Google announced a lot of information today regarding their popular and growing social network Google+. Stating they have passed over 500 million users and around 235m active users. Pretty impressive numbers to say the least. The other big news was Google+ Communities, which is their answer to Facebook Groups. Below we’ll go into a few details as well as let you enjoy the neat little video they’ve put together.

The problem was having groups you could share and communicate with friends either private or public. Now all your like-minded friends can start communities (like an Android one) make it public or private, have moderators and more. This brings that level of detail and control to the social network that we’ve been waiting for so patiently.

Communities or groups is pretty self explanatory. You can share news, details, pictures, video and more publicly to everyone, or private only to members of that community. Something that has been missing for far too long with Google+ and its open world for everyone to peek in. Google’s added hangout video chats, gallery support as well as YouTube integration and much more. You have everything available for the community to enjoy.

“Facebook most generally is about the people you already know, about your real world connections” Google’s Brad Horowitz said of Google+ Communities’ rivals. “On Twitter, well it’s really hard to have a meaningful conversation in 140-character snippets.” According to Horowitz, the new feature is all about “making it easy to find your tribe.”

Head to Google+ today to check out and join communities by hitting the Community tab on the left side of the page. You’ll be entered into a world of friends and common interests. Google said this is a “preview” for now, and we can expect full integration and support on mobile sometime soon. Give it a try folks!

[via SlashGear]