Wednesday, June 13, 2012

some thoughts about Google+

There were a lot of posts about Google+ back in the spring when they took Google Friend Connect (GFC) away for non-Blogger blogs and started encouraging people to move everything Google+.  Like many people, I was skeptical about yet another social media account and reluctant to jump on board.  However, now that I've been using it for a few months, I have some genuine positive aspects to share as well as some other thoughts.

The Google+ feed is full of quality content.
I have really tried to keep up with Twitter, but I just haven't ever found the energy to sort through that huge feed every day.  The past year I have lost almost all patience with the Facebook feed.  I love being able to keep in touch with people through the site, but the newsfeed makes me want to scream.  Nope, I don't want to see all 500 of your engagement photos.  Nope, your 20th 30 second video this week of your baby crawling is not any different than the first one (or second...or third...).  And no one cares that you checked in to a restaurant that you eat lunch at 3 times a week for the 12th time this month.  Most of the time, I just head straight to a specific group or person's page and skip all of the self-indulgent updates.

Thus far, that hasn't been the case with Google+.  Most people only post 1-2 articles or blog posts every day.  Either it's their own content or it's something that thought was worth sharing with others.  It's not too overwhelming to browse through a single page or two of quality content that I may actually want to read and share.

Google+ has allowed my online worlds to cross a little.
I have a lot of Google+ friends from Etsy and from HubPages.  Having all of my content from both sites on Google+ allows the friends from one to see the content from the other.  As you can see from the above screen shots, I frequently get comments from HubPages friends about Etsy content and vice versa.  It's really great to see that happen.  This can happen on Facebook and Twitter, but it's been happening much more frequently on Google+ than anywhere else thus far.

Google+ makes it really easy to share content.
I'm glad that Google jumped right on board with Facebook and Twitter (and now Pinterest) to create an easy share button.  It's great to be able to +1 blog posts, articles, and other content throughout the day without having to jump over to the site.  Now if they just join up with Hootsuite or one of the other streaming programs, my world will be complete.

One thing to consider about Google+.
Most likely this will not be an issue for most people, but it was something that came up in a HubPages group this month.  For people who write 2-3 blog posts or long-term earning articles (like HubPages articles) a day, you have to be careful about how often you share your own content.  If you post your own content too often, Google may consider it spam and start ranking it lower in their search results.  This doesn't mean that you should quit using Google+ altogether, but you'll need to pick and choose what you post.

What have your experiences been with Google+ the past few months?  Feel free to share the pros and cons.

16 comments:

  1. I like it because as you said, it's so easy to +1 stuff from everywhere. It's easier for me to scan posts, as you said. I share a lot, actually more of the stuff of others, along with mine. Twitter is virtually useless to me because of what you said. I stopped using FB for my creative pursuits, and now only use it for family. The interface was just too complicated and cluttered and I just didn't want that for my visitors. I did have one friend, a web developer, post that he hates G+1 and is going back to spending time at FB. Thanks for a great post.

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  2. Oh my goodness...there I go again....what the heck is Google+?! Sheesh, I really gotta keep up with this stuff...it is killing me by not!!!

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  3. I haven't been on Google+ long, but for some reason I keep forgetting to update there as well.
    I'm on Twitter most mornings and evenings. I get a lot of views to my shop from there!

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  4. I've been hesitant to join Google+, but like you said, the Facebook feed (especially my personal one) is crowded with self-indulgent posts and a lot of first-world problems that are almost embarrassing to read (oh, you want to kill yourself because your iPhone battery died, really!?!?!)

    Plus I have had to unsubscribe from so many people because of hostile political and/or religious postings. I rarely go on my personal feed anymore, it makes me too depressed regarding society's future. I usually only head to Facebook to check my business page.

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  5. Since I am a "personal" user and have no business or anything else to promote I found Google+ kinda useless - no one I knew knew what to do with it and since we were already on FB - it didn't seem relevant. I use FB to keep track of a few on-line friends and business pages that are relevant to me..otherwise I'm not a big FB user either. Twitter is a total waste of time - I can't follow anything that goes on there...I've been on-line for 16+ years now and I've seen a lot of stuff come and go, and I hate to sound like the old fart that I am but I liked it better in the old days LOL

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  6. Interesting. I've been considering Google+ for a while since I love gmail and blogger, etc.

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  7. Thanks for this information, I never really knew what Google+ was all about.

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  8. Interesting! I haven't spent much time on Google+ yet, other than sharing my posts for those that follow my blog on it. I'll have to give it another chance.

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  9. I haven't tried it. I checked it out and felt overwhelmed by the prospect of another site and just too tired to figure out all the nuts and bolts. It is a good review and I like how you shared how you use it with facebook and hubpages.

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  10. I didn't know that last bit about posting your own content. I usually only jump on to post my blog post & sometimes a giveaway each day, and scroll my feed a bit. I haven't worked too hard with scouting people to add in my circles, but now that FB is leaving a bad taste in my mouth I just might work harder with this.

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  11. Google+ is just another one of those things that I really don't get. I've had twitter, facebook google+ and others and I just find them pretty much a waste of my time. Of course I might feel differently if I were selling something. Then I could see how they might be helpful to me

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  12. Dear Rose, It is hard to keep up with all of the different social networks but I do try. blessings, Catherine

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  13. Great review! I like that it seems to connect everything in one place. I haven't signed up yet, but you made it very tempting :)

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  14. I haven't tried Google+ yet nor do I have a gmail account yet (yeah, I'm the last remaining one) but I appreciate this review as it's been very helpful. Thanks Rose!

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  15. I really try to like G+ but I can't seem to get it going. At the moment my G+ is kind of quiet, with not much conversation going on but I'd like to see it lively like Leo Babauta's for example :D

    You are 100% right about quality! I wish I could migrate to it completely!

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  16. I also like Google+ more that Facebook and Twitter! I've come to realize that Google has a great way of gathering all their applications and making it very handy to use, including Google+! One thing I love is being able to take photos with my smartphone. They will automatically upload to Google+; then you can pick which one to show on Google+, what to save for later - even download them onto your desktop. It was very handy when I was away from my desk! {:-D

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