Hot Google+ Insider's Guide Posts
News: 15 Quick Google+ Tips
Are you feeling like you've got the hang of Google+? Or do you, as I do sometimes, feel like there are just a few too many quirks to keep track of? Here, I've given you 15 quick tips you should know about Google+ so you can maximize the way you want to use it.
How To: Stream Concert Quality Audio with the New Studio Mode in Google+ Hangouts
If you're a musician, Google wants you on Google+ Hangouts. In an effort to make it easier to stream your concerts, performances, and impromptu jam sessions, they've revealed their latest feature: Studio Mode. Enabling the new Studio Mode optimizes your Hangouts On Air for music, and the quality difference is massive.
News: New Android Google+ App Is Here!
The new Android Google+ App is looking great. Unfortunately, I don't have the new version just yet, but you can grab a preview with +Carter Gibson's tour. Carter Gibson - Google+ - The New Google+ App TourTake a look at the beautiful new….
How To: Use Google+ Events
Since its inception, Google+ fans have been clamoring for Google Calendar integration. Today, Google+ has launched something better: Google+ Events.
News: No One Actually Asks for a Weekly Digest
But it seems like all of the major social networks are determined to send you one anyway: Pinterest:
How To: Really Delete Your Google+ Page
I tried to delete one of my old Google+ pages today and was a little confused to find out that the "Delete" icon was gone. I asked the Google+ community managers for help, and they came through in less than five minutes! Now that's customer service.
How To: Use Firefox Add-Ons and Greasemonkey to Make Google+ Perfect
Although +Google Chrome has been getting many deserved kudos for its innovations and speed, many people still prefer to use +Mozilla Firefox as their primary browser. If you’re a dedicated Google+ user, you know that there are many Google+ Chrome browser extensions available to modify your Google+ experience. What you may not know is that there are also Firefox extensions you can use for Google+.
How To: I dont know how to use you.
I still dont know how to use you.
How To: Search for Google+ Posts & Profiles with Google
The lack of a search function within Google+ is driving me crazy. It takes me way too much time to find the posts I want to save and refer back to, and it's counter-productive for Google to launch their social networking product without an integrated search.
The Social Network Wars: Google+ vs Facebook
This infographic from SingleGrain aptly and succinctly describes the primary differences between Facebook and Google+. Which social network will reign supreme?
News: Top 104 Amazing Photographers to Circle on Google+
We've provided Google insiders, Google's community managers, authors, and celebrities for you to add to your circles. This week, we've discovered over 100 brilliant photographers for you to follow.
Randall Munroe of XKCD: Why Does Google+ Require Public Gender Disclosure?
+Randall Munroe, the man behind the web's most popular web comic, XKCD, has always had a knack for getting to the heart of the larger social issues on the web. During the 1st 48 hours after Google+ started letting non-Googlers in, one of the most shared posts within its private walls was his latest comic about Google+:
How To: Create a Gmail or Google Account Without a Google+ Profile
Google+ has managed to double their user count from three months ago, now standing at over 90 million Google+ accounts created. But how did it get so many so quick? By tricking people who are signing up for Gmail or a regular Google account into setting up a Google+ account, too.
News: Online E-Commerce Video Games Retailers
Hi Fellow hardcore Gamers within the UK Gaming Community. Please be kind enough to add us to your google plus circles and we will return the favour and add google +1 button likes for you and you can do likewise for our site.
How To: Fix Your Notification Settings in Google+ Pages
Yesterday, I started receiving emails from Google+ that looked like this: I was really confused. I was confident that I had already gone through my personal Google+ account notification settings, and turned off all email notifications. I noticed that there was a link at the bottom of the email, that said I could change what email Google+ sends you. When I clicked on it, it took me to my newly created Google+ page's settings: +Yum!
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Getting Information on Google
Google+ is taking over more and more of Google's core properties. This week, we've seen several announcements from Google blogs about new products, new features, new looks, new integrations. If you're like me, you actually want to know where to go for all the latest information on Google products.
How To: Get the New Google Navigation Menu
Get the New Google Navigation Menu Although Google introduced the new Google bar last week, I still didn't have the new look yet. I was curious to see if I could find it, and discovered that +Maximiliam Majewski found a workaround to get access to the new Google bar. It's no longer the black navigation bar at the top of the page, but rather a drop-down menu on the left-hand side, from the Google menu. Install a browser extension that allows you to edit the cookies.
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Shipping the Google
Google+ is nearly complete. We've got hangouts, pages, photos, games, and lots of ways to share what we love and build an audience. But it seems like Google isn't quite done yet. Since most of Google+ has been "shipped", it's now time to "ship the Google" as +Larry Page mentioned in the quarterly report.
How To: Make the Most of Your Google+ Page
Now that it's been a week since Google+ rolled out pages, we've gotten over our euphoria at finally getting the feature after a long wait, and reality is starting to sink it. It's not as flexible as a Facebook page, it seems to be time consuming, and you can't even get a unique URL. On the other hand, your Google+ page will show up in Google searches, and help bump you up a bit. Here's how the search stacks up when I search for "WonderHowTo" in Yahoo! vs. Google (Note: I've turned on private ...
How To: Deal with Waiting for a Google+ Feature
Google+ is the greatest social network to emerge since Facebook annoyed everyone into joining, but that doesn't necessarily mean that our relationship with it is all rosy. Although Google+ has amazing innovations, like hangouts and circles, users are spending a lot of time begging for core features that take what seems to be an eternity to emerge.
News: Google+ Rolls Out Pages for Businesses & Brands
Many companies were disappointed when Google+ rolled out and banned the creation of accounts specifically for businesses and brands. Fortunately, today, Google began rolling out Google+ pages, for them to start connecting with customers and followers. For an example of what a Google+ Page looks like, check out the one for the +The Muppets:
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Google+ Is Google
"Google+ is dead." How many times have you read that in the past few weeks? It seems like I can't get away from this notion that Google+, as a social network, is a total failure. Don't feel too sorry for them, though. +Bradley Horowitz isn't worried. In an interview with VentureBeat, he explains, “Six months from now, it will become increasingly apparent what we’re doing with Google+. It will be revealed less in what we say and more in the product launches we reveal week by week.” Indeed, som...
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Google+ Ripples & More
Google announced a lot of great feature updates this week! Most of them are content-related, and help you more easily find out what's going on in the overall Google+ community.
News: Was Google Reader Already a Great Google Social Network?
Google Reader is ostensibly just an RSS aggregator, a tool that lets you catch up on your favorite blogs. How could Google have anticipated that getting rid of its social features could have angered so many people who were actually using it as their default social network, and who enjoyed it precisely because it didn't function like Facebook or Google+?
News: Google Chrome Web Store Gets New Look
This morning, the Official Google Blog and Chrome Blog revealed the new tab page, which lets you flip between your installed apps and your most visited web sites. To take a look at how it works, check out the video below. The Chrome Web Store also received a facelift. It's now a lot bigger and brighter, with infinite scrolling instead of pagination. Adding new apps and extensions is a snap; all you have to do is select your app or extension, read more about it, and then click on the +Add to C...
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Google+ Breaks News
Increasingly, I'm turning to Google+ as a source of news, and it looks like I'm not the only one. On Thursday, news of a small earthquake broke on both Twitter and Google+. One curious user, +Keith Barrett, decided to try and find out which social network was faster with the news. Turns out it was a tie. As Google integrates Google+ more closely with the rest of its services, and more users post relevant stories, I think we'll start to see Google+ as a place that can create and break stories,...
News: Google+ to Support Pseudonyms, Google Apps & More
Since its inception, Google+ users have been a loud, vocal bunch, and they've made their displeasure known about many issues, especially on the lack of support for pseudonyms, Google Apps, and brand pages. It's been especially galling for many Google loyalists, who found their Google+ profiles suspended, when they ended up violating the Google+ "common name" policy.
News: Should Kids Be Allowed to Use Facebook and Google+?
It's a question I've been pondering a lot lately. Technically, children under the age of 13 are not allowed to join Facebook. But according to a Consumer Reports in May, 7.5 million children 12 and younger are already on the site. Currently, federal law prohibits websites from collecting personal data from children without parental permission. The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, as it is more commonly known, has been in effect since 1998, but has not been updated since.
News: Lateness
I have been having a lot of computer issues, so that's why this week's Google+ weekly round up is late. However, I think I may have figured out the problem. It might be time for us to switch Internet providers.
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Google Cleans Up
It’s been a pretty big week for Google, and Google+ itself. There were a number of articles proclaiming the end of Google+, because allegedly traffic dropped over 60% after it opened to the public. Then +Steve Yegge accidentally posted a long rant on Google+ itself, which was originally meant only for Google employees and colleagues to see. Interestingly enough, the most inflammatory content wasn’t actually about Google itself, but about the horrible work environment at Amazon. The accidental...
How To: Reduce the Noise in Your Social Streams
Social network fatigue sets in when it starts to feel impossible to keep up with all that new content from your friends, followers, and acquaintances on a daily basis. You lose track of stuff you wanted to read more about, and you miss important news from your friends, but are bombarded with inconsequential details from people you don't actually care about. What's the solution? Filter your streams so that you only see the content you do care about, and get rid of the rest.
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Refining Sharing
One of the primary goals of a social network is for you to share what you find interesting with your followers and friends, but on Google+, sharing has so many layers that it can be confusing for most people to really take advantage of it properly. Some of the tools in place that enable you do deal with spam and manage your privacy aren't very clear, so this week's round up is all about how you can share what you want with who you want on Google+.
News: Steve Jobs and His Legacy
I was working on a different Google+ Insider's Guide post when suddenly, my Google+ stream started filling up with news of Steve Jobs' death. Since that moment, many people in the tech industry have paused to reflect on the legacy that Steve Jobs left behind, and talk about what his vision meant for the rest of the industry, and for them personally. There's no tech sector that was untouched by Steve Jobs' influence, and that includes Google.
How To: Create Google+ RSS Feeds
Earlier last month, I wrote on how to subscribe to Google+ users using PlusFeed. I used it, and then I realized that I wasn't getting my own feed anymore. I discovered that the free service had been disabled due to cost issues, as detailed by the creator +Russell Beattie. The code is open source, and you can roll your own service, if you have the know-how and the time. If you don't, but still want to create RSS feeds for your own public posts, or just to track your favorite Google+ users, the...
How To: Prevent Social Networks from Tracking Your Internet Activities
+Nik Cubrilovic discovered last week that Facebook could track your web activities even after you logged out of your Facebook account. After some blatant denials from Facebook spokespeople, Facebook decided to fix the logout issue, but not before +Michael Arrington, on his new Uncrunched blog, made a concise post revealing Facebook's dishonesty: Facebook submitted a patent application for "tracking information about the activities of users of a social networking system while on another domain...
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Google+ Grows Up
Things have been a bit quiet on the Google+ Insider's Guide this week. With the launch of the new Facebook, Google+ is finding itself a bit on the defensive. However, recent data shows that by making Google+ available to the general public, their traffic has jumped 13-fold, according to Mashable. With the new growth also comes the introduction of cool new features, which further enhance sharing.
News: 20 Ways to Master Google+
#8 — Join the Google+ Insider's Guide.
News: Everything You Need to Know About the New Facebook
Facebook unveiled a lot of changes last week, and, as usual, it's causing a lot of consternation and controversy. People within my Facebook, and on Google+, keep asking how to remove the ticker, and are trying, and mostly failing to make sense of the changes.
How To: Hide the Facebook News Ticker in Firefox and Google Chrome
Facebook has been "improving" their interface in several different ways in attempt to combat the threat of Google+. One big change is the introduction of a news ticker in the top right corner that constantly feeds updates from friends and organizations you are connected with on Facebook. Not only do some people find the ticker annoying due to the constant stream of text flowing across it, but many felt unnerved by the fact that every “Like” or comment on a profile could instantly be seen acro...
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Resources for Newbies
Now that Google+ is open to everyone, there are a lot of new people who aren't techies trying out the service. When you first sign on, it can be overwhelming. I've decided to round up a bunch of resources to help you get started, and recommend some people for you to follow, if you want to stay on top of tips and new announcements.