Thursday Review—What is Your Most Favorite and Least Favorite Social Media Network & Why?

Today I want to go a different direction and propose a question rather than post my opinion. There are lots of things to like and social media, and lots of things that make us uncomfortable. We all have differing personality types and I think this is the perfect opportunity to learn how we can communicate better. By sharing what we like, and what we don't, I believe we'll be able to interact more efficiently.


Just to get the conversation started, I'll give you a few of my opinions.


My favorite network is Twitter. For me it's a no-brainer. I can interact with people in short bursts, connecting without losing large chunks of time. Also, I tend to like short, pithy statements, and Twitter is the perfect medium for that.


I also like Google Plus because I like the way it's set up. It works like my mind, grouping people into circles like friends, family and work associates. I also like that I have a lot of control over who I get updates from.

What I don't like about Google+ is that a lot of my contacts aren't active there. But the worst thing is that I can't access it from Hootsuite yet. I know the folks at Hootsuite are working toward that, but Google+ is the hold-up because they don't want to overload their network. I respect that, but it's still frustrating to have to hope back and forth between Google+ and Hootsuite all day.


Facebook is still frustrating for me, less than it used to be, but still a fairly significant irritant. I don't like the way professional pages are set up to only have large updates from the owner of the page. If someone goes on a page and posts something it shows up in a smaller feed on the right of the screen. To me, it makes a page look like, ME, ME, ME. And I really hate that!


I also don't like how I can't get everyone's updates in my Facebook feed on my profile page. I have to designate each person I want to get every post from. That's just not practical for me with the number of friends I have.


Okay, enough about me. Hopefully I've given you some things to jump start the conversation. Now it's your turn to chime in. Feel free to comment about any network, and ask questions, too.


Don't forget to join the conversation!
Blessings,
Edie

Google Plus, Part Three—Privacy Settings

Today we’ll continue with our exploration of Google+. If you’ve missed the either of the first two posts, you can click here or here and catch up.

One of the biggest complaints I hear about Social Networks is confusion about privacy settings. Frequently this confusion can leave users exposed without even knowing it. Google+ gives the user the opportunity to customize many settings in a straight forward manner and bypass the confusion.

To begin, go to your Google+ home page (click on the HOME icon).

Now, click on your name. It’s in the upper right of the screen – on the black menu bar. This will activate a drop-down menu. The bottom choice on the menu is PRIVACY. Click on this.

Now you’re in the privacy settings page.

The first tab you want to consider is your visibility to search engines. On the right side of the screen you’ll see a light gray box with EDIT VISIBILITY ON PROFILE written in it. Click on this and it will take you to your profile page.

At the bottom of the page you’ll see, PROFILE DISCOVERY, after that, you’ll see one of two things:

PROFILE VISIBLE IN SEARCH

Or PROFILE NOT VISIBLE IN SEARCH

For writers, I recommend you make certain your profile is visible in search.

Privacy and Circles

With the circles in Google+ you have the option of different circles, family, friends, acquaintances, etc. There may be times when it’s appropriate to share things with family or close friends, that you don’t want shared with business associates or acquaintances. You manage that setting every time you post information (a picture, link, post, etc). This may seem like a lot of work, but it’s actually a really good fail safe for your privacy. Each time you post, you can decide who you want to see what you’ve written.

SPECIAL NOTE: There is an automatic default with this setting. When you post something to your stream (your feed) and you designate who can see the post, Google+ will remember this setting and default to it when you post again unless you change it.

It is possible to set your privacy settings to let the friends in your circles be visible only to other friends or to the entire web. To do this, click on the gray box that says, EDIT NETWORK VISIBILITY.

This will take you to your profile page. Once there, the entire screen will gray out and an active box will pop up on the left hand side of your screen.

The first option on the box is IN YOUR CIRCLES.

You’ll see the heading, SHOW PEOPLE IN, and you can check this box and decide which (or all) circles to show.

Below that is WHO CAN SEE THIS.

You have the option to either check,

ANYONE ON THE WEB

Or YOUR CIRCLES

I recommend you only choose YOUR CIRCLES.

Below that is the option to make yourself invisible in someone else’s profile. Unless you’re a celebrity, I recommend you do NOT make yourself invisible. Showing up in someone else’s profile is a great way to network and make new contacts.

SPECIAL NOTE: Remember, with Google+ only you know the specific names of your circles and who you’ve added to each one.  

There are other settings you can tweak on this page, but these are the major settings you need to be concerned with. Now it’s your turn, what questions do you have?

And don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings

Edie

Thursday Review—Google Plus Part Two—Circles are the Key Difference in This Social Network

The Advantages of Circles

Google+ has given us more control over how we classify our networks through circles. We don’t simply have to “friend" someone or “follow” them. With this network we can decide when, where and how we interact with them.

For me this difference is key and it’s intuitive. At least for me, I already group the people I interact with into categories. True, some fit in multiple categories, but even that is possible with Google+ Circles.

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, Google+ comes with some default categories for circles. I started with those, but almost immediately began branching out. Now I have fun with it. I have a circle for besties (a complete girl term), buds and even terminally boring. And the greatest part is no one knows the category I’ve put them in.

So let’s back up and I’ll tell you how to operate your circles.

Go to your Google+ page and click on the Circle Icon.

You’ll see several clickable links under the standard icons:

• People in Your Circles.
• People Who've Added You.
• Find People.

Click on Find People and the list of names below these will increase. You can also include people from other address books.

To add someone to a named circle, just drag and drop them inside the circle. If you want to start a new circle, add them to the unnamed circle. You can click on that circle and name it at any time.  

If you click on a circle you can rename it or remove people from it. To remove someone just drag and drop them outside the circle.

Privacy Note:

To decide who can see the people you have in circles or those who have put you in their circles, click on the Profile Icon.

On the left side of the screen you’ll see the words:

Change Who is Visible Here

Click on these words and it will bring up your options. I keep all my contacts visible because even though other can see who my contacts are, no one can see which circle I put someone in except me.

It’s totally up to you how you set this up. I like to find new contacts by searching who others have in their circles, but that’s just my preference.

This should give you enough to work with until we meet again on Tuesday. I recommend you take some time and become familiar with the different options on the circles screen. But be careful about creating too many circles. Keeping things simple helps keep things easy.

Be sure to post any questions you have.

And…don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Learn Google Plus—Part One

I know a lot of you have heard me sing the praises of Google Plus.

Today I’m beginning a tutorial for those of you who aren’t familiar with it. We’re going to take it slow, to give you time to get fully acquainted with it. Feel free to post questions as we go along. We’ll learn together.

So let’s get started!

First, go to https://plus.google.com/ to sign up, or view your account.

Once there, you need to fill in your profile. Most important—upload a photo. Remember, only spammers and newbies don’t have a profile photo online.

Now you'll notice a line with five icons that you’ll need to become familiar with.

• The first looks like a house and it’s your HOME key.
• The second looks like an old fashioned Polaroid photo and it’s the PHOTO tab. This is where you can upload or view photos.
• The third is a circle with a head inside it. This is your PROFILE button. When you click this you go to your profile. When you want to change your profile you click this button then the EDIT PROFILE button.
• The fourth is three interlocking circles and this represents your CIRCLES. Circles are the way you categorize and organize your friends and acquaintances. It’s what makes Google + different from Facebook. You don’t have to have different accounts to keep everyone separate—you only have to put them in different circles.
• The fifth icon is a GAMES icon and, unless you’re a game player, I don’t recommend you bother with this tab.

Today we’ll concentrate on your profile.

I’m going to share a trick to upload a full bio that shows up when someone hovers over your avatar (your picture). This is important because it gives others more information about you than just a quick description.

Click on your PROFILE button and then your EDIT PROFILE.

• Upload a photo.
• Give a quick introduction about who you are.
• Fill in your occupation.

Now here’s the cool trick. 

Click on the first box under employment. Copy and paste an abbreviated bio into that box (about 150 – 200 words). Make sure the CURRENT box is checked. This allows anyone who hovers over your avatar to see your entire bio. This cool trick is courtesy of Mashable (http://mashable.com/2011/07/26/google-plus-tips-tricks/#214431-Add-More-Info-to-Your-Profile-PopUp-Window)

I also recommend you fill in the following fields

• Your email address.
• Your nickname (if different from your legal name).
• Profile discovery—if you’re trying to work as a freelance writer or get known as an author you need to make your profile discovery PROFILE VISIBLE IN ANY SEARCH.

Here’s a quick note about circles.

Google + comes with several default circles:

• Friends.
• Family.
• Acquaintances.
• Following. 

You can also create any custom circles you wish.

And...you can add people to more than one circle.

And…you don’t have to let anyone know what circle they’ve been assigned to!

Okay, that’s enough for one session. I recommend you take the plunge and begin to get familiar with Google +. Use the comment section of this blog to post any questions and we’ll continue this later this week.

And be sure to add me to one of your circles!

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Facebook Changes and How it Affects Users

I have to admit, the title of this post, along with the truth it reflects, just makes me tired. It has become almost a full-time job just trying to keep up with Facebook changes. So why is Facebook rolling out so many new changes and tweaks? In my opinion, it’s because of Google Plus. Those who developed Google + have addressed some of the major headaches associated with Facebook. Now Facebook is in a desperate game of catch-up. Personally, I think they’re fighting a losing battle. I already prefer Google + in its simplicity and ease of use.

BUT, we have to remember that the majority of our audience is still active on Facebook. Because of that we need to continue to have a Facebook presence and today I’ll try to help you navigate some of the changes they’ve instituted.

First, there is no longer an Edit Page button on your profile page. This left me totally confused until I accidently clicked on my name to the right of my profile picture and discovered that led me to another page with editing options.

Second, Facebook is starting something new with Timelines. This is good for advertisers, but iffy—at best—for the rest of us. Now, in various places on the web, you’ll have the option to give permission for that site to add this or post to your Timeline. Translated, this means anything you do on that website will be reported on Facebook. For example, if you’re reading the Huffington Post site and give permission for it to post to your timeline, your Facebook followers will know EVERY article you click (or accidently) click on. Can you see the possibilities for embarrassment? Even without potentially embarrassing scenarios, it’s very invasive.

Third, the way we interact with friends. In the past, all of our friends have shown up equally in our Facebook feed. Now, Facebook is deciding who we want to hear from—without asking our opinion! There is no way to set, updates from all. Now we must subscribe to our friends and tell Facebook how often we want to see them in our feed.

Fourth, hiding posts. It used to be possible to just hide certain posts. Now we must unsubscribe to that particular story. And in some cases we don’t have that option, only the option of unsubscribing to that individual.

Needless to say, this isn’t all the changes made to Facebook. I’d have to write a book to cover them all, and then they’d be obsolete by the time it was published. Be sure to let me know any questions you have about the most recent changes and I'll see if I can find the answer.

Just don't forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Thursday Review—Google Plus

Have you heard the hype? Google is out to change the world—or at least the online part of it. Chances are, if you’re connected at all, you've heard the rumblings that have marked Google’s entry into the social networking arena with Google Plus.

I’m a small player in a big world, but I’m loving the view from the sideline. I’m observing the polarizing effect this is having as the big dogs take sides. I, for one, am cautiously impressed. After a short time of experimentation I’ve found Google + a big improvement on many of the other options out there.

Here are the things I particularly like:

• Privacy settings. For me, they were easier to navigate and gave me more options than those I've been able to decipher on Facebook. It’s not perfect, although I can choose from more options, once I share a post with someone they have the option to share it and I can’t stop them.
• Circle concept. I like being about to separate my conversations. Many writers (and other professionals) have had to decide whether or not to enter the social networking arena for friends, family or profession. The circles allow me to have ONE account and still keep my private life private.
• Post editing. I can’t help it—I’m an editor at heart—and I like to edit. In Facebook or even Twitter, once I put something out there it either stands or falls . . . as is. With Google + I have the option to edit things I've already posted and decide whether or not to allow comments. 

Granted Google + is still in beta mode, but I’m enjoying this new universe. I recommend you find a way to wangle an invitation and begin to test the water. Many thanks to my new friend, Nolan Webb, for my invitation! Let me know what you think.

Don’t forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie