Help For New Google+ Users

Now that Google+ is open to the unwashed masses "general public" I have been getting a few Facebook friends starting to set up their Google+ profiles. Many of them are wondering how to use Google+ as well as just what the heck Google+ is all about.

I had one friend in particular ask me for some help with Google+. I thought I'd post their question and my response as I'm sure they are not the only one of my friends who have similar questions.

Head past the jump to see my ideas on how Google+ compares to services like Twitter and Facebook as well as a few things that might help new users make the transition.

Question

Hi Jim! I am VERY new to this and have no idea what I am doing but I remember you had put that you were on here so I found u, so I could at least have 1 friend! How is this compared to fb , do you like it or...?

Answer

I like Google+. I have been using it quite a while and during beta there weren't many people I know on. As far as how I like it it is sort of a mix of Facebook and Twitter.  

It is like Facebook in that is uses real names and allows you to circle ("friend) in Facebook terms) with people you know. 

It is like Twitter because you don't have to allow people to circle (follow in twitter terms) you. This means that anyone can circle anyone else. I can circle famous people as well as people I know from real life. 

For me my personal twitter account tends to follow famous people or tech people I find interesting. I don't have many people I know from real life on my twitter (by chance not by choice). For Google+ I follow a lot of the same famous/tech people. This allows my Google+ stream to have content from those people as well as what they are sharing etc. 

However now that Google+ is open and available to everyone I think a lot of the same people I know from Facebook will start circling me on G+. How this will effect what my Google+ stream looks like remains to be seen. 

The one neat feature of Google+ I really like is creating multiple circles to put people in. I have circles for things like "Close Friends" "Fresno" "Tech Celebrities" etc. I can make as many different circles and put people into as many circles as I'd like. This helps me separate people into groups I can choose to share things with. Not everyone from my family might be interested in something I talk about from high school but maybe my "Fresno" friends will be so I might share it with a specific person and my "Fresno" circle (which consists of almost 100% high school friends). 

If you've used twitter a lot and Facebook than the blending of the two ideas will come naturally. If you've only ever used Facebook than Google+ may seem a little "empty" at least at first. I don't think everyone who is on Facebook (which is pretty much everyone) will want to get on Google+. Perhaps over time it will become more popular. I think all in all there will be many people who simply stick to Facebook. 

The one major difference I noticed with Google+ is that the majority of people I've circled are people I am actually interested in interacting with. Many times on Facebook you accept a friend request simply out of obligation because you happened to "know" them at some point in the past. Not all of those "friends" are people you really like or are interested in.  

With Google+ (at least so far) the people I am interacting with seem more interesting than just "everyone all the time" type of sharing you often get from Facebook and its news feed. Maybe at some point Google+ will get just as "noisy" as Facebook is with people I have very little interest in posting yet more pictures of their kids. Not that that is a bad thing it's just that there is a good chance it's just not that interesting to me. 

So long story short jump in with both feet and invite people you'd like to have on Google+ with you and just play around with it. 

One last thing I have to say is that the "Hangouts" feature is pretty cool. It allows you to do video chat with multiple Google+ users at once. It works great and is pretty freaking awesome. You have to try it to see how cool it is. 

Hope that helps a bit and if you have questions on how to do something let me know. 

Cheers,
-Jim

I think Google+ has definite potential. It will just take time to get enough of us on there banging away at it to really define what it will ultimately turn out to be as well as what it's user base will ultimately look like.

If you'd like to circle me on Google+ my profile is Jim Younkin. You can follow me on twitter at @JimYounkin.