Google+ added three new features this week that, while not earth shattering, offer some additional functionality for the reported 40 million or so users of the network.

What’s Hot – this is a pretty simple add and allows users to see what public posts are getting the most shares, comments and +1s. It’s the answer to Twitter’s Trending Tweets in a way. Expect popular posts to get even more popular once everyone has access to them.

Ripples – this add gives users a nice graphical way to view the history of a post. Simple find a post and then over there to right of the post click the little arrow drop down and hit “View Ripples”

Once you do this you’ll be treated to a mind map kind of view of all of the shares, comments and spokes of conversation.

Google+ Creative Kit – Photo sharing is a big part of Google+ and the Creative Kit adds some image editing functionality so you can jazz those photos up with filters, sharpen images and add text. I think this will actually help make branded images that tell a story with simple text a mainstay on Google+

Google Apps customers can now use Google+ – Google Apps users can now create Google+ logins, but wonder how many people already created G+ accounts with personal emails first.