Update on google+, for those of you who may have thought about it for a bit and then forgotten again. I've been on there for a few days now and must admit, I think it will take over facebook, twitter, possible even some forums :yikes: Why? EVen thought it's still really empty in there and it feels like arriving early at a party and everyone is hanging around not really quite knowing if it's worth staying, it seems to grow in popularity for all the right reasons.
The right reasons are: All the contacts you have you can put into different relationship circles, some are there already, if you want to use them, like family, friends, acquaintances, and you can add say tile people, artists, customers, suppliers, or nice people, cretins but useful, whatever you like really, similar to lists on twitter. Now when you feel like writing anything or asking a question, after you have written it you can choose if you want to share this particular bit with an individual only, in which case it becomes a private message, or any circle, or any number of circles or any circle plus certain individuals, or make it public, for anyone to see who happens to look at our profile page.
The other good reason is the incredible photo software they use, when you upload the photos they show in incredible clarity, at least as good as on flickr, the slideshow is on a fancy black background, what a way to showcase your work and again you can choose who can see these photos the same way you can with messages.
I have a circle for my girlfriends for example, so we can have a good girly giggle or natter on there, but if I post something workwise that I don't mind the public or just some circles to know, like my girlfriends and artists and tile people with or without photos, or added videos or links, I have that choice.
As yet anyhow there is no advertising, no daft games, and you can make what you write as short or as long as you like, and edit the content or delete it any time afterwards, ther is no time limit to edit your typos or content.
Then when you have 'shared' your bit whatever it is, in the top right of the textbox there is a little menu with different options, the edit option as said, then the most useful one being the 'stop reshare' option, if you want to make sure no-one passes your photos round, or you can disable comments or delete comments, or even report them to google for any horrible reason.
As in twitter you can also just have people in a circle who you have never met, but you are interested in what they have to say in public, so you see there public updates.
Everyone you put in a circle can see that you have put them in a circle, but the title of that circle is known only to you, so if you want to put horrible people in a circle which you need to keep sweet with they will never know that they are in your 'cretins' circles. (I don't have one of thsoe, just saying..
When you log in to google plus and you just want to see what your friends are doing, you just click on your friends circle under the word 'stream' (that the news stream on your google+ homepage, and you see the updates just from those friends.
Another good thing is the Sparks thingy, Sparks are mainly the subject you are interested in. Say you are a football fan and add football to your sparks subjects, you will, on another page, read news on football, or even on a certain team, google+sparks scans the news on google on that subject and gives you the main stuff. That's just for you to read then or to share as you wish.
Now, with your workphotos, you could put your best work you want your customers to see in a public album, - you can have loads of different albums, no problem, and then give your customers your google+ adress and they see your work displayed in the best possible format. You can also put comments under your photos, or give any contact details you like.
The google+hangout is like an extended skype conversation with webcam, I haven't tried it but my best friend from Germany has, you can have webcam conversations with several people at the same time, she said she and another friend even watched a youtube video on there at the same time as talking about it, so that will have future potential for sure, and she said the clarity and reception was amazing.
As far as I know you stil need an invitation to get on there, as it is still in the trial stage, but I would urge you to get on now and get used to it all in the comfort of the still pretty empty room, if you want an invite PM me your email address, as that is what I will need and I will invite you. You will get an email from google+ saying that Gisela has invited you and you click on a link. You can then see the people I have in my circles as yet and what people have me in theirs, and click on them, adding them to your circles, like for example Rob-(Colour Republic), or Phil or Dan are on there, and when they see that you have added them they can add you, or not, the choice remains with the individual.
My strong hunch and that of many online marketeers who I already follow on there is that this will take off big time, choose a comfy seat now and the people you want to get cosy with on there. It's free and it will help your business eventually, without a doubt.
