The Search Company’s Social Network Finally Gets Search — And Some Other Goodies

One of the bigger head-scratchers of Google+ was how a social network from the world’s dominant search company could debut without search functionality. Today, the 12-week-old product is addressing that odd omission.

Starting today, Google+ will include search of people, posts and popular Web content, Google said in a blog post, in which it also announced Google+ is open to anyone who wants to sign up (not that it was terrifically hard to get an invite before).

Along with search, Google released a pack of new features for Google+’s most distinctive feature, group video Hangouts.

Hangouts are now available for Android phones with front-facing cameras, for larger viewing audiences, and can include screen-sharing, basic sketching, Google Docs and public topic listings.