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.
Over the weekend, Google made several updates to the Google+ profile. Here's how to make the most out of old and new features to make your profile page shine.
This infographic from SingleGrain aptly and succinctly describes the primary differences between Facebook and Google+. Which social network will reign supreme?
If you want more people to follow you on Google+, you'll have to work for it. Not everyone can be +Tom Anderson or +Robert Scoble overnight, you know.
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.
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.
Ok, serious question here: is +Zach Katz even old enough to be on Google+? This rap tells you all you need to know about Google+, and also tells us that...well, not a lot of people actually know what Google+ is.
As Google+ became available to more people, it started running into issues of accounts being suspended due to names that did not sound "real". According to Google+'s community standards, names that users "commonly go by" were encouraged, but not pseudonyms. Those who were using pseudonyms in their Google+ profiles quickly found themselves suspended from using 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+.
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.
Like Facebook, Google+ is a great platform for sharing and viewing photographs. Many talented photographers have already uploaded their portfolios, and in addition to easy album sharing, Google+ offers something Facebook does not—simple editing features for enhancing your photos upon uploading. Below, how to instantly upload via smartphone, plus a quick run through of the basic editing tools available.
Confirmed! Those of you who have been waiting (or dreading) the announcement of social games in Google+ can now look forward to them showing up in your stream. The anticipated games have yet to show up, but Google has confirmed that APIs will be made available for third party developers to access Google+, much like Facebook allows them.
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...
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!
There's a lot of talk going around about Google's new social network and how it's heavily influenced by Facebook, but truth be told, how could they build Google+ without taking a note
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 ...
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.
An interesting take on Google+. Follow along as PC World editor Tony Bradley uses Google+ for 30 days, and read about his (mis)adventures. I really, really wish that the PC World's articles were less cluttered, though. It was really difficult to find the first post.
Enable multi-accounts in your Google profiles Change the number in your Google+ URL
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.
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.
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+.
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.
+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+.
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.
From cooking shows to concerts, people have been finding all sorts of creative uses for Google+ hangouts. But what about something a little more basic? What if you could watch YouTube live streams with your friends?
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.
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.
+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+:
I was going to update the first list of 15 Brilliant Google+ Female Photographers to Circle, but then I kept coming across so many amazing women that I decided to create another post highlighting their work. I received many great suggestions from +Kelli Seeger Kim (who takes some beautiful pictures herself), +Suzanne Haggerty, Google+ Photos Community Manager +Brian Rose, and many others.
If you're a psychologist or neuroscientist who's using Google+, you should add yourself to this list. Likewise, if you know a brilliant psychologist or neuroscientist on Google+, you should add them to this list. Don't forget to add what they specialize in.
Google+ Profiles Product Manager +Frances Haugen is working on a simple roll brim baby hat inspired by the Google +1 button. It looks like it'll be very cute. She's looking for advice on what to knit the hat out of, and whether she should do it differently. Check out the pattern below:
One of the biggest complaints people had about Google+ was comments on popular people's posts taking over their streams. Today Google addresses those issues by rolling out the ability to collapse and expand comments. +Jonathan Terleski explains the simplicity of the function - click once to expand, click again to collapse. Check out how the collapsed comments work in the screenshots below. It's as simple as clicking an arrow.
Check into this spreadsheet from +Kimberly Johnson if you want to participate in a Google+ usability study! Although right now it's only open to people in the Bay Area, you can still sign up fo the phone study. Onsite participants get an American Express gift card.
Joseph Smarr talks to O'Reilly about lessons learned from Google+, including sharing, the API, the pseudonyms issue, etc. This interview was really fascinating.
Want to really promote your Google+ dedication? Add the Google+ strip to your profile in seconds.
A Google+ depository for: browser and standalone applications and extensions, icon packs and other resources by Graham Smith
Just funnies floating around
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.
