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Google Plus

Google+ Basics You Need To Know

While Google+ may not boast the same popularity that Facebook enjoys, it is becoming harder to ignore. If you are just getting started on Google+, you need to wrap your head around its workings. Here are some basic features to get you going:

The Stream
This is the main home screen for Google+ where updates from people you are following show up in card-like boxes. To pull up public posts related to the same topic as that of a particular post, click the hash-tag on its upper-right corner.

Circles
These are groups that help you organize and manage your social experience. Whenever you follow someone new, you assign the person to a circle, which could be for friends, family, acquaintances or people you don’t know personally.internet banking

You could also add your own customized circles. With circles, you get to focus on content from the specific group of people you want, although you can also view content from everyone. Circles are also useful for controlling who sees what you post.

Finding people
When you first sign in to Google+, the system walks you through a number of steps to locate people you know and to connect with interesting users you may not yet be acquainted with.

Notifications
Google+ uses notifications to let you know when something happens on the network that is directly relevant to you. You can access your notifications by clicking on the bell at the top-right corner of the screen.

Chats and Hangouts
Google’s Hangout messaging system is integrated into Google+ so you can chat with other users and initiate video calls from within the service. Simply click the “Hangouts” link at the top-right corner of the screen and then click on any contact’s name to open a chat session. Clicking the video camera icon will send the person a video chat request.

(Image Source: iCLIPART)

Take A Smart Approach To Social Networking For Kids

You can’t escape social networking these days: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and all their online cousins are everywhere. If you’ve got kids, chances are they’re eager to join all their friends in cyberspace.

Worrying about their safety is natural, but hoping social networks will go away isn’t very realistic.

You’re better off working with your children so they don’t hide their online activities from you. Take these steps to help them enjoy social networking safely:

• Start with kid-friendly sites. Facebook is far from the only place for people to go. A quick Internet search will help you locate lots of sites just for children. You’ll want to investigate them thoroughly, of course, but they can serve as a good introduction for your children to the world of online networking.

• Talk about privacy. Have a serious discussion with your kids about guarding their personal information online. They should understand that data like their full names, address, phone number, school, and birth date should be kept private for their own protection.

Emphasize that once something is posted online (a message or a photo), they can’t remove it entirely even if they delete the information from their profile.

• Choose a secure password. A password that your child can remember easily may be simple for a hacker to guess. Come up with a password that includes a mix of letters, numbers, and capitalization so it’s less vulnerable to attack.

• Encourage children to talk to you. Tell your children to let you know if someone online does anything to make them feel uncomfortable. If necessary, report the person to your site’s administrator. At the same time, talk about the need for your children to treat everyone with respect, online as well as in the real world.

How Can Google Plus Benefit Your Business?

Since the recession businesses are looking for more economical ways of advertisement that will generate revenue.

Google Plus will be the perfect business hub for advertisement and customer interactions.

Google Plus is a brand new social networking website that allows you to interact with your friends and followers.

It also supports mobile devices so you can keep your clients up to date on the go. Google Plus is made up of five key features:

Stream
The stream is an essential feature to Google Plus; this is where you can share what’s new.

For example, for a retail store this is where you could post the latest sale or upcoming products that your store will be offering soon.

Circles
Circles are used to categorize all of your Google Plus friends and followers.

With this you can post updates in your stream and choose which circles can view the update.

So if you have customers that have a membership with you that allow them to receive special offers this would be perfect for that purpose.

You could create different circles and update your stream with coupon codes and only share that update with the circles of your choice.

Huddle
Huddle is a new way for you to easily stay in touch with your custom¬ers in real time.

With Huddle, you can chat with groups of people or individual users.

For example, if you wanted to provide customer support online you could create huddles for your customers that are in need and as¬sist them in a chat window.

Hangouts
Hangouts are for video chatting with your circles. This can be used to introduce a product.

For example, you can update your stream telling your users to be online at a certain time and you can broadcast video using the Hangout feature.

Or, it can be used for group meet¬ings. For a lot of small businesses it can be hard trying to find space to host a meeting if your building does not have the allotted space available.

With Hangouts everyone will be able to be seen on screen in a video chat session with the main focus on the person who is speaking at the time.

Using +1
If you are familiar with Facebook, this is the same basic feature as the Facebook “like” button. But, there are some added features.

Basically if you like what you see while browsing the web, you can give it a +1.

This also can be a very good marketing tool if you simply tell your customers that if you +1 this update you can give them discounts which will draw more attention to your company’s profile.

Also you will be able to see what others have +1’d which is basically another way of telling someone “Hey check this out.”

If you use all of the features that Google Plus offers you should see an increase in clients and followers in your business.

The more online exposure that your business has, it is more likely you will come up first in web searches.

Google Plus is still in its beta stage which unfortunately is invite only.

There has not been a date set for its release but when it arrives I encourage you to sign up as soon as it launches.