If you’re one of those people using Facebook and Google+ regularly, then you probably feel annoyed that you have to learn two totally different systems for staying connected to your social network. It’s actually a lot of work understand how to share, stream, subscribe, block, hide, etc, etc on both networks.
I’ve been using Google+ for quite a while now and there are still a lot of things I have learned only in the last few weeks. In this article, I’m going to mention 5 quick Google+ tips that you really should know if you’re using the service. If you have your own tips, shortcuts, or tricks for Google+ to share, post them in the comments!
Click on Circles in the left-hand pane and then click on one of the circles to select it.
When you click on a circle, it will list out the people in that circle at the top and show some extra buttons on the currently selected circle. Here you can click the button with the circle in the center and two arrows coming out of either side.
The second way to share a circle is to click on Actions and then click on Share this circle.
Now you can type specifically who you want to share the circle with. By default, it adds the Your Circles group, but you can remove that and add individual people. You can also add a comment if you like. Note that it will only share people in the circle who have Google+ profiles.
To mention someone, just type +[name of person] or @[name of person] and Google+ will autocomplete with a list of matching people.
At the bottom click on Options and then click on Photo details.
In the sidebar, a window will pop up with details like the camera, exposure, aperture, ISO, and location data if it is available. Pretty nice feature!
To edit a photo, click on Edit photo at the top left of the window. The magic wand is another option to auto-fix an image, which works well too.
Now you’ll get a full-featured set of tools for editing your photos which you would normally find in a desktop photo-editing program like GIMP, etc.
They have a lot of cool effects and I really like the Decorate feature and the ability to write text on the images too.
But who exactly is in this collection of circles called Your Circles? Be default, Your Circles includes all your circles except the Following circle. I realized later that I was really just following people who I had in some other circles. So your options are to move those people to the following circle or to just remove a circle from Your Circles so anything you share won’t be shared with those people.
To do this, you need to click on your name and then click on Account.
Next click on Google+ in the lefthand pane and then scroll all the way down till you get to Your Circles. Then click on the Customize button.
Here you can uncheck a circle if you do not want it to be included in the default Your Circles collection. So, for example, if you have a circle called Celebrities and sharing stuff with them really won’t matter since they won’t see it anyway, then you can just uncheck that circle.
Instead, you can just ignore them and they will be removed from your list of “Have you in circles” and you won’t see any more notifications or their mentions of you. This way, they can still tag photos of you and comment on your posts, but you don’t have to worry about your home page getting cluttered.
To do this, you have to click on the Notifications button in the Google+ bar at the top.
Click on the arrow to the right where it says someone or a group of people have added you to their circles. Then you’ll see you can either add them to your circles or you can ignore them:
So those are my five tips on getting more out of Google+ if you are using it. What are your favorite tips for Google+? Let us know in the comments. Enjoy!
I’ve been using Google+ for quite a while now and there are still a lot of things I have learned only in the last few weeks. In this article, I’m going to mention 5 quick Google+ tips that you really should know if you’re using the service. If you have your own tips, shortcuts, or tricks for Google+ to share, post them in the comments!
Tip #1 – How to Share a Circle
I have a bunch of different circles and one time a friend asked me if I could send him the all profile names for one of my circles since he also was interested in following those people. I started copying and pasting profile names and then realized that there had to be an easier way than that for sure! And there is thankfully.Click on Circles in the left-hand pane and then click on one of the circles to select it.
When you click on a circle, it will list out the people in that circle at the top and show some extra buttons on the currently selected circle. Here you can click the button with the circle in the center and two arrows coming out of either side.
The second way to share a circle is to click on Actions and then click on Share this circle.
Now you can type specifically who you want to share the circle with. By default, it adds the Your Circles group, but you can remove that and add individual people. You can also add a comment if you like. Note that it will only share people in the circle who have Google+ profiles.
Tip #2 – Mention Someone in a Post
Just like you can mention people in Facebook, you can also mention people in Google+. When you mention someone, a notification will appear in their stream and they will be able to see the entire post even if the post was not shared with them.To mention someone, just type +[name of person] or @[name of person] and Google+ will autocomplete with a list of matching people.
Tip #3 – Edit Photos and View EXIF Data
I didn’t know until recently, but Google+ is a great tool for editing photos and viewing EXIF data, including the location where a photo was taken. First, click on Photos in the left pane and then click on an image and then click on the small magnifying glass at the bottom right of the photo.At the bottom click on Options and then click on Photo details.
In the sidebar, a window will pop up with details like the camera, exposure, aperture, ISO, and location data if it is available. Pretty nice feature!
To edit a photo, click on Edit photo at the top left of the window. The magic wand is another option to auto-fix an image, which works well too.
Now you’ll get a full-featured set of tools for editing your photos which you would normally find in a desktop photo-editing program like GIMP, etc.
They have a lot of cool effects and I really like the Decorate feature and the ability to write text on the images too.
Tip #4 – Customize “Your Circles”
When I started using Google+, I would share something and I always just let it share to “Your Circles” since that was the default.But who exactly is in this collection of circles called Your Circles? Be default, Your Circles includes all your circles except the Following circle. I realized later that I was really just following people who I had in some other circles. So your options are to move those people to the following circle or to just remove a circle from Your Circles so anything you share won’t be shared with those people.
To do this, you need to click on your name and then click on Account.
Next click on Google+ in the lefthand pane and then scroll all the way down till you get to Your Circles. Then click on the Customize button.
Here you can uncheck a circle if you do not want it to be included in the default Your Circles collection. So, for example, if you have a circle called Celebrities and sharing stuff with them really won’t matter since they won’t see it anyway, then you can just uncheck that circle.
Tip #5 – Ignore Someone
If you’re someone who gets a lot of followers, then the ignore feature comes in really handy. Anyone can add you to their circle and if that start mentioning you in their posts, you’ll start to get a lot of notifications and you’ll also see it in your home page stream.Instead, you can just ignore them and they will be removed from your list of “Have you in circles” and you won’t see any more notifications or their mentions of you. This way, they can still tag photos of you and comment on your posts, but you don’t have to worry about your home page getting cluttered.
To do this, you have to click on the Notifications button in the Google+ bar at the top.
Click on the arrow to the right where it says someone or a group of people have added you to their circles. Then you’ll see you can either add them to your circles or you can ignore them:
So those are my five tips on getting more out of Google+ if you are using it. What are your favorite tips for Google+? Let us know in the comments. Enjoy!
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