The folks at Google have been telling us for awhile Google + is more than just a social network…

So Google+ is, in our view, a lot more than a social network. The social network is important because that’s what is going to create the platform. It is what is going to create the social graph for us. But the big value is that all Google products are taking advantage of that social graph and contributing to the social aspects of that platform…

They’ve made mention of the +1’s from your network showing up in Google Search, for example.

Well, they’ve now integrated Circles into Gmail.

…you now have an interesting option: add her to the ‘Distant Annoying Relatives’ circle with one click in the right tab of your Gmail, and then set a filter to ignore messages from those people.

One of the arguments against Google + has been that people already spend so much time on Facebook, they’re not going to switch networks – it’s ingrained.

But as of October 2011, there were 260 million people using Gmail.

Will the ability to add people to Circles and filter them right through Gmail make people more likely to explore G+?

We’re guessing yes. What do you think?