Google+ Insider's Guide Features
News: Let Google+ Invade Your Computer: 9 Free Icons & Wallpapers
Google+ is taking over the world. But first, let it invade your computer! Google+ is inspiring a lot of graphic designers and artists to have fun with the plus icon and Google colors. All of the below icons and wallpapers are free for you to use.
How To: Manage Your Google+ Circles Without Going Crazy
Circles. They are both the best thing and worst thing about Google+. They're great because they allow you to fine-tune who you're following and who you want to keep in touch with, making it easy to keep your family and friends separate from each other. On the other hand, they can be a pain to maintain, and you can easily become overwhelmed from the "noise" of popular posts, which make it hard to concentrate on some of the people you want to focus on. But if you invest a little bit of time in ...
News: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Google+ Community Projects Take Off
This week seems to have gone by in a flash. Maybe it was the three day weekend, but I don't think it accounts for the flurry of activity I've been seeing on Google+. Updates, debates, and new initiatives are unfolding every day, and the best part is that most of them are coming from outside of Google. People love Google+ so much that they want to evangelize to others about it. What more could Google+ ask for?
News: Use Google+ Hangouts for Teaching
Google+ Hangouts are proving to be a proficient platform for teaching and communicating in real time with others. If you're someone who creates instructional content online, you may want to consider using the platform for your next project.
News: The 9 Creative Uses for Google+ Hangouts You Didn't Think Of
Hangouts are one of the most fun features in Google+. As long as you have a webcam and a microphone, you can "hangout" with up to 10 of your buddies on Google+ and do just about anything. Of course, sometimes it can get kind of awkward when you are hanging out and you don't really have anything to say. This problem can be mitigated if you host hangouts with a plan.
News: 15 Brilliant Google+ Female Photographers to Circle
In a previous article where I suggested 104 photographers to follow on Google+, I received a lot of criticism because over 90% of the listed photographers were men. While women are currently not a majority on Google+, they are a definite presence, and they are active. Today, I highlight the best female photographers I've found on Google+ so far. This time I'm taking a slightly different approach. Since the best way to get to know photographers is through their work, I've included one photo fo...
How To: Deal With Annoying People on Google+ & Facebook
Both Google+ and Facebook are competing for your time and space, and your commitment to one social network. To make their spaces more attractive to you, they've both made it easier for you to deal with people you don't like or don't care for.
News: The First (Real) Celebrities Arrive on Google+
One of the coolest things about Twitter is the fact that you can get direct access to some of your favorite celebrities, and have one-on-one conversations with them in less than 140 characters. With Google+, you can have the same advantage, but you don't need to feel constricted by the 140 character limit. Although Google+ has been weeding out fake accounts, they do not currently have a system for celebrities to verify whether their accounts are legitimate or not.
Google+ Pro Tips Round Up: Week 6
We're ending the week with a lot of big announcements and updates. To date, Google+ has updated its name policy, but is still forbidding pseudonyms. Blocking people on Google+ became even easier, and yesterday, games on Google+ launched.
News: Do Cats & Boobs Belong on Google+?
While using Google+, it's been apparent that there are two types of posters. There are the people who post thoughtful, serious posts about everything from tech to dealing with cancer. And then there are the meme propagators, the people who decide to rick roll others (ahem, +Bryan Crow), and constantly put up animated gifs. Sometimes they are the same people, and this is where it gets a little controversial.
News: Google+ Hosts First Hangout on Air with will.i.am
One of the most exciting new features announced by Google+ was the ability to broadcast hangouts live via YouTube, which was recently demonstrated with the very first Google+ Hangout On Air with +will.i.am of the Black Eyes Peas.
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: Google+ Pro Tips Weekly Round Up: Google Adds Google+ Extensions
This week, Google held back on introducing a slew of new Google+ features, and introduced new Chrome extensions instead. The new additions won't replace of your favorite Chrome extensions, but they are very useful, and elegant.
News: Google+ Makes Blocking People Even Easier
+Eric Cattell, the Social Graph Technical Lead of Google+, announced a lot of improvements and added features this morning, most of them having to do with circle management and blocking people.
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...
How To: Stop "Liking" and Start Google +1ing
The Google +1 button isn't as ubiquitous as the Facebook Like button, but it's getting there. Google's working hard on improving its functionality, and recently we've seen some innovative features added. The +1 button now appears on over one million sites, and you can do more with it than you could initially.
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: Facebook Takes Cues From Google+ and Adds Better Privacy Controls
After the launch of Google+ and its ensuing attendant fanfare and rave reviews, Facebook seemed to undergo an identity crisis. On July 6th, Facebook failed to make waves with its "awesome" announcement - the new group chat and video chat features felt lame in comparison to the Google+ hangout and huddle features. Facebook also faced ongoing criticism for its perceived lack of privacy controls. Over on Quora, workers confirmed a lockdown of sorts at Facebook, for employees to work harder on fe...
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.
Google+ Pro Tips Round Up: Week 8
It's been an eventful week for Google+. Facebook decided to up its game and start rolling out several major updates intended to address privacy concerns. We got a glimpse into the future of Google+ via an insightful discussion between +Bradley Horowitz and +Tim O'Reilly. And Google decided to integrate the +1 button more fully with Google+ by allowing users to share directly from the +1 button. That's not all, though—scroll down for more news & updates that occurred in the past week.
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.
DEBUNKED: 3 Viral Google+ Myths
It's only been a few weeks, and already there are a lot of misconceptions and myths floating around Google+. Let's take a deep breath, and tackle some of the more prominent ones.
News: Google's Bradley Horowitz Discusses State of Google+ with Tim O'Reilly
Yesterday, Google's VP of Product Management, +Bradley Horowitz, sat down with founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, +Tim O'Reilly, to discuss Google+, its future, and where it's headed. You can watch the hour-long video here: I wasn't able to find a transcript for this video, but O'Reilly has helpfully rounded up some of the more interesting points.
News: 10 Chrome Extensions to Jumpstart Your Google+ Wishlist
Are you finding that the Google+ features you've been waiting for are still not rolling out quickly enough for you? Although we've provided many solutions to Google+ issues with different Chrome extensions, it still seems like it's not enough. Now that we've been using Google+ for almost two months, our priorities have changed, and we're finding that we want and need different extensions to make Google+ work better. From filtering to circles, these Google+ Chrome extensions will solve many of...
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: Photographer Brings Google+ to the Real World with Photowalk
In a gesture to bring the social qualities of Google+ into the real world, photographer +Trey Ratcliff invited his Google+ followers to join him on a photowalk this past Thursday, held on the Stanford University campus. Over 150 people showed up to take pictures with fellow Googlers and Google+ users, and to socialize in "real life". This group photo was taken by professional photographer +Peter Adams.
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.
Google+ Pro Tips Round-Up: Week 3
Now that you can invite anyone you want to Google+, the floodgates are open. If you've been bummed out about not being able to share the joys of Google+ with your friends and acquaintances, make use of that handy envelope icon the right side of your stream page. Just enter the email addresses of the people you want to invite, and hit the "Invite" button.
How To: Subscribe to Google+ Users with Google Reader
If you're like me, you don't do a lot of web browsing anymore. I subscribe to my favorite blogs' feeds and read them via Google Reader. It's one of my favorite Google products, for a lot of reasons. I can keep up with most of my web activities in one tab, and follow along with my favorite blogs, Flickr photos, and Twitter. I can share instantly with people who follow me, and see what other people have shared with me. I hope that Google+ will integrate well with Google Reader, because it alrea...
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: 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: 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: 7 Talented Web Comic Artists to Follow on Google+
The visual beauty of images on Google+ means that it's not just a great place for photographers to shine, but also serves as a befitting promotional space for web comic artists. Below, 7 talented individuals who have utilized the Google+ platform.
Social Network Wars, Part 2: Google+ vs Facebook
As Google+ hums along, releasing new updates and unveiling new features every few days, Facebook seems to be in panic mode. Every week, they've been revealing new features that seem suspiciously similar to Google+.
It's Official: Games Arrive on Google+
Today, +Vic Gundotra made it official and announced the launch of games within Google+. It's starting to roll out, and Google+ members will eventually see a link to the Games button at the top of their streams.
News: The Google+ API Has Finally Launched with Read-Only Public Data
Google+ launched their API for public data today. For now it provides read-only access to public data in the form of People & Activities. Here are some links to get you started:
How To: How Businesses Can Prepare for Google+
WonderHowTo welcomes guest contributor, +Ryan Crowe - formerly the man behind GPlusTips. Crowe will be providing tips and tricks on how to use Google+ in interesting and innovative ways, and the self-proclaimed Google+ User Experience Enthusiast is nearly ready to launch a website examining social interaction on Google+ called SocioloG+.
News: Google+ Ignites Controversy with Suggested Users List
You wouldn't think that something so simple as a "suggested users" list would create so much controversy, but Google+ seemed to have accidentally ignited a firestorm when they introduced a new feature over the weekend: the "Suggested People to Follow" list now appears when a new user joins Google+.
News: Cooking on Google+ with the Social Skillet: Interview with Eric McKee
On Google+, one of the very first creative projects using the popular hangout feature revolved around cooking. Foodies +Lee Allison and +Eric McKee decided to start their own "G+ Cooking School", which has now expanded into the Social Skillet. Although neither have formal training, they're both quite accomplished cooks and skilled instructors. Using hangouts, they've taught their students how to create dishes like margherita pizzas and chicken marsala.
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+.