But all of a sudden I'm getting an endless stream of e-mails telling me I've been added to a bunch of strangers' "circles." And although I can tweak my account settings to stop getting these notifications, I'm really just ready to bid goodbye to Google+ altogether. (No offense to those of you who like the service; I just prefer to stick with Facebook.)

Needless to say, I want to keep my other Google services (Docs, Calendar, Gmail, etc.), so I definitely don't want to cancel my entire account--just Google Plus. There's no immediately obvious way to do that, but it can be done. Here's how.

1. Sign into your Google Plus account.

2. Near the upper right corner, click on your account name (or e-mail address, whichever is shown), then click Account settings.

3. In the Services section, click Delete profile and remove associated social features.

4. On the following page, choose Delete Google+ content, then click Remove selected services.

That's it! You're no longer part of Google+ or its circles. Of course, you can always rejoin later if Facebook's endless and annoying changes finally drive you over the edge.