Google+ For Dummies [Paperback]

Jesse Stay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2011 | ISBN-10: 1118181298 | ISBN-13: 978-1118181294 | Edition: Portable Edition

A new social network! Here's your user's guide to Google+

Google+ is Google's new social network and from day one it has had the social media world abuzz with excitement. Early fans claim it's easier to use than Facebook and Twitter and has a wealth of creative new features. If you want to learn how to navigate this new social neighborhood, take along Google+ For Dummies as your guide. Early Google+ adopter and social media consultant Jesse Stay shows you how to get started, create a profile, set up privacy settings, chat, post, control who sees what, and much more.

• Explains how to join Google+, protect your information, and make the most of this new social network
• Explores cool new features, such as Circles, which allows you to drag and drop friends into different circles
• Covers creating a profile, finding friends, adding people to Circles, chatting with others in Hangouts, importing photos, controlling who sees what, and more
• Conveys helpful information in the clear, friendly, easy-to-follow language that has defined the Dummies series for two decades

Confidently enter the exciting new Google+ social neighborhood with Google+ For Dummies.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Here's how to get the most from Google's new social network!

Google+ is designed to let you control how you socialize. This quick-and-easy guide helps you get started with Google+, find followers and people you want to follow, manage your contacts with circles, set up a hangout, get just the news feeds you're interested in with sparks, protect your photos and data, and much more.

• Share with those who care — group people in circles so you can share information with only those who are interested

• Choose your audience — see how to post to circles, individuals, or e-mail addresses

• The privacy thing — control who can see your profile and posts

• Just hangin' out — set up a hangout for those you chat with most often

• Strike some sparks — use sparks to quickly find news you care about

• Google+ to go — use Google+ on your iPhone®, Android device, and the mobile web

• Picture perfect — upload your photos to Picasa Web and share them to Google+

Open the book and find:

• A guide to setting up your account

• How to share links and media

• Hints for administeringa hangout

• When to tag other people —and when not to

• What to do about trolls

• How to back up your data

• Ten cool third-party apps

Learn to:

• Create your profile and configure privacy settings

• Group contacts into circles for easier communication

• Establish a hangout to chat with specific friends

• Share photos and YouTube® videos

About the Author

Jesse Stay is a social media technologist, consultant, and developer. He is the Founder and CEO of Stay N Alive Productions consulting agency as well as Social Media Strategist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies; Portable Edition edition (November 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118181298
• ISBN-13: 978-1118181294
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.4 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #302,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jesse Stay is a speaker, author, blogger, and entrepreneur, who writes and consults on the topics of social media and new media architecture, bridging the gap between "technical" and "social" for both marketers and developers. Jesse has written four books -- his latest two, Facebook Application Development For Dummies, and the recently released Google+ For Dummies show the breadth of knowledge Jesse has to offer. Jesse was also named one of 20 developers to follow on Twitter and one of 10 entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter by the top Tech blog Mashable.com.

His unique technology background has enabled him to help others understand the new mesh of technology, marketing, PR, and customer service, which social media has come to be, and how they can deeply integrate these technologies into their own environments. Jesse has consulted for top 10 Facebook applications, large corporations, social media applications with millions of users, and has helped many people become successful through their social media efforts to merge technology with marketing. Jesse has built his own profitable social media applications in the hundreds of thousands of users. In addition to building and consulting for top social media applications, Jesse has been successful in managing Social Media campaigns for Facebook Pages in the hundreds of thousands of fans to even millions, some of them his own Facebook Pages. During his day job, Jesse serves as a Social Media Strategist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an organization with over 14 million members, some of the largest humanitarian and service efforts in the world, and a very unique international strategy for social media.

Jesse also hosts his own successful blog, Stay N Alive, perhaps the #1 tech blog in Utah and is regularly featured on Techmeme.com. Aside from that, Jesse's articles have been featured on sites such as LouisGray.com, the top two blogs about Facebook, InsideFacebook and AllFacebook, as well as Venturebeat. You can also see the coverage and breadth of Jesse's influence on Delicious. You can find him on his blog, on Google+, on Facebook, or on LinkedIn. Contact him for a jam-packed consulting session about how your business strategy can benefit through integration of Social Media technologies and philosophy! Or book him for your next speaking engagement.

Jesse's Clients, Advisory Roles, and Former Clients Include, among others:

-Facebook
-Myspace
-Ancestry.com
-Cinch.fm (owned by Blogtalkradio)
-The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
-Pluralsight
-FamilyLink
-MovieClips.com
-SocialToo.com
-Xydo.com
-TodaysMama.com
-i.TV
-JumpStart
-OpenID Foundation
-PeopleBrowser

Jesse's Speaking Roles Include:

-Keynote Speaker - LDS SORT Conference
-Keynote Speaker - Nevada Interactive Media Summit
-Keynote Speaker - TMeetup
-Master of Ceremonies - Utah Golden Spike Awards for PR Professionals
-Facebook Success Summit
-Business Success Summit
-Next Level Hawaii
-Brigham Young University Hawaii
-Dallas Chamber of Commerce CIO Symposium
-Silicon Valley Web Builders Inside Facebook Event
-Ignite Salt Lake City
-O'Reilly Author Webinars
-Safari Books Online Author Webinars
-Panel, Utah Technology Council
-Panel, Utah Global Entrepreneurship Week Conference
-Guest Judge, Bebo's B.E.S.T. Developer Contest
-Panel, Social Media Club alongside Frank Eliason ( @comcastcares)
-PhotoCamp Utah
-Brigham Young University
-Panel, TMeetup Alongside Ben Parr from Mashable, Doug Williams and Ryan Sarver from Twitter and others in Silicon Valley
-BlogWorld Expo

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful for experienced and non-experienced Google+ users alike November 9, 2011

By John Bredehoft

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an abridged version of a review that was initially published at [...]
Stay, who has previously co-authored a book for Facebook users, has used the "Dummies" format to create a book that is primarily intended for users of existing social media services (such as Facebook), and is designed to help such users learn the ins and outs of Google+.

However, the book also provides a refresher for experienced Google+ users, allowing them to catch up on things they missed when they first joined the service. For example, after reading the book, I made some adjustments to my Google+ profile, used the Share button for the first time, and "liberated" all of my Google+ data.

Google+ is a constantly changing service, and any book on such a service is going to be outdated soon after publication. (For example, just after the book was published, Google finally allowed business pages.) Stay, and Wiley, account for such changes by providing a link to get updates to topics addressed in the book. The link, of course, goes to a Google+ page.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Google+ Personal Account Use November 21, 2011

By Matt

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This book is for personal Google+ account setup and use. There is no mention or coverage of Google+ Business Pages, which is a newer feature.

For Google+ personal accounts, this book covers:
-Setting up your profile (basic and advanced)
-Circles (Google+ form of "grouping")
-Posting on Google+
-Hangouts (video chat with friends)
-Sparks (Google+ interests)
-Gaming with Google+
-Social Network Etiquette
-Google+ for Mobile Devices
-Using Google+ Photos
-Exporting and Backing-Up Your Google+ Data

East to follow step-by-step instructions are provided for each section. This is a great tool to use when jumping into the new Google+ social media network.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars If you want to use Google + this is the FIRST guide you should get... November 21, 2011

By Joseph Ratliff VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Short, easy to read... and informative all at the same time.

This guide is a super-fast read, and has some advanced techniques wrapped in an easy to understand guide about Google +.

No guess work...anyone could learn and start using Google's new tool by reading it.