My comment was not at all that "grandma can't understand this". I mean that the concept of Circles needs to either evolve to where it has almost a different meaning altogether AND/OR that there are better mechanisms for targetting content than circles. How many damn Circles am I going to end up with (politics, democrats, hacker, programmers, lgbt and allies, etc plus family, friends, coworkers) plus I now have circles that are used for privacy directionality and others used for announcements. But what about announcements I want to share, but just with my family?
Circles are about privacy, I think that this tareted publishing is a categorically different idea and that Google doesn't even need to take the risk of muddling the Circles disinctions.
Besides, I'm convinced a tagging system (cross reference links with other social networking sites, "read" the web pages and combine it with Prediction API, etc) or self-tagging or sharing within Sparks (like subreddits [if you've used them to understand how much they can change the experience of a social networking site], or even better because the conversation is smaller and more intimate)
I feel like shoving it into Circles is brash and missing a good opportunity.
Circles are about privacy, I think that this tareted publishing is a categorically different idea and that Google doesn't even need to take the risk of muddling the Circles disinctions.
Besides, I'm convinced a tagging system (cross reference links with other social networking sites, "read" the web pages and combine it with Prediction API, etc) or self-tagging or sharing within Sparks (like subreddits [if you've used them to understand how much they can change the experience of a social networking site], or even better because the conversation is smaller and more intimate)
I feel like shoving it into Circles is brash and missing a good opportunity.