SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Google is introducing more tools to automatically edit images posted on its Plus networking service in its latest attempt to lure traffic away from Facebook and other online hangouts.
Most of the 18 new features unveiled Tuesday rely on technology designed to identify the photos and videos that are likely to be the most important to the individual users of Plus. Google Inc. launched the service two years ago as an alternative to Facebook's pace-setting social network.
Plus has a long way to go to catch up to Facebook. Plus now has 540 million active monthly users, up from 390 million in May. But many of those users may only be watching a YouTube video while logged into Google. Facebook has nearly 1.2 billion active users.
In Google's attempt to turn Plus into a photo-sharing hub, it added an assortment of automatic ways to manage images on Plus five months ago. The latest features build upon those innovations. Attracting more video to Plus is less important to Google because the Mountain View, California, company already owns YouTube, the Internet's most popular destination for posting clips.
"At Google, we are looking at doing nothing less than revolutionizing the field of photography," said Vic Gundotra, the company's senior vice president of social.