Part 7 (1/2)

Below the area where you put your post information is the sharing options for each post. You have several options to how you choose to share this information. The first of these, the kind of wide-open option, is to share with Public. This means that anyone can see this post. (Most of what I share is to the Public group.) You can choose to share with Your Circles, which means that anyone you put into a circle can see the post. You can also add Extended Circles, which means that you've not only shared that information with people in your circles, but also made it visible to other people who have those people in their circles. (If that's a bit confusing, it's okay-it makes sense after checking things out).

You can share with one specific individual by typing @username or +username and then making sure you haven't added any other sharing options. This is as close as Google+ comes to a private message.

Similar to this last option, if you mention someone in a post with the + or @ method (such that their name shows up in blue with a + before it), then that person will receive access to that post, whether or not they're in the circle (or circles) you've chosen to share that information with.

For example, a.s.sume you have a circle called Chris Brogan Haters, and you use it to share all kinds of mean and nasty information about me (hey, people might!). If you type into your box a bunch of information about how I don't floss my teeth enough, but you just say, ”Chris has bad flossing habits,” your secret evil club is safe. However, if you put in ”+Chris Brogan has really bad flossing habits,” and my name shows up with a + and is blue, I'm going to have access to see that post, even if I'm not in your ”Chris Brogan Haters” circle. Make sense?

Interestingly, you can also share a post with someone not on Google+ by including that person's email address in the sharing area below. Simply click Add More People, and start typing in the email address. When it's all typed in, press your Tab key, and poof: You've emailed someone a copy of the post you're about to share.

Sharing Something with a Limited Audience.

When you share something with a limited audience, the people who have received that post can see any mutual connections you've shared it with, plus get a count of how many other people had access to see the post. So, if you share with your Managers circle, and that's 24 people, any colleague who has a mutual connection in common with you will show up when one clicks the ”limited” explanation that shows up to the right of the date stamp on the post (see Figure 6-3).

Figure 6-3 A limited post.

Formatting Posted Text.

As noted, to post text, simply follow the preceding step of going to the Stream page (your little house) and clicking in the white area of the box that says, Share What's New. Type your text in and press Share.

You can also add bold, italic, and strikethrough text to format your text. Following are the methods for doing this: * To bold text, put two asterisks (*) around the word or words you want to bold.

* To make your text italic, put two underscores around the word or words you want italic.

* To apply strikethrough to your text, place a dash (--) around the word or words you want to apply it to.

You can also post a link without having to do anything fancy. However, posting links into the text box makes the post become a ”link” post; if you don't select something such as a photo, a video, or location data first. In other words, because a post can be either a photo post, a video post, or a link post, but not more than one of these types of posts, typing a link to a website into your ”text” post turns it into a ”link” post.

If you make a different type of post, such as a photo post, a video post, or a location data post, you can then add a link (or links) into the text part that accompanies that type of post. For example, if you post a photo, Google+ enables you to add text to that post. If you post a photo, and then mention that you took it in front of dell.com headquarters, that shows up as a link in the text part of that post, even though it's a photo post.

Likewise, you can add location data and not need to choose between types of posts.

Experiment a bit, and you'll get it.

Posting Photos.

Photos are actually quite powerful in Google+. I've noticed (through testing) that if I post straight text, I get one level of reaction. If I post a photo and that same text, I'll get a lot more interaction. Why? I think it's just because we can use the photo to draw people into the story.

You choose three options to post a photo on Google+. You can simply add a photo, you can create a new alb.u.m (or collection of photos), or you can post a photo from your phone (if you've taken photos and selected auto-post via the Google+ mobile app for Android or iPhone). Don't worry about the details of those last two options yet. Just think about posting a photo from the web app at first.

When you click Add Photos, the web application asks you to locate the photo you'd like to add. After you find and select that photo, Google+ uploads a copy of it and puts it on your post. Photos show up below the text you enter (should you choose to add text to the post) no matter what. So, you can't choose the location of where the photo is placed inside the post. It'll always be at the bottom (as will video, links, and placed data).

On the mobile application, you can set up Instant Upload as an option for photo sharing. This enables you to automatically upload photos (and videos, should you choose) to a private web alb.u.m. You can do two things with this: Immediately select photos to post to your stream via the web application, or save the photos for later use when you decide to post via your web application (where the most recent photos that have auto-uploaded from your mobile device wait for you, should you decide to use them in a post).

Photos taken and uploaded via the Instant Upload don't immediately post into your stream. They simply go into a holding area until you choose to use them (if you want) for inclusion with a post. However, posting a photo via your mobile device does put that photo right into the stream, after you press share. Be aware of the difference.

Thus, if the boss says, ”Take some photos of the event,” simply taking photos and having them shoot up to Google+ via Instant Upload leaves them in a kind of limbo. So, you'll have to go in and publish those photos before they show in your stream. If you do it the other way around, and you're posting photos thinking that you're just lobbing them into Instant Upload to sort out later, and you include those photos of your boss drunk and falling out of the duck boat, that might not go well either. See the difference?

Posting Video.

You can post video by uploading directly to Google+ via the web application, by posting something originally uploaded via your mobile device (see the above notes on how photos get sent to Google+ via mobile), and by pointing to a video already posted on YouTube.

Of these options, I've had the best success with posting via YouTube. When I've attempted to post directly from the web application, the quality of the video decreases, and the time it takes to upload is longer (even on my high-speed connection in the office). Instead, if you want to post a video of your own creation, it is probably easier to upload it to YouTube and then post it to Google+ by referencing the YouTube link.

If you're sharing videos from your own YouTube channel, and that channel is a.s.sociated with the same Google account that you use for Google+, simply click the Video icon, select YouTube, and then select Your YouTube Videos from the next option.

Sharing other people's videos from YouTube is relatively easy. You can search for the video by name, or if you have the URL link specifically to that video, you can post into the appropriate spot after selecting Video, and then select YouTube. Either way, it usually comes right up. When you find what you want, select Add Video; then you'll be dropped back into your post so that you can add text, and adjust the sharing options.

Posting Place and Location Data.

You can post data into Google+ via your mobile device and sometimes via the web application. To test this latter effort, I told Google+ to post my location from my Macbook Air, and it knew exactly which coffee shop I was sitting in (The Wired Monk, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, at the time of this writing, should you be the curious type).

Some people share place or location data so that they can encourage serendipitous meetings. You can have your sales team check in via location data to give your team a sense of their comings and goings, if that is of value to your organization. You can use location check-ins to mark potential prospects, for instance, if you were looking for places to sell your retail products. There are lots of ways to consider using place data as part of the value of Google+.

Other Post Options.

You can go back and edit a post or delete a post after you've added it to the stream. Maybe you've accidentally sent out a link to all the public that shares your upcoming ad campaign's main website address. No worries. You can pull it down relatively fast. You can also link to the post by clicking the arrow in the upper-right corner of the post and selecting Link to This Post.