Google+ offered existing Plus users the opportunity to give out free invites to friends – expanding the test procedure further. Unfortunately, the freebies didn't last long and Google had to turn the system off as the new rush of users caused issues for the search engine giant.

Google's head of social Vic Gundotra said “We’ve shut down invite mechanism for the night. Insane demand, We need to do this carefully, and in a controlled way.”

Google + is a new service that was launched a few days ago, and yesterday's invite procedure was the first time that a wider audience could get access to the platform. The demand exceeded Google's expectations so they had no option but to turn off the invite system. Many readers will already be aware that this is not Google's first attempt at social based projects, so it will be encourgaging that the demand was so high, especially with less than impressive results with Wave and Buzz.

I have only had a few hours with the new platform myself so I have to admit that I am currently slightly confused as to the incredible array of options available to the end user. The HangOut feature however is sure to be popular as you can invite a bunch of buddies into a room for a video chat. I will report back when I get some more time with Circles and other aspects of the interface.

Kitguru says: Demand exceeding expectations, it can even happen for Google.

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