G+ has a number of sections to look at for various kinds of info. I'm going to give a rundown of what I think of each of these categories. Home and Profile are always first and second on the sidebar. The others can be arranged to how you like, so they are in alphabetical order. (I use a laptop, so if some of these behave differently within apps, I wouldn't know)
Home: your first destination when you open G+. This is all of your streams. If you manage your circles carefully, as well as your Communities, you should always be able to see just the streams that you want. One recent oddity: I have been seeing select posts from some Communities showing up in spite of the fact that all of them are turned off.
Profile: this is where you organize all of your personal info: posts, about, photos, videos (or YouTube) and +1's. The posts is probably the most useful of these as it reflects your opinions and interests more than what you say in your about section. Photos are the next most useful because it shows just what you want others to see about you. I recently uncircled someone because the initial reason for circling back was not re-enforced by the choice of photos to display; they contradicted it entirely. About is good as a back-up or to help tip the balance to circle or not to circle. But don't feel that you have to fill it all out even if other, more well-known names say you must. Mine is nice and vague (even vaguer since "Find People" - later on that). If you don't want to circle because of that, I don't care. Videos can be interesting, but few have them as a lot of people may not know how to, or that they can or even want to bother. +1's are the absolute least important of all because if you didn't realize, it only shows them if they are outside of G+, not within and there are still many sites that don't even acknowledge G+. There is an extension that can be added that will allow you to add a private +1 to any site so that they will show up on your page. I, however, could not care what you +1 as I think it is prone to overuse and abuse and is a very lazy way to comment or recommend.
Communities: my favorite area. An easy to use way to find discussions on topics that interest you. I currently belong to over 30 of these, although on most, I am a silent observer. The only real downside that I see are the recommendations. I have had some really strange ones appear and have no idea as to why they were suggested to me. My interests have nothing to do with these, so some algorithm must do the job of saying "if these, then those". That said, a simple click on the x makes those go away and some of them will linger for a while if you don't do choose to join or delete, giving you time to consider. Avoid empty communities because if even the moderator has nothing to say, no one will.
Events: a way to invite people to parties and record and store photos of it. Of no interest to me right now. I maintain a neutral position on whether it is useful or not.
Explore: often, the most tedious of all functions. Both neither hot nor recommended, it is the well traveled ground of press releases, reposted "humorous" cartoons, captioned photos and gifs and celebrity nonsense. Sometimes real news or info can filter in, but due to the limited scrolling (it just stops after three or four "loads"), it is unlikely. I say avoid unless you are bored or tolerant of potential boredom. It is much better than before Communities where much of the dreck has drifted away to their own private (yet public) dreariness.
Find People: this consists of 3 sections - Find People, Added You and Your Circles. Your Circles is by far the most important of these as how circles are organized affects what you see in your streams. You can rename, change the order and even eliminate your circles themselves in addition to sorting out who goes where. The first 4 circles appear in the Home control bar, the rest in the more section. Added You is three lists: Recently Added You, Not Yet In Your Circles and In Your Circles Too. These are your lists of those whose circles YOU are in. Not very important if you are getting other notifications (like the red box or email). Find People is perhaps the worst of all functions. A looong list of people whom you've already met by commenting on their posts or vice versa; then ALL of the people that your circles have circled; and finally complete strangers. This info already is on your Home page in a column to the right of your stream, just in smaller type. You can "dismiss" these "Found People" by clicking on the x, but the image only becomes transparent and shrinks a little. It does not drop off the page like your circled people (or the actual circles) nor does it vanish like a dismissed community. And it is the first section, not the last. My advice is to get your circles in order, then manage them well as you add people (you can create a new circle when you click on "add' on their profile page or their "hovercard" or just put a check next to the circle/s you already prepared). Then never return to this option again unless you are desperate to have someone, anyone in your circles. Most likely, these people will NOT circle you back.
Games: I don't play video games. I would not know good games from bad. Another neutral function.
Hangouts: a way to have video conference calls. Sort of like the 50s and 60s sci-fi imagined all phone calls would be like. The one real downside is that all hangouts are recorded and can only be dealt with after they are over. Plus, I am not aware as to whether each participant gets a copy or if only the moderator. A concern if you are talking about a topic you would rather not go public (just like your posts). Not seeing ANY Hangouts in my future, but sounds like a live way to discuss stuff in free form.
Local: basically the Yellow Pages with reviews and maps. Since Google bought Zagat a time ago, this is their way of adding value to that acquisition by taking it online. You can add your own reviews and/or business to it but it is something I will never need and it is easy to ignore. Results of reviews can show up in Google Search so decide carefully if you want to contribute or choose to see your circles reviews (check out Search setting on how to block this info from entering your searches).
Pages: mostly businesses and organizations with a few groups with themes (like nothing but cats). Most businesses do a poor job of presenting posts (just look on Explore for examples). Press releases with no engagement added or other reasons to visit. Some of the groups began before communities, so they are more like one sided conversations (posts that you can respond to but can't start yourself). I follow some pages, but do so with the same care you take when adding a person to your circles.
Photos: a sort of redundancy of the section from your Profile page but also includes private albums. You can instant upload from there as well. When you add photos, it also creates the duplicate album in Picassa with similar functions such as editing. I already posted about Picassa's Secret Auto-Opt-In, so I won't repeat myself. Suffice to say, use the same caution as posting or commenting. It could come back and bite you in the ass.
Overall, I would say that G+ improving, but is tending to veer toward catering to the FB users. It needs to chart its own course and let them find a way to join in own their own terms. They are invited to the party, but they have to eat what is here, drink what is here and listen to the music already playing.
BTW: +Google , get "Find People" into third place after Circles and Added.
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