Do You Need to Weed Your Google+ Garden?

Tweet

Has it happened to you yet? A couple of weeks ago a witnessed a plusser’s frustration because she couldn’t circle people back on Google+.

You may not be aware of the fact that Google+ has put a limit, much like Facebook, on the number of people you can circle in a personal account. Unfortunately, there’s been a few times when I’ve attempted to add a circle of interesting folks that someone has shared with me and Google+ won’t let me do so. Why is that?

It’s because the limit on circling (or following; the terms are interchangeable) for Google+ is set at 5,000. Of course, people are free to circle you regardless of how many you’ve circled (or not). As of this writing, I’ve added 4,546. I’m getting a bit pickier now as far as whom I circle back. Some ground rules I’ve now set (and you may enjoy these as well) includes not circling people with a profile pic and a minimum number of people I have in common with that person. Would love to circle back everyone though.

Sort of brings it down to a popularity contest, doesn’t it? Okay, Google+ is pulling a Facebook maneuver on us here. Especially if you’re trying to run your business from a personal profile…oh wait! Just like Facebook. No limit on pages on either platform, right?

But shouldn’t Google+ think more like Twitter in this case? My main account on Twitter has over 29,000 followers. I’ve followed 98% of them back. I can’t even imagine how I’d begin to weed out tweeps if I was only allowed to follow 5,000.

In preparation for the day when you and I will HAVE to clean up the flower beds on our personal Google+ accounts, I curiously conducted a quick search.

Aha! There's a plug-in for Chrome that can assist us with this Google+ issue: Uncircle Uncirclers+. Already had it installed but never got around to exploring. Ran it. The two of the first four people on the list are people I know. And they have circled me back. Uh, guess they’re still getting bugs out on this one! Proceed with caution. Let’s move on.

What I’m really looking for is a plug-in that gets rid of “dead wood”; you know, those accounts that were created months ago just for the sake of being one of the first to be on Google+. Yet, they haven’t posted anything! Sadly, I know some of those folks quite well too.
Eureka! There is one!

It’s called Uncircle Inactives. Spot checked a few followers and it appears to be accurate. The ones I looked up have been inactive at least since October. It lists your circlers and has two columns of boxes. The column to the far left shows those who are inactive; the ones who are active are in the column directly to the left of the name of the person. And you can just call up one circle at a time and mull through! Sweet!

Now I’m waiting for these plug-ins to become available for use with pages. In the meantime, I’m back to doing a little gardening of my Google+ account. 

The Rolling Stones can assist in "blowing away those dandelions"...click here.

Facebook is a Square Over Circles; Hello Lists!

Tweet

Is this the start of ease of “segmented” information for users of Facebook?  Changes are brewing with some new features just announced in regards to lists. It certainly does seem like a follow the leader approach in regards to this revamp, and surprise, the “leader” is Google+, which boasts a fraction of the users that Facebook has. Could this be the start of a social network arena shakeup?


Sounds like Facebook may be feeling a bit threatened. Do you think they’re trolling the internet, getting a read on what folks like and don’t like about Google+? If you thought “yes”, then you’re probably right. That’s my gut feeling too.


So what has Facebook done? Simply put, they’ve made the struggle with lists less intense. After hearing complaints and allowing us to be subjected to the frustrations of everyone we know for so long, it’s about time.  The changes come not that long after they made some tweaks to making privacy settings more obvious to the not-so-savvy Facebook user.


Here’s the low down on what’s been done with new, improved lists:


• Facebook has made it easier to add people to lists. Now I haven’t seen this feature in action yet, but I suspect that it’s as easy as dragging someone into a circle when adding in Google+.


• Lists that are automatically created for location, work, family, and school. Dubbed “Smart Lists” by Facebook.


• The ability to segment your friends based on how well you know them. Interestingly enough, this is how I’ve approached my Google+ circle methodology. But that’s another story. The important thing here is that you’ll be able to list and see all posts, including photos within Close Friends and Acquantances lists.


• Facebook has made this new feature optional, similar to what they’ve done with the recently announced “reduced email”. Wow! Now we have choices too!


If you don't have them yet, you soon will; the changes are rolling out this week. All I can say is …thank you Google+. Without you, this update never would have happened. However, it’s a shame that the consumer’s voice isn’t heard until a potential threat comes along.   

The Circle Game

Tweet

Originally, it was a song, written by Joni Mitchell in the 1960’s. A cover version by the folksinger Tom Rush amassed much attention to the tune. Rumored to be either about Joni’s painful decision to give up a child born out of wedlock at age twenty or a response song to Neil Young’s “Sugar Mountain”. Or perhaps both. At any rate, it appears to be a song that leads us through being a child and reaching young adulthood.  And maybe getting stuck in a cycle of sorts. Or maybe a circle.

We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

My, has the definition changed! And yes, Joni, indeed your words are true; some of us do look behind but realize we can’t relive it.

But Google+ circles have changed that, at least in the virtual world of social networking. As we all navigate this strange new world that some of us have chosen to enter courtesy of Google, circles guide our time spent there.  The circles change as we “grow older” with Google+; we learn from our past as novices as we blossom into seasoned participants. And how many circles did YOU start out with? I started with THREE, one of which consisted of people I know quite well (your definition of “quite well” may differ from mine, so I won’t bore you with those details).

That circle is still with me. It is small, but now boasts close to 100 people. As time marches on and I’m meeting new folks on Google+, a few of them have inspired me to rethink The Circle Game again and again. I’m now up to ten, with various degrees of segmentation. Recently, I started one for “Market Research”.

A gent found me on Google+ after I threw a question out about Twitter. Turns out he makes a living from one of the industries that puts food on my table too. He led me to a list of market researchers on a site called Google Plus counter (www.gpc.com). He had created the list on this site, and upon my asking, added me as well. What a find! I’m now in the process of adding some of those folks to my circle. Already knew of a few of them via Twitter and LinkedIn, however, here’s another contact opportunity to have with them for an intelligent conversation!  And go round and round and round in The Circle Game.

And who knows what’s next? Will Google+ decide to make some changes regarding the way circles work? So far I’m pleased, but who’s to say they couldn’t add in more flexibility? There’s always a better mousetrap to be built. Google+, please let me color code my circles so that it’s easy to spot the most important ones or the ones that are more casual vs. more work related. After all, carousels have lots of colors to them.

Now, I’m not making any complaints! Circles are fantastic compared to those cumbersome things that Facebook calls lists!

Joni wrote “We're captive on the carousel of time” however, as we go round and round, no matter how great already, it should become even greater to do so.

Google+ Breakups; My "First"

Tweet

“Self-serving” …verbiage recently used to describe a prominent author (among other achievements). Let’s call him “Ned”. The phrase came from someone who is well schooled in the social media field and has a healthy following and reputation.
 

Specifically, the phrase was part of a declaration of why the poster of those words had come to the decision to “uncircle” Ned. I too had brought Ned into my circles; the respectful gesture was not returned but I didn’t mind; here was an opportunity to easily keep tabs on all the important things that he had to say and teach me. No longer was Ned lost in the Twitter clutter; he was now a part of small but growing group of my Google+ “adds”!
 

Well, I was in for a surprise. Every post was me here, me there, look at me. Non-stop. At first, it was entertaining….wow, a look at Ned’s life! Our “relationship” was fruitful albeit one-sided for those initial days on Google+. Then, the post from the SME caused me to evaluate the relationship.

My conclusion? Some sad truth: Ned seems to have missed some important points about social media. Wait a minute. He KNOWS much about Social Media, however, perhaps he no longer feels the need to follow the “rules”.
 

So here’s a quick refresher course in the unlikely event that Ned would bother to read something from a not-so-well-known but mighty force (uh, that would be me I guess).

• Social Media is not about you.

 
• Social means “allowing people to meet and interact with others in a friendly way.”

• If you treat social media as if it’s a one way street, it is not social.

 
•  Engaging is perhaps the closest word related to Social Media.

 
•  Posting 24 hours a day every five minutes can be exhausting for us on the receiving end.
 

You get the idea. And you probably figured out what my next action was. And yes, I certainly could filter via circles, however, I would like to offer the opportunity for others to be heard. There’s new people to meet who aren’t household names and lots of talent to learn from them AND acknowledge. No need to have to skirt around hurdles to discover all that creativity out in cyberspace.
 

For me, personally, Social Media is about sharing information and joy. And I’m thankful for the new relationships I’ve made because of Social Media. 
Here are a couple of simple guidelines I go by, no matter what social platform I’m on. You may or may not agree with me, and that’s perfectly okay.

• Respond to people. I’m a “people person” and I do care about you.

• Reach out and say hello. 
 
• If something is interesting, acknowledge that person via retweets, sharing, etc.
 
• It’s impossible to see everything, everywhere and much as I’d love to see what you have to  say all the time, please don’t expect me to be able to do so. If there’s something you REALLY want me to see, PM or DM me and alert me to it.
 
•  Be kind. No point in making negative or rude comments; it’s not engaging. Friendly debate; now that’s another story…
 
• No whining. Hello, we’re talking about public forums here. Deal with it on your own or with a few close friends.

• Social Media is not a chore; it’s a part of your lifestyle. So have fun. If something ISN’T fun, you shouldn’t be doing it. 
 
•  Be original and authentic. Display your own creativity instead of constantly borrowing someone elses (namely photos) from the internet. 
 
• The use of LOL does not promote conversation; use it sparingly or along with a comment.
 
• Respect people. Everyone deserves that.

Google+ Haiku

Tweet

Had a rather silly burst of creative thought last night. Over the past year or so, I've become a poet of sorts, in particular, really enjoying Haiku.

However, my subject matter continues to become more and more off the beaten path; sushi has been a favorite as of late.

Until now. Social Media hasn't been conquered yet! So here goes:

Hear the Google bells

As we dash through social snow

Googling all the way.

Who uncircled me?

That wasn’t very nice now!

How do I find out?

Discussion narrow

Mostly social network stuff

Variety please.

Google Plus gurus

Teach me now to play the game

Training is free, right?

Created a circle

Named it "top of the food chain"

The cream is in it.

I'm but a number

6, The Prisoner, said not

Mine is much longer.

Nobody is a Square on Google+

Tweet

Circles are similar to lists in Facebook, however it’s much easier to add and remove people from them, simply by dragging and dropping. I gave up on lists for the most part in Facebook because I just don’t have the time to type all those names until they pop up to create one list at a time. That’s already a bygone era.

With circles, it easy to share the more personal items with just your “friends” and exclude your “acquaintances” and “followers”. When sharing, just add the circles and with the folks that you want included; it’s all right there, no learning curve required. You can also add a circle with folks not on Google+ but with Gmail accounts; they’ll get the info you’re sharing too.

Circles take seconds to create. I have six right now, but will really think through how I want to divvy things up going forward. Still haven’t decided how personal or how public I want to be, and I’m still waiting to see how Google+ will treat businesses.  Obviously in Facebook, there are advantages to having a page for your business vs. a personal profile (see my recent post on that), but Google+ may go an entirely different route. Who knows?

Creating new circles is simple and you can even change the names of the four given to you at the start. In one article I recently read, there was mention of a circle named “people I hate”…why anyone would have people who fit THAT category in a circle is beyond me, but to each his own. But the point here is you get to name them whatever you want…

…and no one knows what you’ve named your circles, nor do they know which circle they’ve been placed in. So I may think Joe is an acquaintance and he might consider me a friend. But neither of us will ever know how we’ve been categorized. Unless Google+ decides to add an option to make circle names and who is in them public at some point.

And, you may add people to as many of your circles as you like, again, simply by dropping and dragging them again and again. And again, I have to stress that Google+ is light years ahead of Facebook here.

My big question is: Regarding circles, I’d like to know why on my profile there are fewer people who have added me to their circles compared to the higher number on my circles page.  Apparently there is a delay of sorts; a long delay. My initial observation tells me that the lag time can be half a day or more. What’s up with that? Shouldn’t it be “instant” much like follows on Twitter or friending on Facebook? Still curious about this one, but it’s certainly something I can live with.

On a rating scale of 1 to 10, with 10 the highest and 1 the lowest, I’m giving circles a 9. Sorry, but I’m a hard rater! I suspect many of you will go ahead and give that 10.