Your Home page is your base of operations for Google+, where you will
probably spend most of your time. The main portion of this page, right
there in the certain frame is dedicated to your Stream. Analogous to
Twitter’s Timeline and Facebook’s News Feed, the Google+ Stream is where
you will see updates, links, photos and videos that have been posted by
your friends, colleagues and other members of your network.
For example, you may see several posts in your stream that look something like this:
(Ordinarily, the name and picture of the poster would be at the top left of this post, but for the purposes of this tutorial, they have been redacted.)
This is a link posted by someone from my network. You see the link itself, an icon, a thumbnail and a brief preview, just as you’d expect. But what else do you see? There are several important and useful elements in this screenshot, which we will talk about individually below.
Comments & Commenting
First, let’s talk about comments. The concept is nothing new, of course. The web has been full of comments for as long as any of us can remember. Facebook, blogs, forums, bulletin boards—they all make use of comments, providing a forum for users to pass on thoughts on the topics and media posted there in.
Google+ is no different. You can leave comments on other users’ posts, simply by clicking the Comment link below that post. Likewise, others can do the same with your posts. When a post has comments, they will appear below the post, as in the following:
You can respond to other users’ comments by putting them in the “Add a comment” text box at the bottom of the comment thread. A tip: just like blogging, it is good practice to respond to comments on your posts. That way, you connect with the community, which boosts your online presence.
Keep in mind, however, that no one wants to be constantly bombarded with sales and marketing talk in their social network feed. Don’t make overt sales pitches, make sure your comments have actual value and engage in both sides of question and answer sessions. Those three simple things will keep you in good standing in the community.
What the Heck is a +1?
After spending a little time on Google+ — or anywhere in the Googleverse, for that matter – you are bound to notice little rectangular icons all around that say “+1” on them. Are you wondering what those are?
Essentially, giving something a +1 is a way of endorsing it, saying that you agree with it or like it in some way, without making a specific comment. It is very similar in concept to the Facebook “Like” button, if you are familiar with that. Simply put, when someone +1’s your post, it means he likes it. The number of +1’s a post has received is displayed right below the post, above the comment thread:
In this example, four different users have found this post worthy of a +1. If you click on that little “+4” (or whatever the number happens to be), you can see who those users are.
The +1 is a great way for Google+ users to engage with one another. It is a tool you can use to communicate with the customers, associates and others in your network, but like any tool, it can also be overused. If you sit idly on Google+, arbitrarily clicking on every post that comes up in your Stream, then it loses meaning and no one will pay attention to your +1 in the future. It becomes like spam, and no one likes that.
Blocking & Muting
Now, not every post is worthy of a comment or +1. In fact, some are irrelevant, annoying or outright offensive. If you have spent any time on social networks, you are well aware of that.
Fortunately, you have options to avoid posts like these. In Google+, you have three simple ways of combating undesirable posts. To access them, simply click the tiny downward pointing arrow in the upper right corner of any post. This drops down a menu where you can select the three options:
In order to choose the right option for a particular post, let’s look at what each of these does:
Report abuse
This option allows you to flag posts that violate some rule or guideline of the Google+ community. This option is strictly for posts that abuse the other users in some way, such as those listed in the above screenshot. It should not be used just to get a post out of your feed because you don’t like it.
Mute this post
This option will remove the individual post, as well as associated comments, from your news feed. Note that this only removes the chosen post, not all posts for that user. Use this option for one-time minor annoyances.
Block this user
This option will remove all traces of the poster from your Stream. Use this when you simply do not want to read what that person has to say anymore, ever.
Those are the basics of commenting in Google+. Using these tools and features is a good first step to getting out into the Google+ pool and splashing around. I also recommend just going out there and playing around, fiddling to see what works and what doesn’t, what you like and what you don’t. The best way to learn is by doing.
For example, you may see several posts in your stream that look something like this:
(Ordinarily, the name and picture of the poster would be at the top left of this post, but for the purposes of this tutorial, they have been redacted.)
This is a link posted by someone from my network. You see the link itself, an icon, a thumbnail and a brief preview, just as you’d expect. But what else do you see? There are several important and useful elements in this screenshot, which we will talk about individually below.
Comments & Commenting
First, let’s talk about comments. The concept is nothing new, of course. The web has been full of comments for as long as any of us can remember. Facebook, blogs, forums, bulletin boards—they all make use of comments, providing a forum for users to pass on thoughts on the topics and media posted there in.
Google+ is no different. You can leave comments on other users’ posts, simply by clicking the Comment link below that post. Likewise, others can do the same with your posts. When a post has comments, they will appear below the post, as in the following:
You can respond to other users’ comments by putting them in the “Add a comment” text box at the bottom of the comment thread. A tip: just like blogging, it is good practice to respond to comments on your posts. That way, you connect with the community, which boosts your online presence.
Keep in mind, however, that no one wants to be constantly bombarded with sales and marketing talk in their social network feed. Don’t make overt sales pitches, make sure your comments have actual value and engage in both sides of question and answer sessions. Those three simple things will keep you in good standing in the community.
What the Heck is a +1?
After spending a little time on Google+ — or anywhere in the Googleverse, for that matter – you are bound to notice little rectangular icons all around that say “+1” on them. Are you wondering what those are?
Essentially, giving something a +1 is a way of endorsing it, saying that you agree with it or like it in some way, without making a specific comment. It is very similar in concept to the Facebook “Like” button, if you are familiar with that. Simply put, when someone +1’s your post, it means he likes it. The number of +1’s a post has received is displayed right below the post, above the comment thread:
In this example, four different users have found this post worthy of a +1. If you click on that little “+4” (or whatever the number happens to be), you can see who those users are.
The +1 is a great way for Google+ users to engage with one another. It is a tool you can use to communicate with the customers, associates and others in your network, but like any tool, it can also be overused. If you sit idly on Google+, arbitrarily clicking on every post that comes up in your Stream, then it loses meaning and no one will pay attention to your +1 in the future. It becomes like spam, and no one likes that.
Blocking & Muting
Now, not every post is worthy of a comment or +1. In fact, some are irrelevant, annoying or outright offensive. If you have spent any time on social networks, you are well aware of that.
Fortunately, you have options to avoid posts like these. In Google+, you have three simple ways of combating undesirable posts. To access them, simply click the tiny downward pointing arrow in the upper right corner of any post. This drops down a menu where you can select the three options:
In order to choose the right option for a particular post, let’s look at what each of these does:
Report abuse
This option allows you to flag posts that violate some rule or guideline of the Google+ community. This option is strictly for posts that abuse the other users in some way, such as those listed in the above screenshot. It should not be used just to get a post out of your feed because you don’t like it.
Mute this post
This option will remove the individual post, as well as associated comments, from your news feed. Note that this only removes the chosen post, not all posts for that user. Use this option for one-time minor annoyances.
Block this user
This option will remove all traces of the poster from your Stream. Use this when you simply do not want to read what that person has to say anymore, ever.
Those are the basics of commenting in Google+. Using these tools and features is a good first step to getting out into the Google+ pool and splashing around. I also recommend just going out there and playing around, fiddling to see what works and what doesn’t, what you like and what you don’t. The best way to learn is by doing.
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