Hot Google+ Insider's Guide Posts

News: Google+ Will Allow Users to Make Gender Private

It's great to see proof that Google+ is listening to feedback from their users. As a result of the discussion surrounding gender and privacy, Google+ Profiles Product Manager +Frances Haugen announced that Google+ will allow users to hide their genders on their profile.

News: free google+ icons

Free! 10 sets of pretty Google+ icons for you to use. I'm not sure for what just yet, but they are really well-designed.

News: google+ funnies

Just funnies floating around

News: 22 Google Chrome Extensions to Make Google+ Even Better

Although Google+ has solved many of our problems with social networking, it's not perfect, and we all wish they'd be a just a little bit faster with the improvements. In the meantime, you can stave off your hunger with useful Google Chrome extensions that improve upon Google+.

News: 3 Creative Ways to Use Google+ Circles

Although circles are Google+'s answer to the problem of social network relationship management, that's not the only thing it's good for. People on Google+ are using circles for all sorts of creative activities, some of which aren't obvious as first glance.

News: New to Google+? 12 Tips to Master the Basics & Get You Addicted

You've finally got an invite into Google+. Now what? At first glance, things can be a bit overwhelming. We've got some great tips to help you get started.

News: Ask the technical lead on G+ team

On the ansasq site, a technical lead on Google+ gets asked a bunch of questions about Google+. Very informative and useful.

News: My invite finally went through and...

Google+ is awesome! I'm converted. What fun, and best of all... what a worthy competitor to Facebook. :)

News: The Top 32 Authors to Follow on Google+

Google+ isn't filled with just Google workers and tech-obsessed nerds. Many creative people are part of the community, and they're using Google+ to connect with their fans. Authors, especially, love talking to people about their work. We've rounded up the best published authors for you to follow on Google+. We've listed their best known works so that you can get an idea of the topics they write about.

How To: Search for Google+ Profiles and Posts Using Chrome's Search Engine Settings

One of my biggest frustrations with Google+ right now is the inability to search my stream, as well as the lack of any bookmarking features. To find posts I want to refer to, I either have to type in the name of the person who posted the status, or I have to keep hitting the "More" button to find what I need. Both ways are inefficient.

News: Should Google+ Require You to Use Your Real Name?

Google started culling Google+ accounts. There are two main targets: businesses and those who are using pseudonyms. For businesses, Google is promising to provide their own version of Facebook Pages, which will be released later this year. For those who use pseudonyms, they aren't so lucky. According to Google+'s community standards, users must "use the name your friends, family, or co-workers usually call you". The purpose of this rule is ostensibly to discourage spammers and people from set...

EPIC: Google+ Collaborative Manual

I just found this via +Adele Shakal. Now this is how you use Google Docs. This document is an epic collaborative project that assembles all the available tips and tricks for Google+. I think I'm in love with everyone who wrote this manual. It's elegant, clear and well, not concise, but a great introduction to Google+.

News: Everything on Google+

This is a Pearltree with everything on Google+ (Best most relevant)

News: Is Google+ More of a Threat to Twitter than Facebook?

Much of the press around the launch of Google+ has pitted it squarely against Facebook. This was highlighted painfully for Facebook with their (misguidedly dubbed) "awesome" announcements yesterday. Their launch of a new design, video calling, and group chat might have been exciting, had not Google announced its Hangout feature for Google+ a week earlier (and by the way, introduced their own 1-on-1 video calling inside of Gmail way back in 2008). Hangouts took video calling a step further and...

News: 4 Possible Privacy Issues to Pay Attention to in Google+

After the media outcry of Google Buzz's privacy issues, Google has set its goals on making the privacy parameters of Google+ simple to learn and as explicitly manageable as possible. No small feat.

News: Most interesting + on earth

Hipster version:

News: Using your Circles for other things

+David Yong-Mallo has some great suggestions for other uses of your Circles: "Circles are useful for more than just sharing with others

News: Update Facebook from Google+ without an extension

Justin Bee outlines a method to update Facebook from your Google+ account without actually having to go download an extension. Basically you set up your Facebook account to receive your Google+ posts as email to your Facebook Wall. There's a limitation though - text will truncate after 50 characters, so make sure your messages to Facebook users are short and sweet.

News: Add your Facebook stream to Google+

Are you finding that you're spending all of your time inside Google+ and neglecting your Facebook Wall? You can import that wall to your Google+ stream and keep track of conversations on both places in the only place you care about, Google+. This is a browser extension that works with Firefox and Chrome. They're working on making it work for IE.

News: Move2Picasa Moves Facebook Photos to Google

Can't tell where this originated, and fair warning: Facebook may try to block it.

News: The Social Evolution

The evolution of the social web.

News: Duking it out - Like vs Plus buttons

Which one do you prefer? Via +Vic Gondotra.

News: A Google+ Love Story

Things have only gotten more exciting for +Bradley Horowitz, VP of Product Management for Google. After launching Google's highly buzzed social networking sites, he took his girlfriend +Irene Au, a designer for Google, to Paris. While there, he proposed to her, and she said yes!

News: Top 13 Google Insiders to Follow on Google+

As Google+ is still in its Limited Field Trial phase, joining can feel quite lonely. You can't exactly get all your friends and family in during the brief periods when the invitation system opens up. You can, however, add several interesting people to your "Following" Circle to keep up with developments as they happen.

News: Tom of MySpace Postulates On Mark Zuckerberg/Facebook vs Google+

+Tom Anderson of MySpace has been very active on Google+ over the first week, and he's not shy with his thoughts on the evolution of the industry he once owned. Here's his take on this morning's Facebook announcement and Mark Zuckerberg's response when asked about Google+.

News: Start your own Circle of Trust!

Via +Pedro Dias. A funny take on the Circles feature.

News: Everyone's New Facebook Profile Photo

News: Google Plus Translated

Circle = List Share = Post

News: Running away from the Google+ notifications!

Via +William Bittner.

Google+ Pro Tips Round-Up: Week 1

With the Google+ team members being generous and free-flowing with advice on some of the more advanced features of Google+, we'll be publishing a weekly summary of the latest pro tips. Chances are, if you've been following the Google+ team members, you've seen some of these already but you don't have them all in one handy place.

News: Welcome to the Google+ Insider's Guide!

Google+ is the most exciting new social network to come around this decade, and the only product with a chance of challenging the monopolies we know as Facebook and Twitter. As an Internet addict, I've joined every major social network there is - from Friendster (who?) to MySpace (so ugly) to LinkedIn (yawn) to Twitter (irritating) and Facebook (annoying to manage). Competition is delicious, especially between well-financed monopolies. Google+ really seems to have identified an Achille's heel...