When I ask - are you in Google+ / Google Plus – the answer is You what? I joined Facebook
because my nieces invited me and my great-nephew has beaten me to Google+.
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| Not a Geek or a geek? Read the pictures this time. Dew on a morning spiderweb |
For my best
pithy polished answer to – What is, why would I, why should I, Google+ I choose magicrowd what-is-google-plus. Firstly because it is a delight to
watch, as I love line drawings. It is
not often in life, that you get the chance to start again. Fresh from the
ground up. You don’t bring across your list from … although you can start from
your email address book. Interested? Here is exploringsocialmedia how-to-use-google+ and mashable's google+-cheat-sheet
and kikolani why-i-like-google+.
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| Cattle egrets Follow the flock, got herd instinct? |
The early adopters were the predominantly male, techie
geeks. There has been some controversy about pseudonymity – you ‘must’ use your
real name. And specify your gender, although you can choose ‘Other’. This
raises social issues for women who are avoiding stalkers.
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| Cattle egret Are you an earlier adopter? |
It was and
is still, by invitation only. What weirds me out – they hit the first 10 million in 16 days vs. FB and
Twitter who took around 800 days to hit 10 million. Unlike FB you add people to
your circles, without waiting for a Yes to, will you be my friend. FB gives me
a privacy problem but Google+ has Privacy. Facebook-vs-Google-Plus.
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| That masked weaver was the very first customer at the refurbished Spirulino's! |
I was
invited by Bom plantchaser
who is celebrating his first
blogaversary. I'm battling to find any garden bloggers who are early adopters - Carole Sevilla Brown of Ecosystem Gardening.
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| Then the flock of sparrows and weavers and whydahs and doves comes |
Sisah at meingartenimfliesstal asked about the button for the
sidebar. I first saw it at Louis Gray, from where I copied and pasted. I
have redone my button using the official Google instructions profilebutton .
First login to your Google+ profile to get the right URL to copy and
paste. Choose the button size. Copy and paste the HTML into your blog. I wanted a
few words in my thumbnail – found the hack at mashable google-plus-tips-tricks.
Since we are bloggers, get your blog name and its link up there where we can
see, that it’s YOU!
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| One day, Google+ will be open to all |
Once you
are in, you get 8 invitations to pass on. I see a few familiar faces there but
they have a – the lights are on and no one is home – just staking my claim to
my place. You can claim my invites. Would you like to join Google+? Leave a
comment and I’ll choose eight loyal readers. Four down, 4 to go …
If you are
not into joining the geeks hacking and tweaking their way thru this pilot
phase, it will soon be open to all. As opposed to the 20 million who are already
in. waxingunlyrical thank-you-Google-for-the-antithesis-of-a-more-social-network.
words by Diana of Elephant's Eye
- wildlife gardening in Porterville,
near Cape Town in South Africa
(If you mouse over brown text,
it turns shriek pink. Those are my links.)
23 comments:
Thanks for the comments on my blog. To answer your question, the road to Pella is fine - its just off the main rd from Springbok to Pofadder and well worth a visit.
I'm not a blogging Geek, so I just looked at the pictures. I love the spiderweb!
Diana, if I were a social networker this would be mega useful. I hardly even tweet, unlike your Spirulinos enjoying their new tea house. Lovely colours.
Many thanks, Diana, now I got the button for my blog I wanted. My problem is I started blogging 'learning by doing' and still have problems to understand the nomenclature , that's why I get sometimes puzzled by all these options you have.
Your spider-web photo ist adorable!
Liebe Grüße
Sisah
Diana, I think I have a couple more "plant people" in my circle. I can't help you with your questions. You are way, way ahead of me on Google+. It will soon be me asking you for advice.
I thought I would like Google+ (I definitely DON'T like Facebook) but got cross when messages about articles people liked started arriving in my email box even though I haven't joined. It put me off so much I took against it.
(They've stopped coming now so maybe the people who joined have got fed up with it already.)
I'm glad you've mentioned members are given only eight invitations. I didn't realise they were this specific and assumed they were automatically generated so I ignored them. Now I realised I should have responded to the inviters. It's a bit like Linkedin - I've not been clear whether the people inviting have chosen to write or whether something has gone through their email list.
The pseudonym issue is really important. I hadn't thought of it until I came across a post about it on Bug Girl's Blog
http://membracid.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/why-google-hates-women/
Facebook doesn't allow pseudonyms. Google+ could have made an advance in this area.
You talked me into it.
Lucy - we are learning. When you invite someone - I notice a little Tick the box to email (Esther, mine went to Carol ...) - and have made sure that box is unticked! It would really tick me off too.
I must be the worst of everybody at it - I got invited actually, and haven't figured out how to join:).
Lucy, may I comment? I think you just have to disable or disallow +1 in your settings. Also, your settings let you choose what gets emailed to you.
There is a default for users to send what they share via email to those on their email list who haven't signed up yet. Your friends may have learned to untick the box before sharing and that would explain why you are no longer getting them in your inbox.
Masha - Your invitation goes, not to 'you', but to a particular email address (if you have more than 1, make sure you are logged in to the invited address) then jump thru the hoops. We are all learning, even the high profile technogeeks. Come and join us!
Dear Diana, i enjoyed the little video and understand I think the point of Google+. I found the end a bit sinister when he said don't fight it, submit to Googledom. In my limited time online I think I prefer just to concentrate on blogging and my virtual gardening community rather than the more general networking of FB. cheers and thanks for geeky update, cm
I had a look at Google+ but it didn't really impress me off the bat. I think the only reason that it got so many people in such a short time is because people were curious. Honoustly, I don't think it will ever replace Facebook. Too many people and businesses have their presence on FB and it will be a lot of effort to pack up and move to Google+ if they haven't got FB's "population". I have an idea a lot of people will open a Google+ account just in case they may want to use it in the future, which is what I did, but for now I much rather prefer Facebook.
Absolutely stunning first picture by the way.
Thanks for your comment on the going away for a while post. I replied in a post rather than in the little response box. (Too small for my many words!)
Firefly - I have a strictly personal FB page to keep in touch with widely scattered family. EE FB page is there as a courtesy for those who use it. But Google+ gets addictive as you find your way around the global village ;~)
Well, when I'm retired I will surely join whatever the latest craze is. Right now, well, I can barely keep up reading a few blogs, keeping on top of my email (work and personal), keeping the garden in shape and feeding myself. Oh, and sleep. I admire all those who can tweet and FB and google+ with all their friends but alas, unless I get a 26 hour day, I just can't do it...
Google plus - What's that? I thought I am just learning to walk on FB. Now, I gotta side-flip, roll, crawl and then learn to walk again on new Google. I just found out that there is Internet Explorer 9 when I'm still using IE Ver.8 and I don't like Windows Live Mail, so I'm still hanging on to Outlook Express. And why is my computer restarting again 5 times a day after being repaired and new software reloaded? I'd better do more real gardening stuff before I get a heart attack or stroke from all this updating myself with updated technology.
Dear Diana, You have taught me so much, but I do not have time for one more addiction, so I'll pass on this one. P. x
Well, that confused me. But it makes sense. If that makes sense. Surrounded as I am by 17-year old (mainlymale) Geeks, I'm surprised to not have heard of it... If you still have an invite to spare I'd be much obliged. However it will be easier perhaps than for many others for me to hunt one down. ;)
I am half on, half off the fence on Google +. At first I was so fascinated with it, almost infatuated.
But then Pininterest came along...and now I find myself not even checking Google+ that much anymore.
We all have very limited available free time, and it's enough just to keep up with all the blogs I read. Pininterest is very visual, and I love that.
Friendships come and go, I am sure I will be back soon.
Meanwhile you are in one of my circles, and I like to read your post there.
Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams
I've looked at it but it looks like it'd complicate my life instead of making it simpler or more fulfilling. I remember some of their past experiments like the dearly departed Google Wave--what was that? But I rather like Google Goggles on my phone. If Google keeps trying maybe they'll come up with the next...Google.
Because Facebook connects everything to your name, I have not added my blog to FB. I would like to separate the two. Should I write or connect to something that would give away a personal tidbit on FB, I would not want the world to have access to that. I don't know how Google + compares.
Sage Butterfly - there is no link between my friends only personal FB page, and the 'fan' page I have set up for the blog. Google+ is in Your Name, but you can call yourself Jane Doe ...
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