Editor’s Note: Today from 12:30 – 12:45 EDT we will be hosting an Exploring Social Media Lunch & Learn Webinar on Google+ for business and more. If you’re interested, feel free to reserve your spot now at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/795013528
See you there!
A couple weeks ago, Google launched a new project called Google+ (or Google Plus). It has been steadily allowing more and more people to join, and has already reached close to 20 million users. You may have received an invitation from a friend who’s already on Google+, or you may be able to join yourself through the Google+ website. Google has been turning invitations on and off, so if you aren’t able to get in at first, try to be patient! It remains to be seen whether or not Google+ will be a game-changer in the social media world, but it’s an interesting experiment that may be useful in business collaboration and making personal connections.
To get started with Google+, visit http://plus.google.com:
This is where you can check out some of the features Google+ has to offer because you join. If you have some time, click on the Interactive Tour button to see what Google has put together to explain the Google+ Project, or simply click Join Google+ to find out for yourself.
Right now, Google+ is available to Gmail users only. Users who are operating through Google Apps are not eligible to sign up for a Google+ account, but can use their @gmail.com personal address to sign up for now. Google will be rolling out access to Apps users in the coming weeks.
Since Google+ is tied right into your existing Gmail account, there is no tedious setup or verification process. Once you’ve signed in, you can begin building your Google+ profile. Google makes it easy to edit your profile. Simply click the blue “Edit Profile” button, and then click on the section you want to edit. You’re welcome to include as much or as little information about yourself as you’d like. In addition to adding profile information such as occupation and employment, you can also add the places you’ve lived, your relationship status, and social media links including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.
One important setting to keep in mind is the “Search visibility” setting at the bottom of your profile. If you’re concerned about privacy, you can adjust this setting so that you will not appear when people search for your name. You can also adjust the privacy settings when adding your social networking links.
Wondering what these “circles” are that appear in your privacy settings? Circles are the tools that Google uses to help you organize people. To see your circle, click on the icon that has a blue, red, and green circle in it, or click on the little picture of you in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and you’ll see “Circles” in the dropdown menu.
The default Circles that Google has available to you are Friends, Family, Acquaintances, Following, and Colleagues. Since your Google+ account is attached to your Gmail account, you’ll be given lists of people that Google thinks you may know. The list of people grows as you attached your other social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook. You can also find friends from other email accounts, by uploading an address book, or by searching in the “Find people” search bar. Google often suggests people to you that you might know based on the other people in your circles, who you follow on external social networks, and who your friends follow. As you see people that you want to connect with on Google+, simply drag and drop their profile into the Circle that you want them to appear in. You can also drag and drop people into multiple circles if they fit in different categories.
The way you categorize people is up to you. You can use their default Circle system, or you can add your own new Circles by dragging and dropping people into the white circle on the left of the screen. As you can see, I’ve created my own “Besties” Circle so far. You can also remove and edit the names of your circles at any time by clicking on the circle. You’ll see several options for each Circle such as Rename, Edit description, Search in this circle, and Delete this circle.
Circles are a valuable way to keep track of people you know and follow in a manageable way. Rather than viewing everyone’s stream in one continuous line (similar to your Twitter stream), you have the option of looking only at the streams of people who are relevant to you at the time (similar to curated Twitter lists). If I only want to see what my friends are up to, I can simple click the “Friends” stream on the left-hand side of my Google+ home screen, and only posts from the people who are in my “Friends” Circle will show up.
You can also use the left-hand sidebar to see “Incoming” posts. These are posts from people who have added you to their Circles, but you haven’t added them. This is a useful way to decide whether or not you want to add someone to your Circles. Remember, once you add someone to a Circle, that person will be able to see your posts depending on the privacy settings you have set. Therefore, you may want to think about who you include in your Circles, which Circles you want to include people in, and how much information you’re willing to publicize to the world. Keep in mind that “public” means anyone on the web can see what you’re posting, regardless of whether or not they’re in your Circles.
Once you’ve added your friends, acquaintances, and colleagues to your Circles, you’re ready to start sharing.
With Google+, you’re able to share whatever you want, with no limits, so feel free to be creative! You can share entire blog posts within the body of the post if you’d like, photos, links, videos, or even your location information. Each post that you create has its own privacy settings, and you can adjust them however you wish. For example, if you want to only communicate with one person (similar to posting on someone’s wall on Facebook, or mentioning them on Twitter), you can simply type the @ or + symbol in front of someone’s name, and remove anyone else from the post by clicking X in the blue boxes above the green “Share” button (which by default is “Public” or “Your circles”). Similarly, you can share with only specific Circles or people by clicking “Add more people” and choosing the Circle and people that you wish to share with.
When posting and commenting, Google+ allows you to use some formatting, which is handy and convenient:
- To bold, add a * before and after each word or words you wish to be bold
- To italicize, add a _ before and after each word or words you wish to be italic
- To
strikethrough, add a – before and after each word or words you wish to strikethrough
Since Google+ is still very new, we encourage you to play around with it and let us know any tricks, shortcuts, or other helpful hints for people who are just getting started. If you’d like a little more information including a video with screencasts, feel free to visit Exploring Social Media and check out our Google+ Introductory Tour, or join our webinar:
Today: ESM Lunch & Learn: Google+ for Business and More
Jason Falls will host a one-hour lunch and learn on Google+ to discuss possible uses, show members how to set-up anduse the new network and more. Members will be invited in on the discussion (as if we’re on a radio call-in show) so come ready with ideas and questions.
Title: ESM Lunch & Learn: Google+ for business more
Date: Friday, July 22, 2011
Time: 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM EDT
Space is limited.
To reserve your Webinar seat now, visit
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/795013528
Hope to see you there!
About Jess Ostroff
Jess Ostroff
Jess Ostroff is a digital marketing and social media virtual project manager for Social Media Explorer and Exploring Social Media. You can follow her on Twitter @jessostroff for musings on technology, music, and other topics related to location-independence and freelancing.
