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

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