Circles
Circles allows your users to create their own groups of users/colleagues/friends. Those groups of users (or circles) can then be used by any other app for sharing purpose (files, social feed, status update, messaging, ...) through the Circles API
Different types of circles can be created:
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A Personal Circle is a list of users known only to the owner.
This is the right option if you want to do recurrent sharing with the same list of local users. -
A Public Circle is an open group visible to anyone willing to join.
Anyone can see the circle, can join the circle and access the items shared to the circle. -
Joining a Closed Circle requires an invitation or a confirmation by a moderator.
Anyone can find the circle and request an invitation; but only members will see who's in it and get access to shared items. -
A Secret Circle is an hidden group that can only be seen by its members or by people knowing the exact name of the circle.
Non-members won't be able to find your secret circle using the search bar.