Elearning and training professionals are generally aware of Adobe Captivate. It’s considered an essential tool in those circles. But most business professionals tend to turn to Powerpoint or Keynote when they need to educate and inform. This article explains some of what Adobe Captivate brings to the table (including the latest version, Captivate 6) .

Create software simulations and product demos

Captivate’s probably best known for it’s screen recording capability. Captivate makes it easy to record software product demos in HD including making it simple to pause the presentation and add let-me-try simulations for your user or prospect. It can add scoring so if you prefer that the let-me-try actually act like a test, that’s simple too.

Captivate for PowerPoint Users

Captivate is actually a great tool for all sorts of training though, not just stuff you capture on your screen. Basically anything you might use PowerPoint for is a possible candidate for a Captivate project and Captivate has features to transform PowerPoint presentations on any subject into interactive eLearning content. With Captivate you can quickly add professional quizzes and branching scenarios to make sure readers interact with your content optimally. Roundtrip editing lets you export back to Powerpoint so you can make content available for editing by those who don’t own Captivate.

Captivate includes themes, actors, and interactive elements that can instantly make any presentation more engaging and interesting. These include aesthetically pleasing smart objects specifically designed for a training environment such as a Glossary object, Process Cycles, Accordion widgets, a learning Pyramid and animated rollovers. Anything can easily be turned into a button.

It’s easy to incorporate all sorts of media including video in a wide variety of formats (AVI, MOV, FLV and MPEG). You can sync this to a slide show and present it in a picture in picture format if you’d like. High quality text to speech lets you keep learners tuned into your  content and create automatic voice-overs as well as decent closed captioning.

Publishing Formats

Captivate 6 adds HTML5 based IPad compatible publishing to it’s already powerful list of publishing options. You can easily export to Youtube as well, or tie your content into a Learning Management System (LMS) using the SCORM industry standard for describing and tagging your content. If you’d like to have an LMS but can’t afford the big boys like Blackboard, Plateau, SumTotal or Saba, you can work with Moodle, an open-source alternative.

Captivate also has good tools for outputting supporting documentation to Microsoft Word making it a great tool for creating documentation and user manuals.

So if you haven’t tried Captivate 6, it’s worth downloading the free 30 day  trial. Ledet training offers classes in Adobe Captivate ranging from 2 to 4 days.

Not everyone can afford or wants to attend a hands-on, instructor-led class. No doubt about it, some of the best resources for learning Adobe Illustrator are absolutely free (as in beer, not as in speech). The biggest problem is sifting through the chaff. A simple Google Search for free illustrator training returns almost four million results. Some of the very best free illustrator training resources out there are Mike’s Sketchpad, n.design studio and Illustrator World. For those on a budget who are looking for a great way to self-study Adobe Illustrator, these really are some excellent Adobe Illustrator resources available for free on the Internet. Some people learn best by reading and interacting, but if video works for you (always seems to put me to sleep), then there’s Adobe.tv. If you’ve got more time than money, free Illustrator training is a great way to go.

Step 1: Begin with the end in mind.

There’s still some tips that apply though, whether you are going to use free Illustrator training resources or invest in higher-end Illustrator training courses or materials. One of the most important things to think about before starting to learn new graphic arts software, whether it’s Illustrator or anything else, is to begin with the end in mind. While this is true even if you are taking a structured, instructor-led Illustrator training class, it’s especially true for those folks using the many free Illustrator training resources available on the net. Even if you have time to spare, the chances are good that if you don’t set some specific goals and objectives, you’ll end up surfing too much and wasting a lot of time. You are also more likely to give up.

So take some time to think about what you are going to try and accomplish. Do you want to be able to create mock-ups in Illustrator for use in web design projects? Are you going to be bringing artwork into Flash? Do you need to be able to create logos from scratch? Of course, you might just be learning Illustrator for fun, but even then, you will probably enjoy it more if you take the time to create some structure for your Illustrator training plan before you begin.

It’s a really good idea to write your goals and objectives down. This will be the beginning of your study plan. Print your objectives out and put them in a binder to keep with printouts of the projects you create along the way as you become an Illustrator master. It will make the whole project more fun and leave you with not only a great reminder of how far you’ve come, but also the beginning of a portfolio.

Step 2: Plan regular time, both for learning Illustrator and for practice.

Not planning for and making adequate time available is one of the reasons many people who try to learn Illustrator on their own end up giving up on it and either taking an instructor-led class or farming out work to independent designers, free-lancers or agencies. Learning a sophisticated and powerful program like Illustrator is a big job. It’s not something you are going to do one evening in an hour or two. Learning Illustrator well requires a regular and consistent investment of time, both in study and in practice. It’s highly recommended that you set up a regular schedule, so that you are studying Illustrator at a set time each week, just as if you were taking music lessons or learning Karate.

While each person learns at a different pace, an investment of at least one to two hours a week is probably the minimum to expect if you plan on really learning Adobe Illustrator. At that rate, it’s probably somewhere between a three to six month process to get to where you are pretty comfortable tackling most real-world Illustrator work that comes your way. Some people can handle more than an hour or two a week, but it’s better to pace yourself. If you can always leave wanting more and looking forward to your next lesson, you are less likely to burn out along the way.

Step 3: Structure your Illustrator training time using outlines.

If you are going to really learn a subject, you need to break it down into manageable chunks. The Adobe Certified Illustrator Expert exam preparation guide is a good tool for this. A sample Illustrator training outline is provided at the end of this article, but it’s just a start. It’s best to modify this, and come up with something that’s suited to your goals and interests. It’s not easy for a beginner to modify the outline, but a bit of reference work with the Illustrator help file will help provide a good foundation for learning.

Once you have an outline, try to break it down further into manageable chunks. 10 to 15 minute segments are ideal. That will leave you extra flexibility when you are studying, so you can take breaks or try to achieve little steps like just finishing that segment. You can set up little rewards like a piece of candy, or a sip of beer, or whatever your favorite little reward is.

Other tips for learning Illustrator for free

• Join a community. You’ll find a lot of help on Adobe’s Illustrator forum, but there are also other Illustrator specific forums such as the forum at Illustrator World.
• Get a study buddy. While experts on the forums will be able to answer specific questions, there’s nothing like a peer group to give you encouragement and support. Experts won’t be impressed by your beginning work, but peers will be.

Sample Adobe Illustrator training outline for self-study

1. Working with Illustrator documents

• Given a scenario, choose the correct document options or create a custom document profile.
• Given a scenario, create a document template.
• Given a scenario, save a document with the appropriate format and options.
• Given a scenario, select the proper settings in the Preferences dialog box.
• Given a scenario, create Guides, Grids, and use Smart Guides.
• Manage Illustrator workspace and panels.
• Build a document structure based on layers.
• Given a scenario, choose a preview mode to visualize the document.
• Customize keyboard shortcuts by using the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box.
• Control object size and other options by using the control bar. Given a scenario, create and use multiple artboards.
• Given a scenario, work with multiple documents.
• View and modify document metadata information.

2. Drawing and transforming objects

• Create and modify a vector object using the Pen tool and bezier controls.
• Given a scenario, customize the Stroke panel settings to achieve the proper visual appearance.
• Given a scenario, cut, erase or delete portions of an object by using the appropriate tool.
• Use Isolation Mode to edit objects, groups, symbols, or layers.
• Given a scenario,create either a clipping mask or layer clipping to hide parts of objects.
• Given a scenario, use a mix of open/closed path, compound path, and compound shapes.
• Align or distribute objects precisely on an artboard.
• Select one or more objects and arrange their stacking order.
• Modify an object with one or more transformation tools.
• Create and apply a pattern swatch.
• Record steps as a reusable Action.

3. Managing color and transparency

• Given a scenario, set up Color Management settings and proof color on screen.
• Given a scenario, create or load swatches, organize them, and apply them to objects.
• Apply transparency options to objects.
• Recolor and fine-tune artwork color by using Live Color.
• Explore color combinations using Color Guide.
• Given a scenario, use the appropriate tools to create, modify, save, and apply color gradients to objects

4. Using type

• Given a scenario, create the appropriate text object.
• Format type by using character and paragraph attributes.
• Create and apply character and paragraph styles to text.
• Use the Glyph and OpenType panels to obtain special characters.
• Format a story.
• Locate or replace fonts inside a document.
• Given a scenario, customize language dictionaries.
• Given a scenario, adjust and apply hyphenation.

5. Controlling effects, appearances, and graphic styles

• Given a scenario, adjust the appearance of objects by using the Appearance panel.
• Given a scenario, save and apply Graphic Styles.
• Given a scenario, apply the appropriate Live Effect to an object.
• Use the Eyedropper to copy attributes between elements.

6. Building graphic objects

• Create and format a graph.
• Produce a smooth color mix by using and controlling a gradient mesh.
• Given a scenario, adjust the settings for the Blend tool.
• Given a scenario, choose or create the appropriate brush.
• Create and use a symbol.
• Create and edit a Live Paint Group.
• Apply and edit an object distortion envelope.
• Given a scenario, use the Eraser tool or Blob Brush.
• Given a scenario, prepare and create artwork by using variables.

7. Working with images

• Import images into your document.
• Manage assets with the Link panel.
• Turn an image into a vector object with Live Trace.

8. Preparing for Web and Flash

• Given a scenario, choose the proper settings to save illustrator artwork for Web or mobile devices.
• Prepare a document for Adobe Flash authoring.
• Given a scenario, export to Flash SWF.

9. Preparing for print

• Analyze the content of a document by using the Document Info panel.
• Use the Flattener Preview to preview and create custom settings to control the transparency flattening process.
• Given a scenario, choose the correct overprinting options.
• Preview and analyze on screen color separations.
• Given a scenario, choose the correct print options and create custom print presets.
• Given a scenario, choose the correct PDF presets or customize options.

One of the thing’s I love best about Google+ is the way it facilitates the social handshake.

Just like in real life, that first contact is very important. A good, firm handshake breaks the ice, establishes an initial impression, and gets things started.

Online, you also want the first impression you make on people to be a good one. Frequently, it determines not only whether someone chooses to further engage with you, it also greatly influences the strength and depth of the resulting relationship.  If you treat your profile right, you can stand out and be remembered.

Whether you are using the web for business, personal, political, or non-profit reasons, you are probably trying to communicate with others. Even if you are more of a consumer than a publisher, it’s still polite and useful to let others know a little about you.

Google+ vs. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

For many people, it can be awkward to meet new people. That is true in real life as well as on social media sites. Most people have been at a party or dance, and remember the awkwardness of not feeling like you know anyone but feeling too shy to introduce yourself.

Facebook can make you feel awkward sometimes. I often find myself asking “Do I know this person well enough to friend request them?” Facebook, it seems to me, is actually structured to discourage using it to meet new people. It asks you if you know the person outside of Facebook and tends to contribute to a culture of “Don’t use Facebook to reach out to new folks.”

LinkedIn is a little better, as people tend to realize it’s a business network and they tend to be a little more open there. LinkedIn does try to focus the social graph around real world relationships, but by it’s very nature, people just tend to network more there. It’s still not a great place to meet new folks, but it’s certainly better than Facebook, in my experience.

Twitter is easier because you can follow people, see their tweets, and learn a bit about them, and then direct mention them if you want to engage. Hardly anyone is offended by that, unless your comment is directly commercial, and it’s a great way to meet new people. But it’s just not nearly as informative and you need to do some homework if you want to get to know people. It’s a good networking tool, but not a great one.

Google+ is the best at this. You can initiate one-way relationships with little or no awkwardness, and your profile can be very rich indeed with links, photos, videos, and more. Even wallflowers can establish an impressive profile without a ton of effort. Google+ just lends itself to new social relationships much better than other networks. The culture and structure of the service makes it a norm.

Your Google+ Profile

Think of your profile from the perspective of the people who are going to be viewing it. What might they want to know about you? In my experience, the most difficult question to answer about someone is not “Should I put them in a circle” it is “What circle should I put them in?”

Try to make it easy for people who view your profile to answer that question. It’s not an easy one to answer, but if it’s hard for you, imagine how much harder it is for people who may know you, but not that closely, or for people who want to get to know you better. A Suggested Circles for Me section on your profile is very useful to people who visit your profile, and you’ll find it greatly increases the number of people who circle you.

Social Handshake Etiquette

Everyone hates spam, and obviously, social media has a problem with that. But Google+ does a good job at combating that (the best of any social media network I’ve experienced so far). Profiles I’m interested in are those that don’t over emphasize the business aspect. Sure, I want to know what people do for a living, but I also want to know more about them as individuals.

Most people on Google+ are looking to circle people who are engaged. Your profile can show that if you take the time to set it up right. It doesn’t have to be slick and commercial. In fact, it can be more effective if it’s personal and individual. It’s like your foyer. It’s a place to make people feel welcome and invited, and a place to screen who you want to invite in for a closer look.

One particular pet peeve I have is people who post “If you want to know something, just ask.” That comes across just wrong and immature, in my opinion. As an addition, inviting more engagement, it’s fine, but only on a profile that shows that someone has taken the time to at least make a proper introduction. As a substitute for an introduction though, it’s ineffective. I can’t imagine people who do that get much positive response from it. I’m asking by the very fact that I went to your profile. I’m not going to do the hard work of figuring out what you have to say that might be interesting. I actually find it kind of rude that you’d expect me too.

When you meet someone, it’s polite and effective to engage. Make a comment on one of their posts. Introduce yourself to them. Be Bold. I have a post on Google+ I specifically designed as a place for people who circle me to introduce themselves to me and each other, and it’s been quite successful.

Conclusion

In essence, what one tends to get out of relationships is a direct consequence of what one puts into them. Take the time to flesh out your profile and ask yourself some questions. It’s time well spent in developing new and existing relationships, no matter what type of relationships you’re interested in.

What do you think of this article? You can comment here, or on the social network of your choice. Tweets and reshares are appreciated, so please and thank you!

Adobe Muse is now available to the public. This tool is exactly what a lot of designers have been waiting for. Experienced web developers may find it’s not to their liking. It’s certainly not designed for people who want high-level control of their coding. It’s designed for designers who want pixel-perfect layouts, decent easy-to-manage Javascript functionality (without knowing Javascript), and easy compatibility across browsers.

Let’s get right to the point. If you can use Adobe InDesign, you can use Adobe Muse. It’s a page layout tool for website design based on a Master Page concept similar to that in Adobe InDesign.

Adobe Muse is currently free while it is in beta testing. You can download it from http://muse.adobe.com.

The product incorporates an easy to use and understand sitemap creation feature for planning and organizing as site, Master pages  and headers & footers that designers are typically already familiar with, and familiar Adobe image editing tools like the Place command, the eyedropper for color selection, guides, character and paragraph styles, and much more.

Pricing of the product is going to be $20 per month with 3 months free if you buy a year at a time ($180/year). That doesn’t include hosting. The software will only be available by subscription. It’s expected that Adobe will switch over to a paid model in early 2012.

Adobe Muse removes a lot of the web specific complexity that previously stood in the way of creatives who wanted to get attractive layouts and designs on the web, but found Dreamweaver, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to be intimidating and confusing. With Muse, you can place native Adobe Photoshop PSD files into a web page, and Muse handles optimizing and publishing behind the scenes.

Typography is easy. The current version lists web compatible fonts in one section, with non web-standard fonts automatically converted to images for precise, perfect control. HTML alt-text preserves some level of search engine optimization. Some will fault Adobe for not including downloadable fonts out of the gate, but it’s bound to be coming, and compatibility with all browsers is an important feature as well.

Muse includes CSS and jQuery based interactivity features for easy to use widgets to provide functionality like auto-generated site navigation and menus, rollovers for buttons, slideshows and lightboxes, tabbed interfaces, and triggers and targets for what is referred to often as disjointed rollovers.

Previewing a design is easy using the integrated Webkit based browser (Webkit is what Apple’s Safari and Google Chrome is based on) as well as a full preview in browser feature that exports a temporary site to your local hard drive and opens in your computers native browser.

Publishing to the web is a one step process if you are using Adobe’s hosting ($9/month) or you can export your site design to HTML. If you host elsewhere, you’ll need to use your hosting providers tools or FTP software for uploading your site.

Muse is built on Adobe AIR so you need a computer capable of running AIR, which means either a PC (pretty much any modern PC) or an Intel based Mac running Snow Leopard or later.

While it’s unlikely to convert experienced Dreamweaver users or HTML/JavaScript knowledgable web designers, Adobe Muse is going to end up being a lot of graphic designers web page editing tool of choice.

Countless articles by the mass media call Google+ an attempt to be a Facebook killer. Please journalists, quit calling Google+ a Facebook killer. It just clouds the issues.  It’s such a shallow bit of journalism to present Google vs. Facebook as a headline.

Google+ is a new approach to social networking. It has some elements from Facebook and some from Twitter. Someone could choose to use Google+ as a Facebook replacement, or perhaps a Twitter replacement, but using Google+ most effectively requires looking at social media with a new pair of glasses. A good journalist studies the subject a bit rather than just spewing forth words or taking the easy path to getting an article out quickly. Google+ is as much a competitor to Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora and other social networks over the long term as it is to Facebook.

By providing a flexible way to group people for both creating and consuming content, Google+ introduces a new foundational architecture. In addition, the culture that is so much an integral part of a social network is so different from Facebook that when I see the typical Google/Facebook comparison in an article, my opinion of the author tends to take a step in the wrong direction and I immediately start questioning whether the author has even spent much time in Google+ first hand.

These comparisons cause harm too. Small business owners may assume that they can safely ignore Google+ like many do Facebook, or that they can view the product as a “personal” environment as opposed to a “business” one. That’s not a safe assumption. It’s more accurate to state that if you have a LinkedIn account, you should have a Google+ account. Google+ is not only not limited to “personal” connections, it actively and aggressively provides functionality so that you easily segregate your “personal” and “business” communications on the platform.

Google+ significantly alters the social dynamic. It combines many of the best features of several different platforms. Like Twitter, you can circle someone in order to follow their public posts. They receive notice, and can either choose to circle you back or not, but if they don’t, it’s not considered a social faux pas that you chose to follow them. On Facebook, you’d damage any potential relationship with someone and you have to be confident that you know them well enough before you friend them. Likewise on LinkedIn. If you own a company and someone did business with your company, do you know them? Should you feel free to invite them to connect? It’s unclear. On Google+ you can choose to circle all your clients without fear of repercussions. It’s a more convenient and more effective way to engage people with low barriers. You aren’t forced into a two way approval process, yet you can choose to engage in one if you so desire. It’s flexible.

This flexibility in the architecture and the culture of the social network is at the heart of why the comparisons to Facebook are spurious and disingenuous. It’s also why people who write that there’s nothing in Google+ that Facebook couldn’t emulate if they so desired are very much wrong about that. Facebook could not remove it’s two way approval process without massive user rejection. There’s no simple way for Facebook to become the open discussion forum that Google+ is engineered to become. These factors just can’t be ignored in any cogent discussion of Google+ and calling Google+ a Facebook killer does a disservice to readers who truly want to understand the product.

I’ve been working on my social media connections a lot lately, and have made a handful of friends, and a ton of new acquaintances, as well as reconnected with a lot of people from my past. All this activity has left me pondering the nature of relationships and more relevantly, human nature itself as it relates to relationships. Confused yet?

In any case, here are a few relationship quotes:

There’s one sad truth in life I’ve found
While journeying east and west -
The only folks we really wound
Are those we love the best.
We flatter those we scarcely know,
We please the fleeting guest,
And deal full many a thoughtless blow
To those who love us best.
~Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Assumptions are the termites of relationships.  ~Henry Winkler

Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.  ~Miles Franklin

I like her because she smiles at me and means it.  ~Anonymous

Lust is easy.  Love is hard.  Like is most important.  ~Carl Reiner

Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.  ~Swedish Proverb

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.  “Pooh!” he whispered.  “Yes, Piglet?”  “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s paw.  “I just wanted to be sure of you.”  ~A.A. Milne

In a discussion today on Google+ with Evan Prodromou (https://plus.google.com/u/0/104323674441008487802/about), I found myself defending the need for more than 5000 people in your (Circle of contacts).

First, let me say that of course I agree that having 5000 people in one stream is unmanageable.

That’s why the workflow I propose is to not only think of the circles you want to keep people in, but think of the bigger funnels they need to pass through to get into those circles.

Here’s the idea:

1) People who post something cool or I have a cool hangout with go into a (Maybe this person is cool when it comes to Swedish Fish) bucket.

2) Sometimes I go check out that (Maybe this person is cool about Swedish Fish bucket) to see who belongs in the (This person is probably a good Swedish Fish friend) bucket which is obviously much smaller.

3) After a while, if you are a true Swedish Fish aficionado you may make your way into my elite (My best Swedish Fish buddies) circle.

I want to keep track of the people who I thought might know a lot about Swedish Fish, but actually turned out to be Gummy Bear imitators. I don’t want to have to throw them back into the sea. I want to keep them in my (Imitation Swedish Fish lovers) bucket.

Get it? I want my social network tool to help me filter my potential social network friends for me, and the 5000 people limit, which is the total number of different profiles Google will let you have among all your circles is a real, hard limit on that.

As I’ve used Google+ over the past 10 days or so, I’ve found myself using circles as holding buckets more and more. Initially, I added everyone who followed me into one big (People that follow me) circle, even though I know I could use incoming for that. THe problem with incoming is it doesn’t provide me with a way to easily sort through the people who follow me. No holding buckets.

The People who’ve added me (on the circles page) shows everyone, including people who I’ve already sorted, so it’s useless for my workflow.

What I want is to be able to drag and drop people into my little circle bins like a mad little Google+ circle scientist, bwahhaha!

But I keep running into this 5000 People in your circles limit. I can’t take all my Google Find and Invite suggestions and put them in my own little holding bucket that I control. If I try, I run into the limit. I can’t create circles for (People who follow me but speak in chinese so I’ll never follow them back). That means that if they stop following me, but start following me again later, I’m forced to sort them again.

The problem with Google+ for OCD people like me is that it gives you just enough of a taste of what it might be like to truly take control of your social network, but just when you think “Oooh, this tastes good!” Google+ says “No! You are just too greedy.”

P.S. Don’t be mislead by the number of people it shows that someone follows on their profile. I don’t make all my circles public. I don’t want the public to know my family members, for example, and I don’t want them to see the people who are in circles for the express reason that I don’t want to be following Chinese speaking second life bots. You can easily turn those off by clicking on your profile, choosing edit, and then choosing the little pop up next to the appropriate section in your profile. Pick and choose exactly which circles are being displayed as people you follow. Make yourself look really important if you want. Make people think you only follow people with a net worth of over $100 million. It’s your profile.

Once you have some basic circle structure in place, you are going to want to start populating them. Since Google+ is so new and your circle of total friends is much larger than the subset of that circle that is already on Google+, I found a combination of adding “A listers” (people who contribute a lot to the Google+ community and are widely followed) and personal contacts was best for me.

Google+ uses Gmail contacts as a starting point to suggest possible friends. If you go to the Find and Invite tab you will see the people from your Gmail contacts list who already have Google+ profiles as well as those you can add who currently aren’t on Google+.

I created a circle called “People I might know” and dragged everyone into that. I’ve found some interesting reconnections that way as many people I hadn’t heard from in a while added me into a circle when they were notified that I had added them. Unfortunately, Google does prevent you from adding more than 5000 people total so this wouldn’t work for someone with a lot of contacts.

There’s some discussion within the community as to whether the Twitter convention of following back is appropriate. I personally think the “social handshake” is a human nature thing, and will probably pick up on Google just as it has on Twitter despite those who are trying to prevent it. It just turns on people too much to see the list of people who have added them.

Since circles are so easy to work with, why not spread the love while you can? Your incoming stream basically duplicates the functionality of this “People who have added me” circle without needing any updating, so you lose nothing if you choose not to do as I did.

One other reason not to is for image purposes. If you are concerned about the number of people listed on your “In your circles” section on your profile, however, you can edit that so that just the circles you want appear there.

I come down on the side of spreading the circle love, even if some think I follow too many people. Comments on this policy are welcome.

Now, here’s a list of my “Big Names in Tech” circle:

After a week on Google+, here’s my comment on Circles. What’s the point? (Groan). No really, what’s the point of circles?

It seems that Google has tried to put the privacy issue on the front burner as if the primary challenge facing people in Social Media is picking who gets to see their content. While there’s no denying that people don’t want everyone to be able to see all of their stuff and this has some legitimacy, for the most part, I think the bigger issue is one of relevancy. The need for relevancy typically trumps the need for privacy in most social media transactions.

If something is really private, I’m not going to put it on the internet at all. It’s too easy for it to escape whatever attempt at protectionism Google can implement with the circles concept. Between screen grabs and copy and paste, anything posted in a circle can easily be defeated so the whole concept is fundamentally flawed, and basically a smoke screen.

The bigger issue is one of relevance. Google+ has quickly become a massive wall where funny dominates useful. That can be a problem. People wear different hats. Sometimes I’m in a funny mood, and sometimes I’m in a serious mood. The current circle system is biased toward labelling people based on one specific item of content. If I post something really funny, I might be lumped in with your circle of comedians who post nothing but humor. Likewise, if I post something about my Mom’s cancer and you add me to your cancer-survivors circle, but I later post a joke about @Lance Armstrong, I can really look like a jerk when you are browsing your cancer survivors circle.

When I share something, I’d like to share it to people who have elected to receive content from me that is categorized by a unique tag. Maybe you want to read my funny stuff. Maybe you just want to read my Adobe stuff, or even more particular, maybe all you really care about is my InDesign or EPub stuff. I want to be able to share stuff to categories like that, not to specific people groups.

The current circles concept smells too much like a step toward some sort of half-baked DRM system when what I really want is something that will help me tune my content and make the Internet more useful for people. I think most social media users have similar issues, and advertisers want relevance as well. Focussing on relevance first, and letting privacy issues have second priority seems a smarter approach, in my opinion.

What do you think, do I have a point about circles or am I off on a tangent?

If you are new to Google+, it helps to have a little help getting started. There’s already a few technical tutorials on the Google+ interface (The Best Google Plus Tutorials is a good blog post on a few), and Google does a great job in their tours of introducing you to basic functionality, so this article is not going to try to duplicate that content. Instead I’m going to try to take a little higher level view and talk about how to get started conceptually.

First, understand that Google+ is still a field trial and will be rapidly evolving. What Google is doing, and therefore what it makes sense for us users to be doing as well, is building a foundation.

Now is the time to start thinking about the structure of your circles. Take some time to examine your various lists, groups and categories from Facebook, your email system, and Twitter lists. List these out in writing. I tend to think Excel is the best tool for this, but the basic idea is to create a list of potential circle names that you can easily architect into a home on Google+ that you will be comfortable with. Remember, the profiles you add to your circles can be (and usually will be) in more than one circle so you are looking to establish circle names that you can use to quickly see people in different views.

As you continue to flesh out your circles, try to think of circle names that are at least somewhat aligned with topics. If you are a GTD fan, you might want to use some ideas from GTD and create groups that are work/home centric. Make a list of your different interests. What do you enjoy doing? What are the different categories of business functions you engage in? You might also think of section names in a newspaper or magazine. Are there certain key companies you need to follow? What about geographies. The objective is to try to create a custom circle structure that is comprehensive enough for you, but not so exhaustive that you won’t end up using it.

As inspiration, keep in mind that Google is not going to pull a Facebook and try to keep your data. You can export your groups at Google Takeout which gave me nice Mac OS X Address compatible .vcf files for each of my circles.

Here is an example of some of the groups I’ve created (non-exhaustive, as my circle names are somewhat private and tell a lot about me):

• Adobe related – This is not just for employees of Adobe. It’s for people who are closely related to the company in some way or form.
• Apple related
• Google related
• Press/Journalists/Major Blogs
• Celebrities
• Interesting people – For people I’d like to get to know better
• Funny people
• Politicians
• Trainers
• Coworkers
• Referral network
• Hangout buddies – For people I like to chat and hangout with on Google+
• Real Life Friends – For people I hangout with IRL
• Atlanta (also have groups for other cities I am interested in)