In today’s Quick Hits, we talk about the Google+ Project and delve into the lives of Australia’s hard-partying, Facebook-sharing teens.

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Checking out the Google+ Project

Yesterday, Google rolled out its long-awaited social networking feature, the Google+ Project. Initially, only a handful of people were given access to Google+. The folks at Business Insider were among the early users, and they have broken down the entire Google+ Project into 29 slides. If you’re still waiting to check out Google+ for yourself, Business Insider’s tour is a great way to learn more about the product.

Google+ Gets Good Grades on Privacy

One thing that Google has been getting high marks on with Google+ is the company’s deference for user privacy. In an article for CNET, Declan McCullagh writes that Google+’s “Circles” feature makes it easier to group your friends and selectively publish online content. McCullagh also notes that Google+ also has significantly fewer privacy settings, making it easier for users to customize their Google+ accounts than their Facebook accounts.

Charges Dropped Over Mock Violent Facebook Rant

Two years after a New York man left a violent, Fight Club-inspired Facebook rant against an Apple store, a judge has decided to throw out the charges against him. On his Facebook page, the man wrote he “might walk into an Apple store on Fifth Avenue with an Armalite AR-10 gas powered semi-automatic weapon and pump round after round into one of those smug, fruity little concierges,” which is nearly identical to a similar line in the book Fight Club. This incident highlights how one individual’s online content can be misconstrued and cause significant reputation problems.

Australian Teens Share Wild Lives Online

This article in the Sydney Morning Herald offers a disturbing glimpse into the wild, alcohol-fueled lives of Australia’s 17 and 18-year-old teen girls. While the article goes into a wide range of issues surrounding this hard-partying set, one element of the story is worth highlighting. According to the Herald article, these girls not only party, but document every moment of the party to share on Facebook the following day, with no regard for the reputation consequences.

Quoting Gordian Fulde, the director of emergency medicine at St Vincent’s Hospital, from the article: “And these days, if a girl goes out and gets trashed and vomits, maybe even ends up in emergency, they freak out at the time but you can see that they’re getting a badge of honour. The next day the photos will go up on Facebook.” Setting aside the many health risks of binge drinking, this “badge of honor” can quickly become a scarlet letter for these girls as they move on to college or into the adult workforce.

Why Visiting Competitor Websites May Give Away Company Secrets

According to the MIT Tech Review, via Forbes privacy blogger Kashmir Hill, “if you’re not making efforts to anonymize your Web browsing, you may be leaking information to your competitors when visiting their websites.” Kashmir goes on to describe how businesses can track and log IP addresses to their websites and determine who is visiting and from what company. In a highly competitive market, it could be damaging if a competitor learned that you were investigating a specific product or service through your unfiltered IP address.