Category: Google Plus

More Updates To The Google Plus Site

December 21, 2015 Google, Google Plus No Comments

Over the weekend, Google released some more tweaks and enhancements to Google Plus. The updates are the second that the site has seen in as many weeks and were outlined once again by Google’s Luke Wroblewski on his Plus account.  The changes have all be based on user feedback of the new user experience on the social site which technically is still in beta but open to anyone.  The new experience is aimed at bringing communities together on the site, one of the key reasons I was drawn to the services and what keeps me there on a daily basis.  In his post, Luke outlines the range of updates that are available on the web, all of which have rolled out now.

  • +1 comments with one click using the action that appears when you hover over each comment

  • View precisely when posts were made with the full timestamp on post pages

  • Provide additional details when reporting abuse on posts. (I recognize this adds an additional click or two but the added information we collect helps us ensure G+ remains a great place to connect around shared interests.)

Along with the description, he also posted an image of the changes which I have linked to after the break below.

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Google Plus Web Preview Sees More Improvements

December 11, 2015 Google, Google Plus No Comments

There are times when you write something for your site and 2 hours later another new thing for that subject comes out in the news.  BUT it is good news and fits in line with the whole point of my Google Plus is not dying post earlier.  Google’s Luke Wroblewski has posted on his Google+ that there are several key updates being rolled out to the Google Plus web version over the course of the next few days.  Some of these changes were minor but others are kind of a big deal.

Here is the list of changes that Luke outlined in his post:

  • Visible links to categories on Community pages
  • Auto-play of animated GIFs (with a setting to turn on/off)
  • Ability to pin posts within Collections
  • Clearer indication of notifications on the home stream
  • Warning to ensure you don’t lose new posts when changing pages

If you don’t see these in your Google Plus on the web, don’t panic.  It may take a day or two to show up.

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Google Plus is Dead – Long Live Google Plus

December 11, 2015 Android, Google, Google Plus, Opinion No Comments

If you are one of the people that look at Google Plus, seeing all the changes and left scratching your head, you are not alone.  By a long shot. The little social network that could, which was aimed squarely at meeting Facebook head-on, has seemingly been not only revived from the brink of death earlier this year but actually thriving.  And even more importantly, Google seems to be paying attention to it.

I know, I was just as shocked.

For those who don’t use Google Plus or have not looked at it in a long time, let me give you a bit of background.  While never coming out fully and saying they were killing Google Plus, the Mountain View company left plenty of hints and suggestions that their attempt at being a social network was ending.  Bits and pieces of the service like Google Photos and profile integration were moved out of the service and even some of the single sign-on features were starting to disappear.  It seemed that Google had other interests in mind and had conceded the social network space to Facebook, Instagram and others.

But then a curious thing happened just last month.  Google with a reasonable amount of fan fair announced a completely revamped Google Plus experience was coming and, in fact, users could try it immediately.  The move was to focus the service on Communities, collections of fellow users with common interests around a subject (like Formula 1 for me as an example), and would be  tweaking and improving it over time.

Now why would you spend any amount of time, resources or money on something that is supposedly dead?  What you have to keep in mind though is that Google never said they were killing plus.  It was assumed by many blogs and tech writers based on other things the said.  That is where it went off the rails.

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How To Get The Old Google+ Back

November 19, 2015 Google, Google Plus 4 Comments

Editors Note:  As of January 24, 2017, the old Google+ site has been deprecated and is no longer available.

Yesterday we saw all the hype around the new Google+ website and upcoming Android apps.  For some, this change has been welcomed while others have found it not so great.  The verdict is still out but as a die hard Google+ user, I like what I see so far.  That said, I’m a realist and this new version of the social site is very much a work in progress (Google’s words, not mine).  There are things that don’t quite work the way that you would expect and some of the overall user experiences need to be smoothed out.

For now, you have a way to get back to the Google+ of old with a simple click within the site.  I’ll show you how to do this if you haven’t found it already and give you some thoughts on why you may want to go back – and why you may want to stick with it.

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