Chances are that by now, you have heard about Google Plus, the social networking solution from Google. I have been using it for some time now and I have to tell you that it is quickly replacing all of my other social apps like Facebook and Twitter. Don’t get me wrong, I like the other sites and I think they serve a purpose but Google Plus just has more to offer me as a photographer.
There are actually two features that really hooked me when I started using it. First is the way it displays photos. They are a decent size when you see them in a post but click on the photo and they expand to fill the screen with a nice dark background that really lets the images stand out.
And good news for all you pixel peepers and meta creepers because there is an option that allows you to check out the image metadata.
It’s All About the Circles -
So I love the photos but what I really love about Plus are the Circles. A circle is a place where you stick people that you want to follow. The great thing is that you can have all the circles that you want so that you can really define how you want to interact with folks. You can have a circle for family members, one for friends, one for photographers you like, one for techie types, and so on. You can also have people in multiple circles so if your friend is also a techie, you can have them in both circles.
Once you start adding people to the circles, you can then read posts from which ever circle you want, or check out your entire stream of posts as they come in. This can be very handy because it helps keep some order and lets you read just what you want. This was always a frustration for me on Facebook. I know you can have lists but they were never really that easy to use and I would always miss posts from friends because I had so much other stuff coming in. With Plus, I just click on my friend stream and there are all the posts from my friends.
Another great thing about circles is that people can follow you by adding you to their circle but you don’t have to follow them back if you don’t want. Also, you can restrict who sees your posts so if you want to post something for your family, no problem, just click the group that you want and your post will only be visible to them.
There are a lot of other great features to Google Plus and there are some great resources available for anyone looking to jump in and get their feet wet. One of the best and most in-depth guides has been written by Colby Brown. Colby is a photographer and he knows how to really maximize Google+ so that you can squeeze every last drop of goodness from it. Check out his Survival Guide for a Photographer’s Paradise V. 2.1 at his blog.
Another big advocate for Google+ are my buddies Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski, and RC Concepcion (The Photoshop Guys). They put together a great video to help get you started called 10 Tips to Help Photographers on Google+. The video is actually in two parts so be sure to watch both (video 1) (video 2).
If you aren’t sure who to follow, there are tons of lists coming out every day that will offer you some suggestions. Here’s a list put together by the Digital Photography School blog called 60 Google+ Photographers to Inspire You.
I know you are thinking that the last thing you need is one more social network site, which is just what I was thinking when I started to check it out. Now it is my go-to spot where I post most of my current updates and photos. I still send stuff to Facebook and Twitter but I do so using a Google Chrome App from within Google+.
If you aren’t using it yet, give it a try and see if you like it as much as I do. If you are on, you can check out my profile and add me to your circles.
Related posts:
Sorry, I’m not about to sign over my photo rights to Google.
Jed,
There is nothing in their terms that says you are turning over your rights to your images. There have been numerous articles addressing this issues and Google has one of the best TOS agreements out there. The one thing that most people don’t always get is that you have to agree to give them some rights so that you can post your images. It’s the same for Facebook, Flickr, and every other services that houses and displays copies of your images online. Of course there is no need to post any photos if you don’t want to. It’s certainly not a requirement and you aren’t excluded from using the service if you don’t.