7/21/2011
Why Google+ Has Legs: Asymmetrical Symmetry
The Google+ beta launch has gone spectacularly well. I joined the party in early July, and like what I see. The heavy social media users in my circles love it, and new users are coming on board by the millions. Among the Google+ positives I hear repeatedly –
- Great platform for learning and sharing ideas
- Easy to use
- Fun
- Easy to control the content you want to see
- Extremely high quality content
One of the first things that struck me about Google+ is the elegance of the circles concept. I can bucket people I want to connect with in “circles” that I can create and define. (There are four pre-set circles: friends, family, acquaintances and following.)
Advantages of Circles
- Bucketing my connections allows me to view separate streams (very similar in design to the Facebook stream) for each circle. I can see what my friends are saying, what social media gurus are saying, what SEO specialists are saying, etc.
- With circles I feel like I’m able to keep my finger on the pulse of conversations that I find relevant. On Facebook, with only two macro-streams (top news and most recent), I always feel like I’m missing 90% of the conversation.
I’m leaning toward defining my circles based on subject matter expertise. But here’s where it gets really interesting:
My connections can create circles that follow a completely different logic and it has no bearing on our ability to interact. Each user can organize connections in a unique way, and yet conversations flow seamlessly.
This is what I mean my asymmetrical symmetry. Each Google+ user has a unique arrangement of connections, and yet the entire Google+ network functions as an organized, balanced whole.
This is where Google+ has a big advantage over Facebook. Facebook groups are clumsy, and trying to engage your entire Facebook community as a whole is virtually impossible.
With Google+, I can see what’s going on across all of my circles in matter of minutes, and jump into conversations that attract my attention. Like Facebook, Google+ notifies you when a new comment is posted to a conversation. Breadth and depth: very nice!
A Few Tips for New Google+ Users
Mute a Post on Google+
- You can mute a post by clicking on the down arrow attached to that post. This blocks the post from view and stops notification of new comments.
- Polish your Google profile. It comprises the About tab on your Google+ profile page, so a lot of people will see it.
- When you share, put thought into which circles you share with. You can post to some or all of your circles, or share publicly with the entire network. Relevance is realistic on Google+ – so honor it!
Share on Google+
