Google+ Stories and Movies Auto-Create Slideshows and Videos for Users

Google, in an attempt to bolster the popularity of its own social network against the likes of Facebook, Flickr, and Instagram, has introduced Google+ Stories and Movies, an interactive photo- and video-organizing tool to the photos and videos section of the Google+ app.

Google has announced that the Stories feature in Google+ will be rolled out to Android and the Web starting this week, while the feature will reach iOS soon. The features are also known as Auto Awesome Stories and Auto Awesome Movies.

Google's Director of Product Management, Anil Sabharwal said in a Google+ post, "Enter Google+ Stories, which can automatically weave your photos, videos and the places you visited into a beautiful travelogue. No more sifting through photos for your best shots, racking your brain for the sights you saw, or letting your videos collect virtual dust. We'll just gift you a story after you get home. This way you can relive your favourite moments, share them with others, and remember why you travelled in the first place."

The new update also brings Google+ Movies which can make a highlight reel of photos and videos shared automatically - including customisations such as effects, transitions and a soundtrack.

For using the new Stories or Movies features, users will have to back-up photos and videos to Google+. This will allow the Auto Awesome tool to work in the background, notify the user when a story or movie is ready.

Dave Besbris, Vice President of Engineering for Google+ has detailed the new features of Google+ Movies and Google+ Stories in a separate Google+ post.

1. Auto Awesome Stories now combine your photos, videos and the places you visit into beautiful travelogues.

2. Auto Awesome Movies are now available on Android, iOS and the web, so lots more people will receive highlight reels of their photos and videos.

3. You can now create animated GIFs and photo booth-style images on demand. Just tap the new plus button in Photos, and select either Motion or Mix.

4. Really big photo libraries are now supported on Android, so you can access your many thousands of photos quickly and easily.

5. You can now browse your entire photo library, as well as your highlights, by date. Just drag the new scroll bar to move forwards or backwards in time.

6. Profiles now display total content views on both Android and the web. (You can choose to show or hide this number via settings.)

7. A new navigation menu makes it easier to switch between your favourite circles and communities, as well as other places in the app.

8. It's a lot easier to share content from your phone or tablet. To give it a try, just tap the new pencil icon at the bottom right of the stream.

9. The app menu now slides away as you move down the stream, letting posts fill the entire screen.