apps and devices.
B. Google Hangouts
Google Hangouts is a communication platform developed by Google that enables users to send messages and conduct voice and video calls across web and mobile devices.
C. OGLE
OGLE (Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) is a long-term astronomical survey focused on detecting dark matter, exoplanets, and variable stars through gravitational microlensing and photometric monitoring.
D. Google Duo
Google Duo is a high-quality video and voice calling app developed by Google for simple, reliable one-to-one and group communication across mobile and web platforms.
E. Friendster
Friendster was one of the earliest major social networking websites, popular in the early 2000s for connecting friends online before eventually declining and shutting down.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	contact management tool ⓘ social networking feature ⓘ user interface ⓘ
associatedWithConcept	lists of contacts ⓘ social circles ⓘ
contrastedWith	Facebook friend lists ⓘ Twitter public following model ⓘ
designedFor	contextual sharing ⓘ managing social graph ⓘ separating personal and professional contacts ⓘ
developedBy	Google ⓘ
discontinuedAsPartOf	shutdown of consumer Google+ ⓘ
enables	excluding circles from posts ⓘ fine-grained audience control ⓘ sharing posts with specific circles ⓘ
inspiredBy	need for better privacy controls in social networks ⓘ
introducedBy	Google+ launch in 2011 ⓘ
launchContext	initial launch of Google+ ⓘ
notableFeature	highly visual contact management ⓘ intuitive grouping metaphor ⓘ real-time drag-and-drop animations ⓘ
partOf	Google+ ⓘ linked to: Google+ (Google Plus)
platform	Android ⓘ iOS ⓘ web ⓘ
privacyModel	audience-based access control ⓘ selective disclosure of posts ⓘ
status	discontinued ⓘ
supportsAction	adding people to circles ⓘ creating new circles ⓘ deleting circles ⓘ drag-and-drop grouping ⓘ removing people from circles ⓘ renaming circles ⓘ
supportsTypeOfGrouping	acquaintances circle ⓘ custom circles ⓘ family circle ⓘ friends circle ⓘ work circle ⓘ
timePeriod	2011–2019 (approximate active consumer period) ⓘ
usedFor	audience selection ⓘ organizing contacts ⓘ privacy control ⓘ targeted sharing ⓘ
userControl	hiding circle membership from others ⓘ non-reciprocal following ⓘ
visualMetaphor	circles ⓘ drag-and-drop contact tiles ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Andy Hertzfeld → knownFor → Google+ Circles interface ⓘ

Andy Hertzfeld → workedOn → Google+ Circles feature ⓘ

linked to: Google+ Circles interface

Google+ Sign-In (legacy) → dataSource → Google+ circles ⓘ

subject linked to: Google+ sign-in (legacy)