NFC tagging support in Google+ app.

WorldWide Tech & Science. Francisco De Jesús.

The Android app for Google’s new social network – Google+ - reportedly features NFC-based technology to automatically ‘tag’ content. According to Readwriteweb.com, a video circulating by Singapore-based developer Ridzuan Ashim shows the feature working (see video above). 

 When scanned, the text stored in the tag automatically populates the 'Share your thoughts' screen in the Google+ Android app, which is typically used to post Facebook-style status updates to the social network. 

Other uses of the technology, says the report, could include Foursquare-style location check-ins (i.e., registering your arrival at a location), sharing contact info with others, ‘friending’ Google+ users and navigating to particular pages.

While NFC is predominantly used for contactless payments, the reports note that the increasing support for the technology in handsets could lead to a range of new use cases. 

“What's the benefit of such a thing, besides being a clever little trick? For now, that's all it is, but it indicates that NFC will likely grow to become an important part of the Google+ social network in the future,” says the website.

The Google+ Android app already offers a feature called 'Google Check-ins,' which is based on Google's existing location-based service, Latitude. Users who check in using this feature can post their location directly to their stream on Google+ (limiting its visibility to certain groups if desired). Google Check-ins would be Google's direct counterpart to Facebook's Places, and could easily be NFC-enabled in the future, the report says.