In the new app, media posts are now larger than life with photos stealing the spotlight, while text-only posts seem to stand out like little islands of white paper in a sea of colors and dark grays. It’s all visually stunning, but unfortunately many readers shake their heads in shame because their ability to skim full posts has been taken away.

Don’t despair, as this focus on brevity is the perfect opportunity to format your posts with attention-grabbing titles and relevant images.

How the mobile stream has changed

The app truncates text, overlays text onto media, and even the media itself is truncated to dimensions similar to that of mailing envelopes. Take a look at this comparison of the iPhone and Android G+ Apps.

480 x 800 Resolution on Google Nexus One w/ Android 2.3.7

600 x 1024 Resolution on Kindle Fire w/ Android 4.0.4

640 x 960 Resolution on iPhone 4

(Major thanks to quick-draw Alex Johnson for the iPhone screenshot)

As you can see, the overlying white text is truncated differently across these three devices. It seems Android does not register line breaks, and depending on your version, bold and italics may not work. What is a social media rockstar to do?

Before you start posting, search your topic.

What is the overall theme of your post? Use the Google+ search bar to open a discussion about your subject. If you are sharing a link to your blog article, this might be the category. This is a great SEO practice, especially for photographers who may not want to add descriptions or captions to their photo posts.

By joining the discussion, your post will now appear in the stream for this particular search term, even if you don’t use these keywords directly in your post.

Hook the reader and clearly explain the content of the post in ten words or less.

Newspaper articles are structured so that the title and opening sentence immediately answer the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Questions are also a great way to grab attention.

Beautify your posts with a bold title and an italicized subtitle, each followed by double line breaks.

Note: You may not even need a subtitle or additional information. For example, if you are sharing a Youtube video for entertainment value only, a short title like “I found this funny” is enough. Please state something though. Your posts are less likely to be ignored if you add a personal touch to them. Be real; not an auto-poster.

If you embed the link, remove the URL

One link is enough. Tidy up your post by deleting that lengthy URL. You know what I’m talking about. http://hereisalink.tomyblog.com/2011/12/04/that-is-unsightly-and-takes-up-too-much-space-so-please-remove-this-after-it-embeds-itself/

Google+ creates a nice link for you. Use the backspace key to remove the URL.

Check the quality of the attached link image!

When you attach links, the image that is pulled from the website becomes the background for the post. If the image is too tall, too wide (in this case), or low quality, it will make your post ugly like in this next picture.

 No.

Remove the attached image for a clean, text-only post.

Edit the embedded link by hovering over it. It's possible to cycle through to find a better image.

The post now looks clean on desktop and mobile, but it’s not brilliant yet.

Upload an eye-popping graphic in place of embedded link

If you are not a graphic artist, one quick and dirty solution is to search Google Images for a solid color rectangular background. Then after uploading the background to the post, click on Add Text.

If you are feeling brave, click on Edit photos first (and click on the pencil icon on the next screen) to play with crop and the lomo effect in the Creative Kit.

Then add the title of the link into the middle area.

Now we’re getting noticed!

Wow! Anyone scrolling through the stream, whether on the desktop or mobile versions, is going to stop and investigate this brilliantly crafted post. It can’t be ignored!

Makes a huge difference, doesn’t it?

Save hashtags for the end of the post

If your post content is descriptive enough to be found in search, hashtags are unnecessary in my opinion. If you must have them, I suggest putting them last so they do not wind up in the snippet.

Post to public

I am restating the obvious here. For maximum visibility, always post to public. The only reason these tutorial images say “Limited” is because I was sharing them to myself for testing purposes.

Follow up in the comments

Keep the conversation alive and more users will join in, continually bumping your hot post to the top of the stream.

Don’t ask for +1′s or reshares

Please don’t. If your post is brilliant and worth sharing, people will do the obvious.

Thanks for reading this tutorial! Did I miss any tips for brilliant posts? Tell me what you think in the comments below!

Is your inner artist screaming to come out and play? Explore the Google+ Creative Kit!

There are so many options available to spruce up your photos; options like saturation, exposure, contrast, rotate, crop, cross process, text, decorative items such as speech bubbles, beards, and the list goes on.

Here’s a quick tutorial to add rounded corners to any photo in your Google+ photo album.

1. Access your albums and open the photo you want to edit
2. Click on the Creative Kit button found at the top of your viewing window
3. Click on the Effects tab
4. Select the 1960′s effect
5. Set the corner color to white for profile or scrapbook photos (set to black for photos you expect to be viewed as part of the album slideshow)
6. Set the Fade to 100% to remove the retro color effect
7. Save!

Once inside the photo viewer, click on the Creative Kit button at the top.

Select the Effects tab and scroll down to the 1960′s effect. Adjust the settings as shown.

Don’t stop there! Explore all the other effects. Save when satisfied!

I guess I got a little carried away. I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial. Have fun!

Below are a few of the Google+ features that writers, especially freelance writers, can use to help land those high paying freelance gigs:

Portfolio

You can actually use the social network as a portfolio to host all of your writing. Writers do this by adding in articles to the “Contributor To” bar on the site of the “About” section. Consider the screenshot below:

There are several reasons why this sort of portfolio is very appealing to writers:

1. It takes readers to where the article was published;
2. It’s a great place to send editors because they will be able to see your connections and check out your ability to promote the articles you write;
3. Your portfolio is shown in through a medium where editors already feel comfortable;
4. If a website has a Google+ account, the company logo will show up next to the article submission. This could potentially catch an editor’s attention if they see you have contributed to a site they recognize.

Promotion

One of the most important parts of being a writer is being able to promote your articles. Other social networks such as Twitter and Facebook do a good job of giving writers this avenue, but Google+ takes this to a new level. Through the “+1” button, writers are able to +1 their articles (yes, it has become a verb) and then their picture will show up on a Google search engine results page. For example, if one of your friends was surfing the web and searched for something and you had previously +1’ed, he/she will see your face. Consider the example below.

A person is much more likely to click on an article or a link if they know that one of their Google+ friends enjoyed it. This of course works for everyone (and not just writers) and you can +1 anything you wish. However, this is a great way to promote all of your writing, making this a great feature for the freelance writer. All you have to do to +1 an article is find a +1 button on a webpage and click it. It is as easy as that. The button looks like the image to the right.

Praise

Every writer wants to get credit for what they write. This makes authorship a great feature for writers. Authorship is simply a way for web searchers to recognize that you wrote a specific article. Your name and picture will come up next to the article, which will likely help you increase the number of clicks and help improve your online visibility/personal brand. Below is an example of a Google search engine page displaying the author:

Being able to see the photo of the author makes an article seem much more credible. This shows readers that the article is real and not computer generated. In other words, this should not only help give you credit, but give your article some clicks.

I think it is extremely important that writers recognize these features and take advantage. Although Google+ should not be the only thing a writer uses to gain publicity, it’s an excellent tool and it makes things easy.

Have you noticed anything unique about Google+ when it comes to helping your industry?

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to phone systems. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including credit card processing to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

You can have live video conferences with up to 10 people, FOR FREE! Want to know how others are using Google+ Hangouts? This is the granddaddy of all lists!

Hangout Ideas for Higher Education

Thirty-one ways to use Google+

Whether you are a professor, college student, or part of the administration, learning how to use Google+ is definitely worth your time. Here is a wonderful Google Docs presentation put together by Google in Education.

Go here: http://goo.gl/xHhyZ, click “Start Presentation,” and use the spacebar to increment the slides.

Hold office hours, watch video lectures, study together, edit papers collaboratively, meet face-to-face for online class orientation, hold club meetings from home, and much more!

Even More Hangout Applications

• General goofing off
• Birthday/event celebrations
• Topic discussions
• Organization officer meetings
• Screen-sharing for trouble-shooting or tech support
• Screen-sharing for tutorials or walkthroughs
• Bible study or book reading clubs
• Client meetups
• Project planning and brainstorming
• Customer appreciation and feedback
• Watch YouTube videos simultaneously with friends and family (everyone holds the remote with play/pause abilities)
• Teaching/tutoring
• Slideshow presentations
• Script rehearsal
• Homework study groups
• Private counseling or addiction recovery with accountability partners
• Cooking classes
• Puppet shows
• Collaborative jam sessions
• Trivia games or charades
• Interviews
• Yoga sessions
• Poetry slams, improv, or stand-up comedy
• Angel/tarot/star/akashic/card readings
• Circle of intention or prayer circles
• Distant healing/Qigong
• Live karaoke
• Subject-specific Q and A’s
• Coffee breaks/water cooler get-togethers
• Flow/business/awakening/life coaching
• Product unveiling or announcement
• Debate
• Toastmasters
• Phone conferences
• Brand promotion
• Travel show (especially for mobile)
• And if the United States President can have a hangout, then so can you!

While this is a monster of a list with plenty of things to keep you Hanging out, we know we haven’t even scratched the surface as to what is possible with Google+ Hangouts. What other applications are hangouts good for? Add your ideas to the comments below!

All you have to do is click on Google’s navigation bar that follows you down the screen. You can click anywhere within the grey space that is not already occupied with a button, link, or search bar.

Here is an image that highlights the clickable area:

[Click for larger image]

I hope you enjoy discovering this little Google+ trick as much as I did! If you have any more tricks you want to tell us about you can do so via our Contact Page or leave us a comment below.

Since the launch of Google+ back in July of last year, only adults over the age of 18 were allowed to sign up for an account. All that changed on Thursday when Google engineer Bradley Horowitz (Vice President Product Management for Google+) announced that Google+ is now officially open to teenagers!

In addition to this, new privacy and safety features have been implemented to make sure that teenagers will have a safe sharing environment.

From Bradley Horowitz’s post:

Teens and young adults are the most active Internet users on the planet. And surprise, surprise: they’re also human beings who enjoy spending time with friends and family. Put these two things together and it’s clear that teens will increasingly connect online. Unfortunately, online sharing is still second-rate for this age group.

Horowitz goes into further detail about the privacy features on his Google+ post. Here are some of the bullet points:

• Safety starts with circles
• Teens will be encouraged (though not limited) to share with circles rather than publicly
• By default, only those in a teenagers circle can send them notifications
• If a stranger outside a teen’s circle joins a Hangout they are a part of, the teen will be temporarily removed and allowed to choose if they want to re-join

Google+ also welcomed some teen-oriented businesses pages, and celebrities with this roll out, including:

• +Ashley Tisdale
• +Cody Simpson
• +GLEE
• +Google Science Fair
• +Nickelodeon
• +Selena Gomez
• +Teen Vogue
• +The Annoying Orange
• +Young Hollywood
• and many more…

You can find a shared circle with all of these profiles by clicking here. [HT +Louis Gray]

If you are a teenager, or a parent of a teenager, we encourage you to check out the Google+ Safety center for yourself. You can learn more about their privacy policies, online reputation management, cyber-bullying, and more.

While some may be skeptical of this new door Google has opened, I think there will be a lot of positive that will come out of it. I think Google+ is the perfect place for teenagers to share their online experiences and interactions in a way that is safe and fun!

What do you think about teenagers invading Google+? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

You may have seen the infographic that compared how quickly Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ reached a user base of 25 million. It gave a great visual of just how quickly Google’s new social network grew in it’s initial launch compared to the other networks. But, we here at GPlusTuts have a new infographic for you:

Now that Google+ has passed 90 million users, I decided to create an infographic that showed the timeline of how long it took the major networks to reach 100 million users. Now, being that Google+ has yet to officially reach 100 million users, this can only be a projection of what could happen. However, I’m confident it will be pretty spot-on.

[click for larger image]

The data represented is merely an approximate representation of what I think will come to be. If Google ends up conquering the entire world, I hope they’ll remember that I predicted it, and in turn show me favor.

On a more serious note, I understand that it is not a great comparison to make. Facebook was unknown when it started, and ended up changing the way the world uses the internet. Twitter was also non-existant in any form before it launched. Whereas Google was already an industry leader (in multiple industries at that). They already had a huge user base for their countless other projects. So, it’s true that we’re not exactly comparing apples to apples.

Still, it is fun to take a look at the timeline and speculate where things will go. I believe that Google+ will become the social networking industry leader. That is, unless Facebook or Twitter can in some way radically change the game.

Do you think Google will achieve world domination within 5 years? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

In Vic’s post, he also revealed some other interesting statistics. However, he didn’t just list out the statistics in a boring old text-only update. Oh, no, good ol’ Vic (and his Google+ team) revealed the stats in a way that could only have been done on Google+. Check out the post for yourself, or just read below for a summary of what was announced.

Here are the stats that are revealed in Vic’s photos:

• More than 90 Million people have joined Google+
• Over 60% of users sign in daily
• Over 80% of users sign in weekly
• There has been at least 1 new feature released every day
• There are over 1 Million business and brand pages

This is downright astonishing in the world of social networks. Google+ is growing at a pace that can only be described as game changing. How soon will they reach 100 million users? Well, luckily, we created an infographic for that!

I’ve gone through and picked the best of the best. These iPhone apps are great for Google+ newbies and junkies alike, and will definitely add a little spice to your mobile Google+ experience. These apps cover publishing across multiple social platforms, photo importing from one service to another, and dating. What?! Yes, you read that right, there’s a Google+ dating app!

Multi-Network Support

iStatus+ for G+ Facebook & Twitter – $.99

This is currently my top pick for posting to Google+, Twitter, and Facebook simultaneously. It has a very clean, simple user interface, and there’s no fluff. Just connect your networks, type your status update, and choose which network(s) you want it to go to.

Post to Google+, Facebook and Twitter simultaneously! With a slick and easy-to-use interface, iStatus+ helps you keep your internet social life updated.

Social+ – $.99

While this app isn’t quite as pretty as the latter, it still gets the job done.

Stay connected with all your friends with just one app: Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and more… Visit your favorite social networks at same time right now!

Google Apps Browser by G-Whizz!.. – $2.99 / FREE

This app is very feature rich, but a bit of an overkill if all you’re looking for is posting to multiple social networks. It’s got quite a long list of features, so I’ll just let you browse it yourself.

Google Apps Browser is the fastest way to use all your favorite Google apps! Get instant access to 20+ Google apps right on your iPhone, iPad or iPod–including Gmail, Google Talk, Voice and Reader, plus bonus apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+!

It also has a free version if you don’t want to pay:

• Google Apps Browser – G-Whizz!

Photo Import

Move2Plus – $.99

If you’re looking for a way to easily import all your Facebook albums, this would be the app to get.

Move2Plus is a powerful app that copies all of your Facebook albums, photos, and captions to your Google+ (Picasa) account without losing album structure or making duplicates. None of your Facebook or Google+ albums or photos are edited or deleted in the process.

As a bonus, Move2Plus is a fast Google+ uploader for photos and videos you have saved on your device. Create new albums, select multiple photos and videos, and upload them to your Google+ account quickly and securely.

Google+ Photo Importer – $1.99

Now this app has quite a hefty boast of being able to import 100 photos in less than 1 minute! Unlike the former app, it will access your photos from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, and Photobucket. This seems like the app of choice for photo-importing.

Google Plus Photo Importer lets you Import 100 photos in less than a minute, straight to your Google+ profile from Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Photobucket.

Photo Importer for Google+ – $.99 / $1.99

Just like Move2Plus, this app only features Facebook photo uploads, but boasts a super simple process.

Photo Importer for Google+ makes it easy to import your Facebook photo albums to Google+ with the ease of one tap. Just choose an album, tap Start button and you’re done in a few minutes!

There is also an HD version of this app for the iPad:

• Photo Importer for Google+ HD – $1.99

G+ Facebook Importer – $.99

Another Facebook only photo importer, but unlike the previous ones this app supports wall photos, and tagged photos.

Google+ Facebook Photo Importer seeks to make the trasition of your memories to Google+ much easier. Some features include

• Secure Login to Facebook to get a list of albums
• Tagged Photo support to import photos you are tagged in that were uploaded by your friends
• Wall Photos support to import photos others have posted on your wall
• Super easy to use interface to make things go smoothly
• Albums are named correctly on Google+

Dating?

Dating for Google+ – $.99

Although it’s doesn’t allow you to post to Google+ in any way, I thought it would be funny to mention it. This is a dating network app that allows users to connect to Google+ in order to verify they are real people.

I gotta admit, it gave me a good chuckle.

Google+ Dating is part of the large and free Dating DNA dating network service, but allows Google+ users to optionally link to their Google+ account if they want, letting other users see how many friends they have on Google+, etc. Because fakes and frauds won’t usually go to the trouble to set up a Google+ account with friends. Just knowing that others in the network are also Google+ users can give you more confidence that others are for real.

If there’s any apps I didn’t mention that you think should be added to the list, let us know in the comments below!

Which app(s) do you use for your mobile Google+ usage? You can leave a comment by clicking here.

^{If you purchase the product or service referenced from one of the links above, we will receive an “affiliate commission.” We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”}

First, lets talk about what Search plus Your World is, then we’ll get into why it changes everything (again) and what it means for businesses, brands, and you. Fair enough? Great, let’s get into it:

In an effort to create search results that are more personalized and relevant to your world, Google introduced “Search plus your world“. In their own words, this is the general idea:

We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships. We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction by introducing three new features:

1. Personal Results, which enable you to find information just for you, such as Google+ photos and posts—both your own and those shared specifically with you, that only you will be able to see on your results page;
2. Profiles in Search, both in autocomplete and results, which enable you to immediately find people you’re close to or might be interested in following; and,
3. People and Pages, which help you find people profiles and Google+ pages related to a specific topic or area of interest, and enable you to follow them with just a few clicks. Because behind most every query is a community.

Together, these features combine to create Search plus Your World. Search is simply better with your world in it, and we’re just getting started.

The backlash

As could be expected, there was much backlash from the internet community. It seems that no matter what you change, for better or worse, there will always be resistance to change.

Twitter was the first company to speak out against Google’s new search. Here’s a direct quote from one of their representatives:

Often, [people] want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results.

We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.

Many others have voiced their complaints about relevance, and that Google is “pushing” their social network onto people. However, I think the term relevance is really being thrown around rather loosely. I also think that critics are looking to criticize at every corner, just because it sells headlines.

Breaking down the backlash

As for Twitter’s claim, 100 Million users worldwide (half of which are spam bot accounts) means that “News breaks first on Twitter”? I guess that’s true, for the 50 million real people who are on Twitter. But what about for everyone else not on Twitter?

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Twitter, but this is just a ridiculous claim. Let’s be honest– Twitter is mad because search is one of the things that set them apart from other social networks. The ability to search public tweets and accounts made them into the marketing machine that they are today. Now they realize that Google is indeed the king of the search hill.

To make this argument even worse for Twitter it was released that before all this went down, Twitter dropped their search agreement with Google.

“We are a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer (http://goo.gl/chKwi), and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.” Via Google

Regarding relevance

A lot of the relevance talk seems to be to the effect of, “Justin Bieber has 16 million followers on Twitter, so that makes his Twitter profile more relevant than Google+ results”. This thinking doesn’t make any real sense. Having more people (mostly spambots) follow you on Twitter makes you more relevant? I thought relevance had to do with being current? How does Justin Bieber having 16 million followers make his Twitter profile more relevant?

If I want a relevant result, I’m hoping to get something current, and currently there is more action happening in my Google+ stream than any other social site I’m on.

Since there aren’t many critics who seem to realize what the term “relevant” even means, here’s the dictionary definition:

rel·e·vant/ˈreləvənt/

Adjective:

Closely connected or appropriate to the matter at hand.

Synonyms:

pertinent – appropriate

[found via Google search]

Regarding Google pushing their product above others

We love options.

Search plus Your World is an option. Just like searching through images, videos, news, maps, shopping, etc. are all different ways to filter your searches to find what you are looking for. It’s not that much different.

Critics are arguing that Google is pushing other social networks out of search, and that is going to somehow hinder users from finding Twitter profiles. If I wanted to find Justin Bieber’s twitter profile I would go to Twitter to search for him, or I would type “Justin Bieber on Twitter” into Google. I think people are smart enough to know how to find a person, or businesses Twitter profile if that is indeed what they’re looking for.

Here’s the bottom line

Search plus Your World takes social media and word of mouth advertising to the next level. By offering personal social results, companies have the opportunity to capitalize on personal friend recommendations. That, to me, is relevant. Word of mouth, friend recommendations, and personal, trusted connections are what’s going to fuel greater brand discovery, and loyalty.

This is why I am predicting that in two years time Google+ will be the dominant social network of choice. This will change the game. Despite critics who don’t want change, and fail to see past shallow and empty arguments, Google will dominate the social space. You can quote me on that.

What are your thoughts about Search plus Your World? Is it a good change or a bad change? Is Google going too far, or are they just ahead of the game? You can leave a comment by clicking here.