I was talking to CP about that soon after we all got on Google+. It seems to me all new social networks go through that pattern. Initial flurry, followed by a pronounced lull. My theory was that during that initial flurry, when a lot is happening and you're on the site all the time, most people minimize their notification footprint. If you're reloading the page every 5 minutes, you don't need an email, a text, and a twitter alert to tell you that there's new content. But as soon as things slow down a little, people aren't on the site as much, and now they've turned their notifications off, so they forget to check back in.

Only time will tell if this is a permanent drop, or just the calm before the storm like all of the successful sites have had.

Perhaps you've just been migrated to the outer circles?

As far as I can tell, G+ is still missing one thing I really need.

I need to be able to hide my "friends" from each other.

For example, in the vent thread I've been know to post a rant or two about the powers that be so I really don't want any link from "me" back to "Moonliner".

If I add work contacts to their own circle, I don't want them to be able to see anyone else I'm friends with.

Right now, as soon as someone is added to any circle they can see everyone I'm friends with. For example you all can see my friend Charles even though he is in the "college chums" circle and not the "Lot" circle.

You're probably aware, but you can set it so that nobody can so who is in your circles. So it is more restrictive than limiting it to only those who are in the same circle, but then if they did that it would damage the design intent of not revealing to your friends what circle you've put them in.

As mentioned above, the lull happens all the time. Heck, it happened here, and I think we've settled into a nice happy posting pace.

Heh, I need to actually get in there. I've accepted an invite, but I've not jhad the time to even go look at it.

Wow, I know people have issues with Facebook, but is a holy war really necessary?

My biggest issue with Google+ so far: not being able to private message someone. Google wants PMs to be emails instead, which is all well and good, but if someone doesn't allow for the email button under their image, there's no way to communicate with them privately. I recently had a public conversation with someone in my circle that would have been much better out of the public eye (as far as I'm concerned).

A circle of one would work for that although that could be a somewhat cumbersome solution in the long term.

No need to create a circle. Just remove all of your circles from below the post, then add just the person's name you want to message. Voila, private message. After you post it, you can open the drop down and select "Disable Reshare" for added privacy.