Menoggling; do you Go-ogle? The 3rd and last....for now...

Well, today's post is going to have lots of links. Not that I think you can't go finding links for yourselves; but I noted that a few of you were, perhaps, quivering at the thought of G+ and what it entailed.... honestly, I wouldn't be pointing you that way if I didn't think it was fine to do so!!! I also acknowledge that not everyone is interested. That's fine.


For those who are. though, and who have wondered where to begin ... HERE'S THE BASICS PAGE. It really is self-explanatory, that one.

Something which you may be (ought to be?) interested in, are the policies. Many places write heaps of words and might be accused of waffle and bamboozlement in order to disguise their intentions. G+ has their stuff in plain and clear English, kept real simple.  HERE'S THE MAIN PAGE and from there you can go to the more specific policies according to need or relevance. I particularly like how they clearly link to other points so that key points in a section are not cluttered. Here is an example from the Privacy Policy Page

Transparency and choice

People have different privacy concerns. Our goal is to be clear about what information we collect, so that you can make meaningful choices about how it is used. For example, you can:

• Visit your Google Account History for settings that allow you to control the collection of personal information from Google services, such as Search, YouTube and Location History.
• Review and control certain types of information tied to your Google Account by using Google Dashboard.
• View and edit your preferences about the Google ads shown to you on Google and across the web, such as which categories might interest you, using Ads Settings. You can also opt out of certain Google advertising services here.
• Adjust how the Profile associated with your Google Account appears to others.
• Control who you share information with through your Google Account.
• Take information associated with your Google Account out of many of our services.
• Choose whether your Profile name and Profile photo appear in shared endorsements that appear in ads.

You may also set your browser to block all cookies, including cookies associated with our services, or to indicate when a cookie is being set by us. However, it’s important to remember that many of our services may not function properly if your cookies are disabled. For example, we may not remember your language preferences.

...and the beauty of that cut and paste is that it retained all the links, which are basic info also and of interest to novices.

G+ has a wider reach than the standard blog, due to search engine stuffs (which is a whole science of its own, equivalent to quantumble tanglissiks and not to be messed with), so it can be an asset when wishing to widen the net on a particular issue.  For example, I do one G+ blog-like post each week for my RB site and immediately it generates hits at RB. All three of my blogs get posted there when they go live and I note a difference in views whenever that doesn't happen.  It makes me think that if one is having ..ohhhhhhhh let's say, a recruitment drive (ahem), then a G+ blog post might serve well... READ A LITTLE MORE HERE.

There was mention of the fact that G+ is something of a wide open forum. Well, yes. I liken it to going outside the front door. You're gonna find all kinds. Remember though, that you have the control. If you feel strongly enough that you don't want to associate with someone YOU CAN DO THIS.

Just remember that the point of G+ is to gain greater visibility and that will of course mean there may be one or two less desirable admirers. As I mentioned previously however, Google are actively engaged in helping their users but the users must understand that the world is the world and the net is the net and in both cases, there are places for everybody. When I first joined up, nearly three years ago, there was a trend for folk to keep adding their names to my 'follow' list; many of them I did not reciprocate and they did gradually fall away of their own accord. None were offensive, but neither were they a 'fit' for me. Many have stayed and, to be honest, quite a number of them are still not on my follow list - which is fine too.

Okay; one last linky. THIS ONE pretty much has it all. Denis Labelle has been on Google for an age and between him and a few other stalwarts, who are not actual G-workers but power users, there is a great deal of very helpful info provided for everyone from the likes of thee and me...

That's my lot. For now. &*>