Gmail have launched something out of the blue today, and it could be pretty useful.
You can now send emails to people in your Google+ circles, even if you don’t know their email address.
When you compose a new message in Gmail, you will now be offered contact suggestions for people whom you have in your Google+ circles.
Now this may also alarm users who are concerned about their privacy. Well don’t be, since your email address isn’t visible to anyone in your Google+ circles until you send them an email. Similarly the recipient’s email address is not visible to you until they respond to your email.
What happens when you get an an email from someone who isn’t in your circles? Such emails will arrive in the Social tab of your Gmail inbox after you respond or add them to your circles. They can only start another conversation with you after you have responded.
If you do not wish to receive emails from people on Google+, you can opt out of this under Gmail’s settings from your PC’s browser.
Click on the Gear icon on theĀ top right corner of your browser.
Select Settings from the list. While under the “General” tab, scroll down until you see, “Email via Google+”.
Now select one of the options given there. These include “Anyone on Google+, Extended Circles, Circles, and No one”.
Choosing the last option should stop you from being emailed by strangers.
Read more about the settings on Google’s official support page
Let us know what you think of Google’s idea of linking Gmail with Google+ by dropping a comment below.