New: Know When Your Sent Emails Are Read!

First make sure the Home tab is selected by clicking it.

Then click within the “Share what's new...” which is where you will type your message.

After typing your message, make sure to click the x's on any tabs down below. If you do not have any tabs below, do not worry. These tabs control who will receive the message.

Click “Add circles or people to share with...” to add the circle or person you want to message.

Type the name of the person or circle, and Google+ will check to see if the given entity exists. Once the name comes up selected, click it or press Enter.

If the entity does exist, Google+ will replace the typed text with a colored tab containing the circle's or person's name. Otherwise the entered text will be cleared because no match was found.

All that remains is to hit the Share button! And off the message goes!