6 Steps to Getting Started With Google+

By Marc Pitman
Published January 11, 2012

Are you thinking of using Google+?

This article will explain why Google+ should be considered and show you how to get started.

Why Google+?

Google+ has quickly become a rival social network to Facebook.

People who like Google+ say they like the clean, non-cluttered presentation of their information. They like how easy Google makes it to protect their privacy. (It may not be any less invasive than Facebook, but at least Google makes it seem easy to get back all of your information.)

Google+ has had a growth rate much faster than that of Facebook or Twitter. More importantly, where Facebook and Twitter try to get you to be on their site, many millions of people are already on Google’s sites: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Reader and YouTube to name a few.

Google is rolling out a navigation system across these products that subtly and effectively promotes Google+. The next time you go to Google, even the Google home page, look for the black bar at the top. Then look in the upper-left corner and you’ll see a button that says “You+.” That’s where you get started on Google+.

Once you’re started, Google+ is literally in your face. If you use a tool like Gmail, you’ll see a red notifications box alerting you to any update to your posts or posts you’ve interacted with! It’s really easy to check them without even leaving the page.

As if that weren’t enough, Google’s search is now using the +1 button (the Google+ version of a Facebook “Like”) to help influence its search results. You’ll see more and more blogs now adding Google+ “+1″ buttons to the existing Facebook and Twitter buttons.

Here are six easy steps to get you started on the right foot.

#1: Sign up

As Maria said in The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning.” You need to register for a Google+ profile. But that’s pretty easy, especially if you’re already using Gmail. (You are using Gmail, right?)

#2: Upload avatars

As with any social network, one of the very first things you want to do is get rid of the default profile image by adding some of your own images. It’s best to add pictures of yourself, not logos of your business. You can create a business page later; right now you’re creating a personal profile.

Because your profile picture will mostly be seen as a tiny 32 x 32 pixel image, it’s best to use your face. Also, be sure to use an image that looks good as a square.

Bonus tip: Upload more than one profile image.

Google+ is filled with cool animation designs, and one of them happens on your profile. If you have more than one profile picture, each time you click on the image, it will flip to the next one. This is a little-known feature, but looks pretty cool in action.

#3: Include interesting information in your bio

Google is first and foremost a search engine, so it helps to fill out your “about” page as completely as possible. Google will use this to help other people connect with you on Google+ and in other Google searches.

If you already have fleshed out your Google+ profile, this section will be pre-filled for you. But take a look at it to see if this represents you the way you want it to.

Bonus tip #1: Use Wordle to check your profile.

Here is an easy way to see if your profile is presenting you the way you want it to. Copy all of the text in your “about” section and paste it into the box at Wordle. If the words look like what you want to present, you’re all set!

Bonus tip #2: A useful glitch in your profile.

The next time you’re on Google+, try hovering over people’s names. Do you notice how some people have lots of text describing what they do and some have very little?

If you just want your company name to show, you need to do nothing. But try experimenting. (For an example of a lot of text, hover over the profile picture at https://plus.google.com/113554137555104994520/posts. Rob decided to put all of his work experience in the “company” field marked “current.”)

#4: Fill up your links

While you’re editing your “about” page, be sure to pay attention to the “other profiles” section. Here is a list of some links to consider including:

• Links to other social media networks
• Links to your business sites
• Links to special pages on your website

#5: Look for interesting people

If you’re not following people, Google+ can be a boring, barren wasteland. So start circling all sorts of people who seem interesting. The search field in Google+ keeps getting better. Here are some ways to find interesting folk:

• Search for people with the same occupation
• Search for people interested in the same cause communities
• Search for people with the same hobbies

Bonus tip: Search for shared circles.

A quick way to find lots of interesting people is to import other people’s circles. As people share circles, you can incorporate those circles into your existing circles or into a new separate circle.

But you might be waiting a long time to see a “shared circle” show up in your stream. To jumpstart this, simply search on the term “shared a circle with you.” This pulls up the shared circles. You can add a term to narrow those shared circles to ones you find interesting.

#6: Play around

Nothing helps you get started better than spending some time on Google+. In addition to following people, be sure to +1 their posts and comment on them. Try resharing posts to specific circles of people. Experiment with hangouts.

Play with the type of posts they share on Google+. Some people are simply reposting their blog links. Others are finding Google+ to be a phenomenal tool for sharing pictures and videos.

In a recent discussion on experimenting with different types of posts, Wendy, director of social strategy for the American Red Cross, said she was “trying out a ‘no links to RedCross.org or posts specifically promoting Red Cross campaigns’ approach on the Red Cross Google+ brand page. We’ll see how it goes! I think it’s important to offer something different on each platform.”

Play around with it and see what works for you.

Give Yourself a Head Start

Anything worth learning takes time. And Google+ is definitely worth learning. So give yourself some time. Using these 6 steps will definitely shorten your learning curve!

After you’ve gotten familiar with Google+ as a person, then repeat the process in making a Google+ page for your business!

What do you think? What other “getting started” steps would you include?

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12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert

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If you’re like me, you probably use Google many times a day.  But, chances are, unless you are a technology geek, you probably still use Google in its simplest form.  If your current use of Google is limited to typing a few words in, and changing your query until you find what you’re looking for, then I’m here to tell you that there’s a better way – and it’s not hard to learn.  On the other hand, if you are a technology geek, and can use Google like the best of them already, then I suggest you bookmark this article of Google search tips.  You’ll then have the tips on hand when you are ready to pull your hair out in frustration when watching a neophyte repeatedly type in basic queries in a desperate attempt to find something.

The following Google search tips are based on my own experience and things that I actually find useful.  The list is by no means comprehensive.  But, I assure you that by learning and using the 12 tips below, you’ll rank up there with the best of the Google experts out there.  I’ve kept the descriptions of the search tips intentionally terse as you’re likely to grasp most of these simply by looking at the example from Google anyways.

12 Expert Google Search Tips

1. Explicit Phrase:
   Lets say you are looking for content about internet marketing.  Instead of just typing internet marketing into the Google search box, you will likely be better off searching explicitly for the phrase.  To do this, simply enclose the search phrase within double quotes.

   Example: "internet marketing"

2. Exclude Words:
   Lets say you want to search for content about internet marketing, but you want to exclude any results that contain the term advertising.  To do this, simply use the "-" sign in front of the word you want to exclude.

   Example Search: internet marketing -advertising

3. Site Specific Search:
   Often, you want to search a specific website for content that matches a certain phrase.  Even if the site doesn’t support a built-in search feature, you can use Google to search the site for your term. Simply use the "site:somesite.com" modifier.

   Example: "internet marketing" site:www.smallbusinesshub.com

4. Similar Words and Synonyms:
   Let’s say you want to include a word in your search, but want to include results that contain similar words or synonyms.  To do this, use the "~" in front of the word.

   Example: "internet marketing" ~professional

5. Specific Document Types:
   If you’re looking to find results that are of a specific type, you can use the modifier "filetype:".  For example, you might want to find only PowerPoint presentations related to internet marketing.

   Example: "internet marketing" filetype:ppt

6. This OR That:
   By default, when you do a search, Google will include all the terms specified in the search.  If you are looking for any one of one or more terms to match, then you can use the OR operator.  (Note: The OR has to be capitalized).

   Example: internet marketing OR advertising

7. Phone Listing:
   Let’s say someone calls you on your mobile number and you don’t know who it is.  If all you have is a phone number, you can look it up on Google using the phonebook feature.

   Example: phonebook:            617-555-1212       (note: the provided number does not work – you’ll have to use a real number to get any results).

8. Area Code Lookup:
   If all you need to do is to look-up the area code for a phone number, just enter the 3-digit area code and Google will tell you where it’s from.

   Example: 617

9. Numeric Ranges:
   This is a rarely used, but highly useful tip.  Let’s say you want to find results that contain any of a range of numbers.  You can do this by using the X..Y modifier (in case this is hard to read, what’s between the X and Y are two periods.)  This type of search is useful for years (as shown below), prices, or anywhere where you want to provide a series of numbers.

   Example: president 1940..1950

10. Stock (Ticker Symbol):
    Just enter a valid ticker symbol as your search term and Google will give you the current financials and a quick thumb-nail chart for the stock.

    Example: GOOG

11. Calculator:
    The next time you need to do a quick calculation, instead of bringing up the Calculator applet, you can just type your expression in to Google.

    Example: 48512 * 1.02

12. Word Definitions:
    If you need to quickly look up the definition of a word or phrase, simply use the "define:" command.

    Example: define:plethora

Hope this list of Google search tips proves useful in your future Google searches.  If there are any of your favorite Google expert power tips that I’ve missed, please feel free to share them in the comments

Read more: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/1264/12-Quick-Tips-To-Search-Google-Like-An-Expert.aspx#ixzz1fuHv6bj0

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La estrategia de Google + para alcanzar a Facebook

4 octubre 2011

La llegada de Google + ha acelerado los cambios en las redes sociales. En apenas un mes Facebook ha incluido tantas opciones nuevas que están despistando incluso a sus propios usuarios. He aquí un listado de algunas de las novedades: un timeline donde filtramos nuestras publicaciones, mostrar en el muro las “historias más recientes junto con los titulares“, escuchar el spotify compartiendo tus gustos musicales, etc… Mientras tanto Google + continúa su batalla por ganar usuarios que, según los últimos datos, alcanza los 50 millones.
 
Recapitulemos, en abril Google lanzaba su botón +1, un clon del “me gusta” de Facebook que nos sirve para promocionar contenidos de una web y potenciar los resultados en el buscador, mejorando su posicionamiento orgánico en las búsquedas realizadas en Google. Toda una apuesta que la compañía de Mark Zuckerberg miró con recelo ya que anticipaba una amenaza a su monopolio del “me gusta”. Las sospechas estaban totalmente justificadas ya que a finales de junio Google presentaba su propia red social, denominada Google + , y esta vez no pensaba equivocarse como ocurrió con Buzz, su anterior propuesta. Prácticamente una semana después Facebook preparaba su contraataque, aunque tímidamente.

En Profesor Bot trasteamos con Google + y nos gustó. Su estructura de contactos basados en círculos organizados por la tipología del contacto se diferenciaba de la gestión de contactos de Facebook, mucho menos usable en este sentido. Además la administración de los círculos es sencilla e intuitiva, pudiendo incluir cada contacto en un círculo e incluso duplicar el mismo contacto en varios círculos (por ejemplo un contacto puede estar en “amigos” y “trabajo”). Y todo ello con el modelo “drag an drop”.

Si Google había utilizado su producto estrella, el buscador, para familiarizarnos con los botones +1, para que sus usuarios empezasen a trastear con Google + utilizó otro de sus productos punteros, Gmail. Más de 220 millones de buzones Gmail se encontraron con un “+ Tu” en el menù superior que informaba de la existencia de la nueva red social. Aunque en un principio la participación en la red se ofertó por invitación, a mediados de julio ya contaba con 10 millones de perfiles, un excelente dato en apenas un mes de funcionamiento.

Pero Google no tiene freno y el siguiente servicio donde publicitó su incipiente red social fue Youtube. Google+ Hangouts (más conocido como quedadas) apareció en el servicio de vídeos de Google a mediados de agosto. Básicamente se trata de una herramienta que permite compartir con nuestra red de contactos Google + el vídeo que estamos visualizando en ese momento. También a mediados de agosto fueron presentados los juegos de Google +, un negocio que ha funcionado bastante bien en Facebook y que ahora desembarca en un competidor de renombre.

Y llegamos a septiembre, cuando Google decide suprimir las invitaciones y lanzar el servicio en abierto. Al mismo tiempo presenta más novedades como las mejoras en el Hangout y la integración del buscador Google en Google +.

La estrategia de Google está funcionando, más de 50 millones de perfiles avalan su buen hacer en esta red social. De hecho incluso se ha registrado un incremento del uso del Gmail asociado a Google +.

La última apuesta de la compañía de Larry Page y Sergey Brin ha sido la opción de “compartir círculos” entre contactos. Una utilidad que no acabamos de comprender ya que, siendo privados los nombres de los círculos, desconocemos la tipología de contactos que están compartiendo con nosotros. Quizás sea una manera de “viralizar los contactos” de Google +, aunque nosotros preferimos los llamados “Circle Sundays”, similar a los FF de Twitter.

¿Y el futuro? Google presentará nuevas funcionalidades como Google Experts (un clon de Yahoo Answers), un “muro” estilo Facebook donde publicar en los perfiles de nuestros contactos, integración de Google Voice, etc…

La batalla continúa su curso, los avances son tan rápidos que corremos el riesgo de perder el hilo entre tantas nuevas opciones. Atrás quedan los cambios graduales y puntuales de Facebook, en su lugar asistimos a una continua cascada de novedades que pretenden acercarnos a la “red social idílica de infinitas posibilidades”. Seguiremos informando.

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Google+ no es un website

Ya está.

Se acabó.

Google+ era un bluff.

Catástrofe!

Volvamos a la realidad mientras esperamos un nuevo juguete al que podamos acceder por invitación.

(…)

Creo, y me aventuro con esta, que esto no ha hecho más que empezar, que la estrategia de Google+ no pasa por agregar usuarios en un único espacio. Hace unos meses comentaba que su potencial residía en abrirse a otros espacios. Ahora, viendo sus patrones de uso, creo aún más en esta dirección.

Google no necesita agregar audiencias, ya las tiene en torno a otros espacios. Lo que necesita es generar nuevos puntos de contacto integrándose en otros espacios de Internet (blogs, websites y portales) donde actualmente no está. Y para eso desarrolla una sencilla (y creciente) serie de herramientas que permitan a sus propietarios socializar y sacar el contenido de sus propios espacios.

Y así todos ganarán:

- El usuario dispondrá de información más afín y la posibilidad de sociabilizar sus acciones con un mínimo esfuerzo.

- El espacio digital (blog, site, app, etc.) podrá salir de sus fronteras de la mano de sus usuarios alcanzando nuevas audiencias.

- Y Google perfecciona sus productos existentes (búsqueda social, etc.) creando nuevas posibilidades de monetización.

Una vez más Google evitará caer en aplicar un modelo de negocio existente para sacar mayor rendimiento a los deseos de todas las partes.

Y es que Google+ no será un web site, sino que la red será “más” Google que nunca.

Google+ no está muerto, está incubando…

pepetome.com por Pepe Tomé está licenciado bajo Creative Commons >> Reconocimiento-No comercial-Compartir bajo la misma licencia Internacional.

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Google+ es un servicio para usar la identidad real

Eric Schmidt responde a las críticas por los cierres de perfiles en esta red social por llevar un nombre falso

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5 Free Tools for Recording Google+ Hangouts

1 day ago by Amy-Mae Elliott

Google+ Hangouts are proving one of the most popular features of the new social networking service, but there’s no built-in option to record them.

Until Google adds such functionality, we’ve found five workarounds to help you record your next Hangout — free. While we’d strongly suggest any G+ pros invest in specialist software, our solutions will suffice for capturing consumer Hangouts and offer easy sharing options, too.

Sigue...

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