Google+ Now Open To Everyone

Google+ has now ended its field trial and opened its doors to everyone. The fledgling social network has come out of testing and now anyone can join. It might also be mentioned that it is high time. This whole thing of invite only is loosing its shine and the reason is that when people are not able to get in with an invite they don't even come later.

Close on the heels of all the new features being rolled out this week by Facebook comes this open invitation to all. Facebook has been loosing no time in rolling out new features including improved lists, an improved news feed and a ticker.

This takes the competition to the next level. Google+ hopes to bring in all the new users as soon as possible and they better not waste time. Check out this excellent marketing and invite strategy by Google. When users visit www.google.com this is what they are greeted with.

There is an arrow telling people that they have been invited and I'm sure it cannot be missed. For all those people waiting to catch up and find out what the fuss is all about. Google+ is now open and there are some amazing features to play with and the battle is now on. Let's see where this whole thing is going to go. Game on.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google+ User Content and Conduct Policy

Google+ have released their user content and conduct policy and they have laid it out in simple words. The whole policy is easy to understand and makes things very clear. Google+ have said that if you real name is not what people usually refer to you by, but you have a nick name it is acceptable to use the same. All other conduct privacy has to be with how you interact and what kind of profile pictures you can use. also a strong word of warning to people who want to use the site to spam, phishing and things like that. Read the Google+ user content and conduct policy online right here. You can also find the same at the bottom of your Google+ homepage or stream.



User Content and Conduct Policy


Our policies play an important role in maintaining a positive experience for our users. Please follow these policies when using our products and services ("Services"). When we are notified of a potential policy violation, we may review and take action, including limiting or terminating a user’s access to our Services.


1. Illegal Activities


Do not use our products to engage in illegal activities or promote dangerous and illegal acts.
2. Malicious Products


Do not transmit viruses, malware, or any other malicious or destructive code. Do not distribute content that harms or interferes with the operation of the networks, servers, or other infrastructure of Google or others.
3. Hate Speech


Do not distribute content that promotes hatred or violence towards groups of people based on their race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, or sexual orientation/gender identity.
4. Personal and Confidential Information


Do not distribute other people’s personal and confidential information, such as credit card numbers, confidential national ID numbers, or account passwords, without their permission.
5. Account Hijacking


Do not access another user’s account without their permission. Do not use our products for phishing scams.
6. Child Safety


Do not distribute content that exploits children, such as child pornography (including cartoon child porn) or content that presents children in a sexual manner.
7. Spam


Do not spam, including sending unwanted promotional or commercial content, or unwanted or mass solicitation.
8. Ranking Manipulation


Do not manipulate ranking or relevancy using techniques like repetitive or misleading keywords or metadata.
9. Gambling


Do not distribute content that facilitates online gambling, including online casinos, sports betting, or lotteries.
10. Sexually Explicit Material


Do not distribute content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts, or sexually explicit material. Do not drive traffic to commercial pornography sites.
Your Profile Picture cannot include mature or offensive content. For example, do not use a photo that is a close-up of a person’s buttocks or cleavage.


11. Violent or Bullying Behavior


Do not distribute depictions of gratuitous violence. Do not threaten or bully other users.
12. Impersonation or Deceptive Behavior


Do not use our products to impersonate other people.
13. Display Name

To help fight spam and prevent fake profiles, use the name your friends, family or co-workers usually call you. For example, if your full legal name is Charles Jones Jr. but you normally use Chuck Jones or Junior Jones, either of those would be acceptable.
About our Policies and Terms



Source: Google+

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to find your Twitter friends on Google+

For those of you who have very into using Twitter might also want to find your favorite Twitter friends who are also using Google+. The fun thing about that is you get all the added benefits of Google+ that are not available on Twitter and therefore sharing with your Twitter friends on Google+ and following them is highly recommended. By this am not implying that Google+ is better than Twitter, not at all. Twitter and Google+ are totally different and each should be respected for the service it provides and we do not look at them as competitors either, since each functions entirely different from the other. Even then there are some of us who like to keep our regulars close on which ever social media network is being used. So if you would like to find and add your Twitter friends to Google Circles there is a web app for that, http://www.findpeopleonplus.com/twitter2plus/ All you need to do is to enter your Twitter name and you will see which of your friends and followers are on Google plus. 

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google+ how to find interesting people to follow

Now that you have a Google+ account the next thing you would want is to find interesting content in your stream. The stream is something like the Twitter timeline where whenever you login. You find content from people you have added to circles. You can follow anyone you choose to on Google+. Now  it is to be noted that there are a lot of interesting people on Google+ and a whole lot of content is being shared daily. Photographers have become an instant hit on Google Plus and there are many that share interesting photographs and daily photography tips. This has become on of the instant hits on the service - Photography. Also for those Tech Geeks and Social Media addicts. There are all the big names on the service, well mostly all. You have the bloggers and tech people and not to forget all the people like us who write continuously on social media. To make our job easier and find the most followed people on Google+. We recommen two new sites that will help you on your quest.


1. Recommendedusers.com Will help you sort out who you want to follow based on categories
2. SociaoStatistics.com will also let you see who are the movers and shakers on Google+


UPDATE: Google+ have released a suggested Google+ list of who to follow and interesting people you can add to your circles. By doing this you can keep your stream supercharged and lively. The list has been divided into various categories ranging from politics, entertainment, technology, news, sports, photography & art, fun & interesting and last but not least picks. This list is quiet comprehensive and well Google+ has much more to offer so don't think this list is final. This can get your started and you can go for there. This is where to find the Google+ Suggested User list.

Google+ Suggested list to follow and circle

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google+ how to autoscroll back to the top

Here comes another Google+ tip and this time not a big one but a fun one nevertheless. Once you reach the bottom of your stream or even if you are in the middle and you know your Google+ stream can get quiet long. Especially if you follow a lot of people who post many updates every day. If you are an active Google+ user I do not need to mention the names, it is actually fun and well the team at Google have added a little bit more fun. you can now autoscroll back to the top iPhone style. All you need to do to scroll back to the top is to click on the top bar. The black bar located on top of your Google+ page and you are autoscrolled back to where you began. This tip was first posted by Casey on Google+. 

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google+: How to see all the photos you're tagged in on a single page

A new feature added by the Google Plus team allows you to see all the photos you have been tagged in. All of this on one single page A great way to sit back and enjoy all the fun times you have with people whoa re in your circles. This feature takes away the burden of having to switch between profile to view photos you have been tagged in. With the ability to see all of this on one single page definitely saves you all the hassle of moving between friends and circles. 


There is also one more side to this feature, assuming your friend has tagged you or has shared photos publically you can do the same for them. 


How to view all photos you have been tagged in on one page on Google+


1. Click on photos on the top bar
2. When you photo page opens you need to then click on photos of you found on the left-hand side
3. Click view all
4. You're done

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to block someone on Google+

If you do not want anything to do with someone on Google+ you have the option to block them. Blocking a person on Google+ is something severe and essentially cuts off that person from your and all your activities on Google+


How to block someone on Google+
1. Go to the person's profile and click on block that appears below their circles information
2. Click on confirm
3. You can also block by clicking on your notifications that appear on the top right-hand corner and click ignore. You then get a second option to block them. 


What happens when you block someone in Google+
1. They are removed from your circles and your extended circles
2. Their posts will not appear in your stream
3. They do not see anything you share with your circles
4. They will not be able to comment on your posts
5. They will not be notified that you have blocked them


How to unblock someone in Google+
1. Go to the person's profile and click on block that appears on the top right-hand.
2. You can also unblock from your circles page. Click on more actions and then click on view blocked and then click on unblock. 

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to ignore people on Google+ and what happens

Google+ has introduced another new feature, the ability to ignore people. This is different from a block and is not as severe and harsh. This feature is if you want to ignore someone and not view their updates in your incoming stream. They will still be part of your circles but you can conveniently not view their posts.

How to ignore a person in Google+
1. You can ignore them from the Google+ bar or from your notification stream
2. Click ignore next to their name
3. You would then see a confirmation message
4. You can also click on incoming on the left and bar and then click ignore next to their name
5. You can also ignore people from your circles page. Click on circles and then highlight the people you want to ignore and then click ignore found on the top off the page

How to undo ignore on Google+
If you change your niimd and wish to reverse ignore and see these people and their posts once again you would need to.
1. Go to your circles page
2. Click on more actions
3. Click on view ignored
4. Click on unignore from here or by adding them back to a circle

What happens when you ignore someone on Google+
1. You won't see any of their posts in your incoming stream
2. You won't get notifications about their activities
3. You won't see them on your circles page
4. They will not be notified that they have been blocked.

Check out the video below to know more

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to start a Google+ Hangout on YouTube

Google+ has now expanded and come to YouTube. Now whenever you are watching a video you also have the ability to share the same with your friends and start a hangout. It is also real simple and easy to use and you can set it up in seconds. You can now share and watch videos with your friends right form YouTube.


How to start a hangout on YouTube
1. Click on Share underneath the video you are watching
2. Click on 'Start a Google+ Hangout' located on the bottom right-hand corner
3. Another windows opens for you to add your circles and friends to the hangout
4. Click hangout
5. You're done


The YouTube video you want to share automatically starts playing and your friends and you can view the same and just, well, hangout.

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to collapse and expand comments in your Google+ Stream

Google+ have just announced another improvement and new feature within the service. The ability to collapse and expand comments. One of the reasons for4 this is really active conversations and comments can take over your stream and can be pretty overwhelming. Since comments appearing in real-time can make updates a little bit hard to read. The folks at Google+ have not fixed this so that it is not easy to expand and collapse comments in your stream.


To Expand or collapse comments in your Google+ stream
Is a very simple and easy to do this just below each update there is a small bar with the number of comments.  Click it once to expand and click again to collapse. You can get a clearer view from the image below the space between the two black lines is where you need to click. The black lines have been added by us and doe not appear in Google+

Comments arriving in real-time are automatically collapsed along with the ability for the system to keep track of comments you've read and comments you haven't. This new feature has been implemented based on users feedback. Check the video out below to know more.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Play games in Google+

Google+ has finally opened their games tab in the social site and users can now have their fill. There are games from popular game publishers - Zynga, Rovio and Wooga, all free to play. There are currently 9 games being offered in Google+ games. There is Zynga Poker, wild Ones and one of the most popular 'Angry Birds'. 


How to start playing games in Google Plus
You can now find the new games icon on your top header. Click on it and your taken to the world of games in Google+

With an estimated 29 million users on the social site Games in Google+ is sure to be a hit. There are currently 16 games from 10 developers. It will be really interesting to note which games become most popular.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Mute an entire circle in Google+

Apparently many Google+ users have been asking for a new feature, the ability to mute an entire circle. One of the main reasons that seem to be coming out is that there are some users you might not want to receive updates from and therefore club them all into one circle. This seems to make sense because if you have a number of users who keep updating things which are of no interest to you and fill your stream with a lot of interesting stuff. Adding the entire bunch into a circle seems to make most sense. 


Google+ currently allows you to mute a post of a thread but not an entire circle. However reliable sources on the internet have been saying that this is a feature that is coming soon. Tis way users can add and make use of their circles in a much more efficient way. Users are right now kind of addicted to Google+ and logging in all the time.Please use the comments section below to share your views and thoughts. 

An original post by

Sociolatte

Invite friends via IM or over the web coming to Google+

Google+ engineer Balaji has announced that a new feature is all set to be released in Google+. The abilityn to invite friends by sending them an IM or a link that you can post over the web. You may be wondering what this is good for. If you are not really sure about a friends mail ID or if you want friends who check your profile to be able to invite you. This comes in very handy. Assuming that this link can also be posted to your other social profiles across the web. People who look you up can immediately add you to their circles in Google+. This is very useful and initially will be limited to only 150 people per day. Now with this link you can share you profile across the web and people who would like to stay in touch or be a part of your connections on Google+, will be bale to do so with o difficulty at all.

How will invite friends via IM or Web work
1. Click the invite button on the right-hand side of the page
2. Link available to IM to friends or post on the web

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google+ How to move people from one circle to the other

You have setup all your circles in Google+ but notice that some people are in the wrong place and you would like to move them around. Circles on Google Plus are always changing, as people make adjustments constantly. For power users the nature of each circle also might change over time. The time comes for you to move one people from one circle to the other. Google+ does not yet offer a way to this automatically, you would can move people between circles but they remain in the old circle. Which means you need to go back to that circle and remove them from there.

How to move people between circles
1. Login to Google+
2. Click on circles
3. You see a dashboard with the names of all your friends and a list of circles below that.
4. Simply drag and drop from the dashboard to the circle. You can move multiple contacts by highlighting and number of people. To highlight simply click on the contact and don't move. This way you can move multiple contacts together.


How to remove contacts from the old circle
Since it is not automatic once you move contacts they also remain in the old circles. So you will not have to remove them from that circle.
1. Click on that circle
2. Click on the names of the people you would like to remove. You can select multiple contacts by clicking on each and highlighting them.
3. The click on 'remove' found on top of the list of people.
4. Confirm and you're done.

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to send a Direct Message or Private Message in Google+

Sending a message in Google+ is a little different unlike other social networks where you have to go to a person's profile and send an email from there. Google+ has the stream and it is used in many different ways. Google+ stream is the place where you can update your posts and share stuff with all your circles on the network. If however you want to send a private message or a direct message to one of your contacts this is where you need to go to get it done. It also works like traditional email where you type your message enter the name of the person you wish to send the message to and hit the share button


To send a message to one of your contacts:
1. Type your message you want to send to a person in the stream
2. In the space provided below start typing the name of the person you want to send the message to
3. The person's name appears enter it and do the same if you would like to message others as well
4. Click the share button
5. You're done

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to reorder your circles in Google+

based on Feedback sent by a lot of power users on Google+, Google engineer Bret van Zuiden released an update that makes everything easier. Reordering your circles is now as simple as drag and drop. To reorder your circles simple drag and drop the circle in the order you want. Once that is done it will stay in the same order across Google+. So now you do not need to waste time finding the right circle but important circles will stay in the way your placed them in order.

This order will help you when your viewing your stream, sharing or adding a person to your circles. The list will remain in the order that you specify. Even when adding people to your circles, all your circles will appear in the order you set. makes things easier and cleaner.

How to reorder your circles
1. Click on your circles tab in Google+
2. Click on the circle you want to move
3. Drag and drop it to the position you want.

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to connect your Google + account with Twitter, Facebook and other social sites

There are many reasons why you might want to connect your presence on other social networking sites with your Google+ account. You might want your Google Plus connects to find your LinkedIn profile easily. Maybe you want to connect your Flickr account to your account so you friends and connections will be able to find your photos and albums easily. Especially if you are very active in the social media scene Google+ offers you to connect all your account which can later be found on your Google+ profile so as to be found easily. You can add your Facebook and Twitter account to your Google+ account.  Cross-posting is not yet available but will definitely be a feature that will get added so people will be able to post from Google+ to Twitter and Facebook and vice versa. However that functionality is not yet available. Third party App developers must be scrambling to try to get that done. However for now you can connect your Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Flickr, LinkedIn, Quora, Yelp, Hotmail, Plaxo. Once added you can remove it at any time by going to your profile page and finding the links under the 'About' tab.


Important: If you want to 


How to connect account.
1. Click on the cog icon extreme right-hand corner
2. Click on Google+ settings
3. Click on connected account
4. Choose service you would like to connect from the drop-down menu

Important: If you want to connect and account and also make it visible on your Google Profile page you would need to tick the check-box 'Also add this link to my public Google profile'

5. Click on add
6. By checking the box in front of 'Use my Google contact information to suggest accounts from other sites' will allow Google to suggest accounts for you. 
6. You're done


The benefits of connecting your accounts are

Connecting your accounts puts you in control:
When you search, you can see relevant content that your friends share on the web.
You make it easier for them to find the things that you share on the web.
You can choose which accounts to display on your public Google Profile.
Google won't share your searches or other private information with third-party services without your consent.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google+ How to backup your photos, profile information, contacts, circles and stream posts

Google + allows you to backup all the information you share using the service. You can download all the photos, videos, profile information, contacts, circles and stream posts, you can download all this to a hard drive on your computer. To do this is fast quick and easy and you get to keep a record of all the information you share on Google Plus. This means that you can backup all your Picasa web albums and photos. You cna also save all your Buzz Posts and download all your contacts and circles. Choosing to do so will download all the info in zip files which you can later open and use whenever you want.


How to download all your profile information on Google+
1. login to Google+
2. Click on the cog icon on the top right-hand corner. 
3. Click on Google+ settings
4. On the right you will find the option 'Data Liberation'
5. Click it
6. As soon in the image below you get the following options
7. Choose what you would want to download and save

8. You're done


You can now curate all that you have shared and save a offline copy of everything for yourself. all the posts you use the stream to share can be saved and you can have a copy for reference whenever you want.

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to mute a post or thread in Google+

So what exactly is 'Mute a post' on Google+ and how does it work.


As part of the privacy settings in Google plus there is an option called mute this post. After joining Google+ people can add you to circles and start sharing with you. You can choose tho have them share or not. If you are added to a circle and that person shares with the circle there is a post that comes to your stream as well. If you have been added to many people's circles then there will be many post in your stream daily. Now some of these post you may choose not to see and not to follow.You can opt to use the 'Mute this post' option. Once you click on mute this post the entire post will remain hidden. This option is found on the top right-hand corner of each post. You can always undo mute the same post whenever you want by clicking on the 'unmute post'.


Muting a post will hide the entire post or thread and you can undo mute by finding that post again in your stream or by going to the user who shared the post and finding and undo mute it again. The second option is for those who have a large number of people who have added them to their circles. 


How to mute a post or thread in your Google+ stream
There is also another way to mute a post and that is by clicking the small drop-down arrow found on the top right hand corner of each post.

An original post by

Sociolatte

Google+ Stream privacy settings and how to use it

Google+ stream the place where you can share and update your status with a photo, movie, link or just about anything has some interesting privacy settings. This is the place you can use to share with multiple circles or just one circle or you can also enter names of people you are connected with to share. In the sharing stream you can share photos, videos and links and chose to add your location. The interesting thing is whenever you want to cancel a share or any other particular step you are involved in you can click the (X) button at any time and cancel whatever you were doing.


When you use Stream in Google+ these are the settings attached to help you.
1. You can edit you post at any time
2. Delete the post
3. Link to this post
4. Disable comments
5. Disable reshare


to do all of the above simple hover over the right-hand side of the post and click the small drop-down arrow. This will give you option on whether you want to disable comments and disable reshare. This is an option that many users will activate on post that they want to remain among a private group of friends. Hope this answers the question on how to disable comments and resharing on Google plus posts.


When you clock on the textbox in your stream you will get the following options
1. + Add circles or people to share with
2. When you click it you have the options to specific circles, all your circles, extended circles and public. 


You can choose specific circles by checking the box next to a particular circle. To share with all your circles just click on 'your circles' and it should take care of it. Same thing would apply for extended circles. You can choose to share with a combination of the above. You can choose to share with one of your circles and extended circles that are a part of it. To share with all the options you would need to click on all. If you choose 'Public' in your stream this share will then be posted to your public profile. The important thing to remember here is that you have all the options to use at your discretion. 


Please use our comments section below to continue this discussion

An original post by

Sociolatte