Since everyone is talking about Google+ I wanted to share some tips I have learned so far. This post will always be expanding as Google+ is so new there are sure to be more tips and tricks over time.
Keyboard Shortcuts in Google Stream
Scroll to the next post down – hit the “J” key
Scroll up to the next post – hit the “K'” Key
Jump to chat – hit the “Q” key
Add * before and after the message to make it BOLD
Add _ before and after the message to make it ITALIC
Add – before and after the message to make it a Strike Through
Get to the top of the page just click on the black line across the top of the screen and it will jump you up to the latest post.
Circles
To add a user to your circle you got to your circles tab and enter their email address and find them. You can then add them to a post by using their name with an @ circle in front of their name and click add to a circle.
Private Circles – I have a circle I named “Private” and have no one in the circle. When I upload a picture from the android app that I want to use for a blog post I upload the photo to the private circle. You can also use this to save text for blog post or to post to Google+ later. When I am back on the computer I can open that circle stream and my info is waiting for me to use.
Rearrange your circles – So you don’t want your circles in the order Google has them. On your main screen go up to the Circles tab and click it, then you can just left click on a circle and move it where you want. They no longer have to be arranged in alphabetical order. This was updated on July 29th 2011
Photos
After uploading a photo click on Actions then Edit photo where you can change the photo with Google’s built in set of tools. There are many options for you to use.
You can drop and drag photos from your desktop right into the stream. No need to browse your computer for a file.
Usability
To add a friends name to a post just add an @ or a + in front of their name and it will make that into a click able link to that persons profile and sends an alert to that friend if they have alerts turned on in their profile.
If you are following people that get a lot of comments on their post you can go to the top of that post and on the right hand side you will see a drop down where you can click Mute This Post. Makes Google+ much cleaner.
Profile
You can use links in your profile body and select the anchor text for SEO needs. You can also include links to all your websites or online profiles in the sidebar under links.
Profile pictures – You can add more then one photo to your profile to serve as your profile picture. You can set it up to rotate to a new picture when someone clicks on it. After you upload a profile picture you will see it. Then click on edit profile and click on change your photo and a box will appear where you can upload more pictures. Right now you have to add one at a time but I am sure Google will fix that in the future. When you see someone else’s picture on their profile click on it to see if they have added more. Need more explaining you can see a video on adding your picture to Google+
Sparks
I have been using sparks to read up on my interest. You click on the word Sparks on the lower left sidebar and add a topic into the search box. Then when you find a good one click on the blue “Add Interest” button and it will be saved in your side bar. I use this for keyword research for when I am writing blogs and looking for a story in the niche.
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