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[kehs]

I'm really digging the new pop up info cards, hope they move those over to gmail as well.

 

[Battersea Power Station]

Woah, when skimming through the stuff about Google+ Sign In, I missed the bit about interactive posts:

https://developers.google.com/+/features/interactive-posts

Are any sites or services taking advantage of this yet, besides like Play Music? This is pretty cool.

 

[NumberTwo]

I'm really digging the new pop up info cards, hope they move those over to gmail as well.

The whole 'card' motif is awesome and versatile. Very clean looking.

 

[Bboy AJ]

The whole 'card' motif is awesome and versatile. Very clean looking.

Thank Matias Duarte for that. I knew cards would eventually make their appearance, as they played such a prominent role in webOS.

 

[ComputerMKII]

I've just created an account but few of my Facebook friends even have one and those who do haven't used it in one or two years. Now what can I do with my Google+ account?

 

[Bboy AJ]

I've just created an account but few of my Facebook friends even have one and those who do haven't used it in one or two years. Now what can I do with my Google+ account?

Best use of Google+ is pictures, IMO. Instant Upload is genius and if you have an Android phone, absolutely indispensable.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Yup, instant upload is amazing.

You can also use the cool Events thing to rope some of your friends into using it.

 

[Mudkips]

Google+ keeps automatically and silently removing my posts.

I'm posting this image

.
I downloaded it, then dragged and dropped it into the post window (so it would show as full size and not as a stupid link with a thumbnail). It works for a while but then it disappears.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Do it again and post the URL here.

 

[Mudkips]

Do it again and post the URL here.

It's happened 3 times now.
Post the URL to what? The G+ post is limited to my "Friends" circle.

To replicate the post yourself:
Drag and drop GIF from this page to your desktop.
Go to plus.google.com
Drag and drop GIF to the post area to upload it.
Type "LOL" or similar and submit the post.

If you're anything like me, the post will disappear within an hour.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

The post on Google+?

 

[kehs]

It's happened 3 times now.
Post the URL to what? The G+ post is limited to my "Friends" circle.

To replicate the post yourself:
Drag and drop GIF from this page to your desktop.
Go to plus.google.com
Drag and drop GIF to the post area to upload it.
Type "LOL" or similar and submit the post.

If you're anything like me, the post will disappear within an hour.

Are they actually disappearing? Have you tried looking at the post from a signed out browser?

I notice sometimes, posts do that sometimes. I think they're being removed, and end up posting multiple times.

 

[Mudkips]

Are they actually disappearing? Have you tried looking at the post from a signed out browser?

I notice sometimes, posts do that sometimes. I think they're being removed, and end up posting multiple times.

It just disappeared again.
A friend says he can see it, but I can't.
If I click on the activity feed I can see his comment on it (and this the post itself).

I cannot see the post at all from my own profile/feed/page/wall/whatever.

If I click on "Friends" I can see it If I click on "All" I can't. If I move the slider on the "Friends" page all the way left or right, there's no change - I still see my posts and my friends' posts.


So apparently it IS there on the "Home", "All" page. I just have to scroll a mile to find it as if I posted it months ago. WTF?

 

[badcrumble]

I really hope Google finishes fully integrating Google Talk/gchat with G+. It'd drastically improve both products, and probably get more people engaged with Google+ in a positive way that'd improve their own experience *and* please Google.

 

[kehs]

They added in-stream control for community posts.

You can already adjust the volume of What's Hot and Circle posts in your Home stream (see http://goo.gl/d2nlU and http://goo.gl/wrHDD). Today, and by popular demand, we're bringing this option to Communities.

Say you want to see more posts from your travel community: now you can dial it up! Or maybe you don't want to be tempted by your dessert community (too often): choose to see fewer posts in your Home stream, or none at all. It's completely up to you!

To try it out, just visit a community that you've joined and click the "Actions" menu. You'll see options at the bottom to adjust the volume of posts in your Home stream. This will roll out throughout the day today.

As always, let us know what you think in the comments!

https://plus.google.com/107602882044753150398/posts/inpQSoizkHW

 

[SimleuqiR]

Google+ Gets A Mobile Refresh With Photo Editing, Post Tweaks, Location And Community Controls

PHOTO EDITING, THE MOBILE WAY
On the photo front, you can make all of your edits from within the app now, letting you crop, rotate, change contrast, saturation, brightness and add filters, with simple gestures that you might have become familiar within the Snapseed app.

SCROLL MORE, TAP LESS
Within this update, you can see more text in the original post, as well as more comments, and a single tap now takes you directly to a photo, watch page for a video or a lightbox for a website. The really nice addition here is the ability to swipe through an entire photo album inline, without having to head over to a separate album page. Additionally, the +1, reshare and comment buttons are more prominent.

MUCH NEEDED COMMUNITY CONTROLS
For Communities, you’re now able to tweak the “volume” of the groups that you’re a part of. That means that if a certain Community gets too noisy, you can completely stop its posts from hitting your main stream. You can now also invite people to a community or reshare posts from your stream with a Community directly. Finally, there are administrator tools like search, content moderation and report, remove and ban features for Community managers.

 

[snacknuts]

SCROLL MORE, TAP LESS
Within this update, you can see more text in the original post, as well as more comments, and a single tap now takes you directly to a photo, watch page for a video or a lightbox for a website. The really nice addition here is the ability to swipe through an entire photo album inline, without having to head over to a separate album page. Additionally, the +1, reshare and comment buttons are more prominent.

Awesome. Integrated Snapseed editing is a nice addition, too.

 

[SimleuqiR]

Wow. Love how it scrolls through the comments, underlining the profile picture of the person that made the comment.

Also, the app is just buttery smooth. Much more than before.

 

[badcrumble]

Yeah, the new app is a big improvement (and has improved access to text chat, a major plus).

Like I posted earlier, Google needs to fully integrate Gchat into this. There's no official gchat app for iOS, which is weird.

 

[gcubed]

Yeah, the new app is a big improvement (and has improved access to text chat, a major plus).

Like I posted earlier, Google needs to fully integrate Gchat into this. There's no official gchat app for iOS, which is weird.

i'm assuming it will come soon. It makes sense that once they release their universal messaging platform, they push it out as part of g+ so it can be on all devices

 

[ThatObviousUser]

The image editing looks hideous.

 

[Ripclawe]

http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/25/google-plus-profile-photos-animated-gifs/

Rejoice, animated GIF fans! Google+ profile photos can now use the ubiquitous file format. Social networkers can upload their picture of choice, crop it accordingly and revel in spreading internet memes and the ancestors of Vine clips.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Seriously amazing.

GIF has been around for decades, why is it only now it feels like it's really catching on?

 

[makingmusic476]

I found this the other day, and I think it's pretty spot on:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004448/plus-one-proof-google-plus-will-prevail

Sure, there’s a social networking aspect to it, but Google Plus is really Google’s version of Google. It’s the groundwork for a level of search quality difficult to fathom based on what we know today. It’s also the Borg-like hive-queen that connects all the other Google products like YouTube, Google Maps, Images, Offers, Books, and more. And Google is starting to roll these products all up into a big ball of awesome user experience by way of Google Plus, and that snowball is starting to pick up speed and mass.

We all glommed onto the concept of “Google’s version of Facebook,” and focused only on comparing the similarities and differences between the two (such as number of users it had, whether “Circles” are “good,” and how “hangouts” are weird). But in reality, none of that matters. I happen to think Circles are a slightly smarter way to organize your personal connections, but it’s a “feature” that Facebook could copy with their eyes closed in a single hackathon. It is not the kind of thing that decides success or failure.

What makes Google Plus different is that it is the new backbone of a company that does search better than anyone already--something Facebook could never compete with. You use Google to search, right? Well, imagine if Google knew every piece of data about you that Facebook knew. Imagine how better equipped they would be to serve you what you are looking for. Google Plus is a way of entrenching Google’s dominance in that area, not a way of stealing Facebook users. If you are in first place, that’s the time to accelerate your lead.

[...]

Step one: Corral every single blogger. Have you used Google lately and noticed faces appearing next to certain posts? That’s called Google Authorship--bloggers can link their Google Plus profile to the content they create. Guess how many online writers see that and say “Eh, I don’t need to have that.” If you said “zero” you win a prize. All you need is a Google Plus account with a headshot to glue this up to all your posts, and it adds tremendous value to bloggers who can now claim their posts instead of having Google show a “stolen” version ahead of their own. Not only a tremendous value to the person searching (who is finding the person who truly generated the content) but also the content generator who no longer has to worry about this infuriating issue. In short--huge value and a 100% adoption rate of a specific vertical.

Step two: Attract every single small business and at least one of their employees. Want your business to appear on Google Maps, Google Local, et al., so that you can tell your prospective customers where you are, what you sell, and when you are open? Yup, you guessed it--you need a Google Plus Local Business page now. But again, Google isn’t forcing your hand, it’s adding value. Reviews, hours, pics, videos, local search--all housed in one place. And this account must be managed by a real person with a real Google Plus personal account. Now you have all small businesses as well as a new person in each business using Google Plus. See where I’m going with this?

Step three: Convince you, because all of those other things that you already love get better. Maybe you’re addicted to that new augmented reality game Ingress. Maybe your Google Plus profile makes it way easier to win. Or maybe you want better music, movie, or book recommendations--look no further than Google Plus. Want to find a community of skiers or chefs or race car drivers with a flick of the wrist? Or perhaps that hilarious video about that thing that you once emailed to a friend but can’t quite remember enough about it to find again? When you have Google Plus, those communities and that video just appear when you search for your best guess.

The point is, once Google Plus has every blogger, every small business, lots of gamers, lots of YouTubers, etc., actively using the product, they will continue to use all that new data to make even more of their products more awesome.

And here's another by the same author, discussing how Hangouts, Docs, Gmail, Communities, and so on allow Google+ to take the place of a number of other different services typically required to accomplish the same tasks, and how Google Glass will further utilize G+ in ways incomparable to other social networks:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3005682/future-google-plus-and-its-path-social-media-domination

Personally, my time spent using Google+ has increased pretty steadily over the past six months or so.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

I found this the other day, and I think it's pretty spot on:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004448/plus-one-proof-google-plus-will-prevail

This isn't really all that new of a sentiment, Google even said as much when they launched G+. But yeah, Google+ isn't about making a new social network as much as it is bringing all of Google's stuff together. The amount of profiles across their services they used to have was just maddening.

Personally, my time spent using Google+ has increased pretty steadily over the past six months or so.

My use has been increasing slightly since the new profile designs. Really like them.

I've also been checking my communities every now and then, there's usually decent stuff there.

And of course all my photos go through it. I usually have to share the G+ album link to FB though.

 

[snacknuts]

And here's another by the same author, discussing how Hangouts, Docs, Gmail, Communities, and so on allow Google+ to take the place of a number of other different services typically required to accomplish the same tasks, and how Google Glass will further utilize G+ in ways incomparable to other social networks:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3005682/future-google-plus-and-its-path-social-media-domination

Personally, my time spent using Google+ has increased pretty steadily over the past six months or so.

I can't begin to tell you how much time and effort I have saved on group projects by utilizing Google Docs and Hangouts. Despite spending almost two years shilling for the service, I have only recently started using G+ more than Facebook. I'm looking forward to more people using it.

 

[Polari]

I found this the other day, and I think it's pretty spot on:

http://www.fastcompany.com/3004448/plus-one-proof-google-plus-will-prevail

I don't know man, I think his argument here is very weak and the article is mostly incoherent junk. He identifies three points: getting bloggers signed up, getting small business owners signed up and... yeah... the third one looks like the ravings of a madman:

"Or maybe you want better music, movie, or book recommendations--look no further than Google Plus. Want to find a community of skiers or chefs or race car drivers with a flick of the wrist? Or perhaps that hilarious video about that thing that you once emailed to a friend but can’t quite remember enough about it to find again?"

Uh, I'd use Google Search or Gmail as I always have? What the fuck?

Bloggers, fine, but I don't see how attracting some technocrati nerds is going to help this thing take off. Not to mention they all seem to use Twitter first and foremost anyway. Small business owners aren't going to give a shit. They might stick up a page, but they're going to continue to use Facebook and Twitter because that's where their audience is.

I know. You are still in the “no freaking way am I joining another social network” mode. But one day soon you will wake up and find out about that one little thing and it goes something like this:

Your buddy, “Hey have you heard about this one little thing?”
You: “Oh. My. God. That’s Awesome. That’s so Awesome. How do I get that?”
Your buddy: “Oh, you need to have a Google Plus Profile or it doesn’t work.”

I’ll see you around--on Google Plus.

I don't even know what this little thing is supposed to be, and I'm guessing the author doesn't either.

The other thing is speaking personally, Google's privacy shit freaks me out. The other day I discovered all my reviews were now available to see on my Google+ page, even though I had made them anonymously at the time. I have no idea how that happened (was it something I did?), but what the fuck? Similarly when I connected my Youtube account without really thinking about it and then realised all my shit was under my name, and that's not really what I want in practice. At least Facebook feels like a "closed box" of sorts where I can control what goes in and what goes out.

Anyway this guy is a terrible writer and idiot.

 

[LosDaddie]

Is there any way to test the G+ Hangout/video chat feature? I have an important job interview coming up in about a week, and the company only does them throught G+ Hangout (or whatever it's called).

I created my G+ profile last night. So that part is out of the way.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Is there any way to test the G+ Hangout/video chat feature? I have an important job interview coming up in about a week, and the company only does them throught G+ Hangout (or whatever it's called).

I created my G+ profile last night. So that part is out of the way.

Click the Start a Hangout button above the chat box?

 

[DyTonic]

Youtube + G+ = stalkers

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Suddenly, Google+ Is Outpacing Twitter To Become The World's Second Largest Social Network

 

[Goldrush]

Probably been discussed a bit already, but I absolutely hate it how it no longer have a setting to put all posts in a circle in the home feed. Even at the "More" Setting, it still trashes a lot of posts.

 

[snacknuts]

I am loving the new G+ desktop layout. No more complaints about all the white space.

 

[SimleuqiR]

I am loving the new G+ desktop layout. No more complaints about all the white space.

Shit! You're not kidding.

 

[Mairu]

I am loving the new G+ desktop layout. No more complaints about all the white space.

Looks like Pinterest. I still don't use G+ so I don't really have much of an opinion as to whether this is actually better or not, but it seems alright.

 

[lastplayed]

The photo albums it chose to include in my "highlights" are the worst albums it could have possibly picked. Fuck computers and their opinions.

 

[qizah]

The new Google+ update is fantastic. I was already a pretty active user before, but I can easily see myself becoming even more active.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Yeah, I thought the new G+ layout was just the tablet version, and it kinda is, but it's so much better than I thought. The animations and transitions make it a truly incredible experience.

The focus on photos is also very appreciated since Instant Upload was pretty much all I used G+ for at some points, and as I said, I'm a refugee from the Picasa Web Albums ghetto.

All they need to do is allow selling of photos/explicit licenses and it'll pretty much have killed any reason to use Flickr at all.

 

[Number45]

Does anyone know how I can remove non G+ enabled contacts from the "new hangout" section on the right? It's randomly selecting contacts from my list even though I'd never chat with them, would be nice to be able to customise that list.

 

[KiKaL]

So is there a way to disable G+ from actually e-mail everyone in the circle I share a photo album with? I usually share them to all my friends with the mindset yeah it's cool if you are on G+ and want to check it out but It's not something where I actually want to notify everyone I have done it.

 

[AndyD]

So is there a way to disable G+ from actually e-mail everyone in the circle I share a photo album with? I usually share them to all my friends with the mindset yeah it's cool if you are on G+ and want to check it out but It's not something where I actually want to notify everyone I have done it.

I think you have to actively check the email button for it to email them, otherwise its just shared but they are not notified via email.

Now if they have set up email alerts for when something is shared with them, that's on their end, not yours.

 

[Avtomat]

Suddenly, Google+ Is Outpacing Twitter To Become The World's Second Largest Social Network

I like G+ but I got to call bullshit on this, I find people far more active on twitter.

G+ afterall is taking the clever route into an already crowded Social Networking market by tying it up with your Google account and expanding functionality.

I stay signed into Google and clicking the odd +1 button does not make me an active user.

 

[Kinitari]

So - auto-awesome I assume is completely autonomous? I haven't had any 'auto awesomed' photos yet.

 

[AndyD]

I like G+ but I got to call bullshit on this, I find people far more active on twitter.

G+ afterall is taking the clever route into an already crowded Social Networking market by tying it up with your Google account and expanding functionality.

I stay signed into Google and clicking the odd +1 button does not make me an active user.

But it does. Because your +1s are used as a recommendation engine for you, your friends and circles. Not any different than likes on Facebook or retweets or mentions on Twitter. There is no "creation" of content on your part, just social approval.

 

[KiKaL]

I think you have to actively check the email button for it to email them, otherwise its just shared but they are not notified via email.

Now if they have set up email alerts for when something is shared with them, that's on their end, not yours.

Okay yeah I know I am not checking the notify via e-mail so then it must be on their end. I know people are receiving e-mails just because I have had someone mention it but guess I won't feel bad then since it's out of my hands.

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

But it does. Because your +1s are used as a recommendation engine for you, your friends and circles. Not any different than likes on Facebook or retweets or mentions on Twitter. There is no "creation" of content on your part, just social approval.

But who actually looks at them?

Twitter retweets or replies are actually looked at by everyone who retweets or replies to it.

Even the thread died.

 

[AndyD]

But who actually looks at them?

Twitter retweets or replies are actually looked at by everyone who retweets or replies to it.

Even the thread died.

+1's are like Likes, not replies. G+ has its own replies which can also be seen by anyone who replies.

And it depends on your friends/family on whether you have G+ active ones. My family and a chunk of friends use G+ extensively to share pictures and messages and videos.

 

[tirminyl]

But who actually looks at them?

Twitter retweets or replies are actually looked at by everyone who retweets or replies to it.

Even the thread died.

Who actually looks at the plus 1's? Well, people. I see apps, pages, and other things that my friends or people I follow have gave a plus to. I then give that piece of content a closer inspection than I otherwise would have.

 

[snacknuts]

The new auto-hashtag thing is kind of amazing. I uploaded the .gif below to my feed and it automatically tagged it with #dogs. HOW?!

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Anyone else notice the new Share box is basically Tumblr's but upside-down?