Sunday, July 24, 2011

My First Experience with Google Plus!

I have been wanting to write this post for a few days but got distracted by my busy life schedule as a teacher.  Today seems a perfect day to do it.

I first heard about Google Plus from a Facebook friend by the name of Nicola D. who lives in Italy.  He has a post on his wall about how Google was aiming at setting up a social net work site that is very similar to Facebook.  I was totally intrigued by what he said and after that I did a bit of reading on the net about the whole thing and I left it at the point.  The next day when I got up from bed, I found out that Google Plus was there for real and Nicola was sending out invites.  I was too late as his invites were all gone!  I felt a little disappointed because I want to be part of it.  Two days later, I tried signing up on G+ without any invite and wah la--BINGO! I got in!  What followed that was unbelievable!  I played with it and circled all the friends that I know very well and of course, Nicola was one of them.   It didn't look very user friendly at first but then I got the hang of it and  after that, it was a journey of no return from here.  I have to say Google Plus totally rocks! Awesome! Awesome!

The privacy feature of Google Plus is most impressive!  Now I can add my family members without offending anyone.  I can post stuff that I want to whatever circle that I prefer.  I have a school circle which consists of only educators and a close friend circle that I can share all things about my life and they won't mind.  And more, I have a crazy circle that consists of people whom I think are geeks and nerds that I can learn stuff from.

Inorder to pay forward, I have also send out invites to my good friends who want them and this make feel good because this is what social networking is about!  Thank you for coming by, my courteous readers! If anyone need any invites, please leave a comment or follow me on G+.

The photo below shows the cup of coffee that I had on Friday at a cafe in Auckland.  I requested Melissa who made the coffee to put the Google plus sign on it--just for fun.  Melissa was thrilled to do it.  She said in her 5 years of working there, nobody had ever made any personal requests before me.





12 comments:

  1. You're right! Those circles are such a simplistic yet powerful feature.

    ReplyDelete
  2. First at all, thanks so much to have mentioned me on your post, Jenny. It was a pleasure. I agree with you, what really make differentiate Google + from Facebook are its impressive privacy policy. I was able to create circle related to my interest, e.g "affiliate marketers", "bloggers" and so on, so I can see only some friends posts on the live feed profile as send my post to a specific circle as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Google+ does have it's flaws like the privacy issue when your friends that you shared with reshared your content to someone you don't want to share with...like bosses or your enemies.

    that Google will have to change

    ReplyDelete
  4. Perhaps friends who are re sharing with your enemies and boss aren't actually your friends.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks again for the invite Jenny. G+ is going to rock!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi thanx for sharing your Google + experience, i will get our moms that we do training with to read your stories, they will be doing Google+ soon, hope to connect :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. My name is Jonathan Giles and I'm in Dr. Strange EDM310 class and I'm assigned to your blog.

    I'm getting used to Google+ as well. As you can see where I commented on your blog above, I hadn't yet signed up for it, but last week I did. The circle aspect as well as the Huddle feature have really spiked my interest. I think the possibilities are endless with G+ and I can't wait to see where it's at a year from now. I've enjoyed reading your experience with Google Plus more so because I'm using it for the first time too. Keep blogging!
    Jonathan Giles

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello Jenny. My name is Mary LaCoste, and I am one of Dr. Strange's EDM 310 students. Last week I read your more current blog post and learned all about Google+. I have not yet had a chance to sign up, but reading this post makes me really want to check it out. Like I said last week, I currently have a Facebook account, but I am definitely intrigued by this idea of having different circles of friends. Having one group of close friends and one group of people you work with is a great idea. That way you can specify certain messages for certain groups of people. Way to go, Google+! Thanks for sharing this information.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hello Jenny,

    My name is Jason Jackson. I am a student at the University of South Alabama, and I am a EDM 310 student. I read your post recent post, and I now see how much you really like Google plus. I am not big on social networking, but Google plus does have a nice appeal. It does seem that the ability to separate friends into different circles is a big pro for Google plus. You have a nice blog!

    ReplyDelete
  10. My name is Jonathan Freeman. I am enrolled at the University of South Alabama, and I am a student in EDM 310.I see you enjoy the things that Google plus has to offer. I have enjoyed reading your blog about Google Plus.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Jenny,

    My name is Mckinley Kennedy and I am a student at the University of South Alabama in the EDM 310 class. I have just recently started using Google + and I was a little nervous at first. But after using it for the EDM class I am in, I love it. I have really enjoyed being able to see and use all the neat tools that Google + has to offer. The most interesting tool I have found is the Hangout tool. It is very similar to Skype but it is with Google +. I found this tool very easy to use and a lot of fun. Thanks so much for sharing your blog. I have really enjoyed reading them all.

    Mckinley Kennedy

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello again Jenny!
    I am glad that you have suggested such a useful tool! I have heard about Google Plus, but never thought to check it out. After reading this post, I have looked into getting an account. Thanks for the great suggestion! I will be posting the summary on April 1. Here is a link for my blog: http://cookeabigailedm310.blogspot.com/ and for our class blog: http://edm310.blogspot.com/. I am also on Twitter at @AbigailCooke1.

    ReplyDelete