I’m enjoying Google Plus right now. I like the hangouts and I like the stream. I like the stream of information because it’s a small stream and it’s not super spammy, yet.
With twitter and with facebook I’m connected to a lot of bloggers just like myself. Bloggers love to promote their work. Bloggers are also paid to promote their work. I guess I should say that you have to circle bloggers with care.
I have a few G+ tips that may or may not build the numbers everyone is looking for, but would do a lot to increase the quality of interaction.
Keep a good ratio of solid content to promotional content. For example: share 5-10 articles written by someone other than yourself before you share your own
Ask questions. The best conversationalists are probably the folks who use the words “I” and “me” the least
Don’t monopolize a hangout. I was in one last night where one person seemed totally unaware that there were seven other people in the hangout. This is not YouTube where you talk at people, this is a group chat, where a group chats.
Name your circles appropriately. Although Google is run by adults we should all learn our lessons from Facebook. Anything could become public at any time. So that circle that you want to name “Social Media D-Bags”? Call it something else, like “Smarty Pants” just in case they see it some day.
Be specific and small with your circles. Circles of 100 people or more don’t do a lot of good, but circles for Foodies, Cars, Angelinos, and parents have served me well. If G+ lasts a while (I think it might) it’s important that you are organized from the start.
Know that if you’re in a hangout someone may screengrab or broadcast you publicly. It sucks, but it happens.
Google Plus will have an effect on SEO so you will be tempted to share every single thing you ever wrote. Fight the urge and just try to create good compelling content that others will be motivated to share on your behalf.
If you’re not on Google+ and you have a gmail address consider this your invitation. Of course it would be really great Karma to start by adding a +1 to this post.
Today is Jane’s eighth day at Outward Bound. To answer your questions: no, I don’t know how she is doing she cannot call it is a wilderness expedition and no, I’m not worried about bears/drowning/snakes/chupacabras.
About three times a day Alexander looks at me and says, “Jane would love this.” I smile and I say, “I miss her too.”
When I lay in bed at night and I can’t get the pillow quite right I get tense because my Jane is sleeping under a tarp that she had to carry on her backpack and in a sleeping bag with no pillow. I know she’s happy. Camping trips like this were the highlight of my youth so I’m well aware of how much fun she’s having.
I just miss her.
Alexander is mostly enjoying being the only child. He misses having another kid in the house, but this morning he asked me for pretzel M&Ms at 10am and I said yes. He asked me if I was sick. I told him that I was sick and we each had a bag of pretzel M&Ms for brunch. They were delicious and it was strange enough for Alexander that I think he’ll always remember the week his sister was gone and his mother gave him a little bag of poison in the morning.
We had lunch at a ramen house where you sit cross legged on the floor. Shoes are naturally removed and I was good about that but forgot my sunglasses after having put my shoes back on. I promptly stood up and walked across the cushions with my sandal feet while the waitstaff and my brother looked on horrified. Karma bit me in the ass and I walked outside and stepped in chewing gum.
Can we talk about chewing gum? If I was Queen of the World I’d ban two things, chewing gum and scented deodorant. There’s no reason you need to walk around chewing anything all day long. It’s perfectly acceptable to face the world without working your damn jaw. The snapping sound of the middle aged side mouth gum chewer is like nails on a chalkboard, but the hideousness of gaping mouth with bright blue or green gum being swirled around on a filthy tongue is simply unbearable. I’m past the point where I feel I have to be polite. I simply walk away.
As for scented deodorant, really? Can we just agree that whomever created Axe belongs in prison?
When I went on Fox and Friends and Dr Keith Ablow talked about breasts as secondary sexual organs I tried to contain myself. For many people ears, necks and toes are highly erotic but we don’t have laws to cover them them up.
We do have laws that allow women to feed their children anywhere that women are allowed to be. So basically no, you may not feed your infant son in a men’s locker room. I’m willing to call this reasonable.
Now, before you confuse me for a lactivist understand that although I support your entitlement to nurse freely I think that manners matter and I’d like to see women of older children nurse discreetly. If you have an infant I don’t care if you have to plop both breasts on a dinner plate to get the job done. When you’re nursing a child who can tie their own shoes I’d prefer you were somewhere private, not glaring at me in a restaurant.
We need lactivists. We need batshit crazy extremists who will nurse their seven year olds at Applebees. Sometimes you’ve got to be outrageous to make some changes.
In a statement given to KHOU 11 News, Pure Fitness for Women said: “Our company strongly supports and encourages mothers to pursue the healthy development and nutrition of their children through breastfeeding. We believe breastfeeding is one of the most important, natural and personal ways for a mother to bond with her baby.”
According to the statement, the gym, as a private business, was also entrusted with the care and custody of minor children in the Kid’s Club area.
Velazquez said several children, including an 11-year-old boy, were in the Kids Club at the time Montgomery-Schlanser was breastfeeding.
“We are responsible for both male and female children from the ages of three months to 12 years old,” the gym said in a statement. “Without express written consent from a parent or legal guardian of these minor children, we feel we do not have the right to dictate what the parent or guardian determines to be appropriate for their children.”
I must say I support this nurse in. As wacky as I think they can be I think it’s important that we dispel the myth that breastfeeding is a sexual activity and that children somehow need to be shielded from it.
I’m anxious to read this book. I like that Claire talks about Pepsi using Twitter for good, because you might recall that I was a little bit involved in their first campaign. She also talks about Invisible People which is amazing…
But mostly Claire ate Sea Urchin sashimi with me at Nobu and if that doesn’t seal a friendship nothing will.
I’m so glad my friends have left Forbes so that I can tell you how utterly useless their tech site is. Paul Tassi wrote the following about Google+ today.
It may not be dead, and it’s entirely possible I’m shoveling dirt on something that’s still writhing around, promising me it is in fact the next big thing, but I’m now deaf to its cries. Google Plus is a failure no matter what the numbers may say.
Only in tech could someone say something so inane and not be called on the carpet. You don’t care what the numbers say? 25 million users isn’t enough? Tassi doesn’t have a public stream, which is totally fine (though not particularly social and he is commenting on social media). Rather than writing a eulogy to Google+ Tassi might have wanted to write about why he doesn’t enjoy the social aspects of social media.
Instead he decided to start using G+ a few hours after the article was met with criticism by the folks who actually use Google Plus.
I’m not surprised that one random guy declared a website useless without having actually tried all it’s features at least once. I am surprised (maybe not super surprised) that Forbes would run the piece.
Where are the editors?
FYI I don’t think Google+ is dead, in fact I love it.
