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Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

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Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#41

Post by judofyr »

bad_user wrote: post #40
joshuahedlund wrote: post #16

I can't find them right now, but I remember reading a blog post or two complaining that manually dividing your contacts into Circles (and maintaining those Circles over time) was bad/useless busy work to force on users. I wonder if this Volume thing will feel like just another micro-managing necessity that makes it worse. But I'm glad to see that they've added lots of features - like multiple admins for brand Pages,…

I read the same article and it was flawed for a reason - it isn't busy work if you don't use it. You can just have 1 or 2 circles - like Family and the rest of the world. It is extremely useful however if you want multiple channels of communication. Say, you want to post news for Ruby developers and you do that daily ... so why on earth would you want to spam your friends that aren't even developers? On the other han…

> It is extremely useful however if you want multiple channels of communication. Say, you want to post news for Ruby developers and you do that daily ... so why on earth would you want to spam your friends that aren't even developers? On the other hand posting pictures of your child should be for close acquaintances only - friends, colleagues from school / work, family, otherwise if you get popular you'll regret exposing your personal life ;)

That's actually one of the weakest part of G+: I can't post something that's both public and limited to one audience. If I post Ruby stuff publicly, I'll spam my friends; if I don't publish it publicly, nobody will know I post Ruby stuff.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#42

Post by hybrid11 »

Leynos wrote: post #38
hybrid11 wrote: post #29

There was such a huge influx from my friends to use Google+ when invites were first sent out, but now, barely anyone in my circles use it anymore. However, when I do check it, my feed is filled with posts from 2-3 power users from my Randoms Circle, so this "graphic-equalize" feature is very welcome! Just curious, has anyone stopped using other soical networks and are using G+ instead, or do you use G+ on top of them…

I've pretty much switched from Facebook to Google+. I find G+ a much more comfortable place on the whole, but I get the impression that Facebook isn't really aimed at me. What Google+ is missing when compared with Facebook is the event planning tool. The one time I find myself returning to Facebook is when someone is organizing a party or a night out.

Yah that's true, I use the event planning a lot in Facebook.

I find that G+ is good for finding content on topics, and creating a community around them. I just don't see any use for more personal social networking as long as all my friends are on Facebook.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#43

Post by bad_user »

judofyr wrote: post #41
bad_user wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the same article and it was flawed for a reason - it isn't busy work if you don't use it. You can just have 1 or 2 circles - like Family and the rest of the world. It is extremely useful however if you want multiple channels of communication. Say, you want to post news for Ruby developers and you do that daily ... so why on earth would you want to spam your friends that aren't even developers? On the other han…

> It is extremely useful however if you want multiple channels of communication. Say, you want to post news for Ruby developers and you do that daily ... so why on earth would you want to spam your friends that aren't even developers? On the other hand posting pictures of your child should be for close acquaintances only - friends, colleagues from school / work, family, otherwise if you get popular you'll regret expo…

Yes that's true - the feature was probably considered too advanced and "busy work", because these days anything that's not just a simple button labeled "press me" is considered too complex.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#45

Post by joshuahedlund »

judofyr wrote: post #41
bad_user wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the same article and it was flawed for a reason - it isn't busy work if you don't use it. You can just have 1 or 2 circles - like Family and the rest of the world. It is extremely useful however if you want multiple channels of communication. Say, you want to post news for Ruby developers and you do that daily ... so why on earth would you want to spam your friends that aren't even developers? On the other han…

> It is extremely useful however if you want multiple channels of communication. Say, you want to post news for Ruby developers and you do that daily ... so why on earth would you want to spam your friends that aren't even developers? On the other hand posting pictures of your child should be for close acquaintances only - friends, colleagues from school / work, family, otherwise if you get popular you'll regret expo…

This is why I wish Google Circles were reversed. The current method is fine if you actually have stuff you want to post to a public database but still hide from your boss. Otherwise it's only fine if you know exactly what kind of content every single one of your followers wants to see from you.

I would much rather be able to mark all of my posts as "Technology" or "Music" or "Politics", where they are all publicly viewable from my page but my followers decide which kinds of categories they want to see from me in their feed. Let the end user control what they consider 'spammy' - not the source user who doesn't know what the end user wants to see.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#46

Post by rwolf »

nullymcnull wrote: post #24
cydonian_monk wrote: post #20

I really, really, really wish the Google+ Desktop site worked on my iPad like /most every other non-Flash site on the 'net./ It's so bloated with heaven know's what (JavaScript?) that all I get is a tantalizing preview of G+ before Safari crashes. Even regular Google crashes Safari if I'm logged in on my iPad (thanks to the new Google Bar?). G+ is the last 'Desktop Only' website I use. (Outside of work, at least.) Th…

Not sure why this should be downvoted; G+ really is an atrocious mess when one tries to view it in most mobile browsers. This all applies to Android too, amazingly enough. If Google wants people to use G+, then they really do need to get it on a javascript diet -- or at least start seriously testing it, starting with their own devices. I got the Galaxy Nexus on release day. Upon trying to visit a G+ post that was lin…

I'm curious if you were redirected to the mobile version of the website. When I visit plus.google.com on that same phone, it redirects to m.google.com/app/plus, which looks like a iphone-ified version of my stream.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#47

Post by freehunter »

nullymcnull wrote: post #24
cydonian_monk wrote: post #20

I really, really, really wish the Google+ Desktop site worked on my iPad like /most every other non-Flash site on the 'net./ It's so bloated with heaven know's what (JavaScript?) that all I get is a tantalizing preview of G+ before Safari crashes. Even regular Google crashes Safari if I'm logged in on my iPad (thanks to the new Google Bar?). G+ is the last 'Desktop Only' website I use. (Outside of work, at least.) Th…

Not sure why this should be downvoted; G+ really is an atrocious mess when one tries to view it in most mobile browsers. This all applies to Android too, amazingly enough. If Google wants people to use G+, then they really do need to get it on a javascript diet -- or at least start seriously testing it, starting with their own devices. I got the Galaxy Nexus on release day. Upon trying to visit a G+ post that was lin…

Really sucks on Windows Phone, where there is no app. The desktop site doesn't crash MIE9, but it is fairly unusable overall. Their mobile site is worse, though, it has to be designed for feature phones with WAP browsers and limited screen space.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#48

Post by simoncion »

joejohnson wrote: post #21
ergo14 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you start your word with + and you will get a autocomplete that works like @ at twitter ;-) Also hashtags are now supported.

It also works by using an '@' and typing a friend's name. So, just like twitter and just like the GP is wishing it would.

G+ will change the '@' into a '+' when you commit the post or comment.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#49

Post by modeless »

Random_Person wrote: post #6
Leynos wrote: post #4

The volume controls for circles are a great idea. I prefer this to the algorithmic approach taken by Facebook. It's a pitty that pseudonymns are still not mentioned here though. NSFW controls would be nice too (as opposed to the blanket ban on NSFW content in place at present).

I begged for Stream-tuning from the beginning. I've never used Facebook, so I have no basis for comparison, but I really expected to be able to do this from the start.

Facebook used to have a feature very similar to this, but they removed it.

Re: Google+: A few big improvements before the New Year

#50

Post by simoncion »

ben0x539 wrote: post #10

The only improvement I wish for would be to let middle-clicks open things in new tabs, like it does in all those other websites that aren't drowning themselves in clever javascript.

When this is broken, please use the "Report an Issue" button to let folks know. I am told that the fancy JavaScript-ized links are supposed to work just like ordinary anchor-tag links, so any user-visible deviation from this behaviour is a bug. (Don't ask me why in the hell Google is so fond of breaking their fancy links.)
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