CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-23 06:48:12 (21 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Good morning all.

Was there a change over night?

When flicking through posts using J + K there is no longer a blue box round the active post. Instead all links/mentions are blue without having to mouse over the card.

It's subtle but I like it.

2013-05-22 21:01:05 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Retuning the social mindset.

When I first heard about, and then joined, Twitter back in 2006 I knew we were on the cusp of a new age of social. The service excited me in a way that MySpace and others had never been able to achieve.

It wasn't until 2007 that Twitter's potential started to be realised but there was just something about the place: it was new, it was a truly level playing field and it's simplicity was key.

I've never been a big Facebook user and I sometimes wonder if this stemmed from having a "Twitter mindset" - connecting to people from anywhere regardless of whether I knew them, being able to hijack public conversations without the need to do the "friending thing".

I always say that a shift in social attitude occurred with FriendFeed and then carried through to Buzz as a lot of the same users moved from... more »

2013-05-22 18:21:40 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Hmmm...

I think hashtag previews should be limited to less characters to stop them obscuring other text, don't you?

#feedback  submitted.

2013-05-22 18:12:49 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

On a recent post from +Jesse Wojdylo (https://plus.google.com/116024884086268367178/posts/BxiaPrTgSe6) asking what people thought about greyspace on a single post page I suggested that it might be cool if your own related posts could be shown just like how you flip through other related posts in the stream.

This would enable people to check out what else you might have to say on the subject without having to search.

So, here's a mockup of what I was thinking...

+Google+ Mockups  #googleplusmockups  

2013-05-22 10:53:52 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 13 +1s)

The local "Waste and Recycling Centre" (tip to the rest of us) is testing natural pest control techniques, I hope they keep them.

2013-05-22 09:08:59 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Good morning all.

Today is very much a doing day so I hope to get a few things done which have been hanging around for a while.

If you only do one thing today then make it this:

Be awesome!

That's all it takes.

Have a great day.

2013-05-21 22:43:14 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Night all.

Got a couple of things I'm hoping to have ready for posting tomorrow so we'll see how it goes.

See you then.

2013-05-21 21:31:33 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I must say, the new G+ mobile site is a big improvement even if some elements are a little on the large side.

2013-05-21 20:43:57 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Get your Start menu back on Windows 8 and run ModernUI apps in windows

I love these little apps and it makes my Windows 8 life so much easier!

2013-05-21 18:42:32 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Dave Winer's warning with regards to the Tumblr acquisition:

"Moral of the story: When you sell your company, no matter what promises were made, you sold it. It's theirs now. They will do what they want to with it. Promises don't matter."

2013-05-20 08:14:56 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Pinterest giving social commerce a shot in the arm and doing itself no harm in the process.

The success of Twitter cards shows that in stream content works well and this is a natural fit. Pinterest's new scheme feels like a cross between Twitter cards and Google+ interactive posts.

I would expect further moves from Twitter in this area before long.

2013-05-20 07:15:45 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

+John Battelle with some interesting thoughts on why Yahoo! would want to buy Tumblr.

Great read.

2013-05-19 18:32:13 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Facebook should be worried because Google is playing a different game.

2013-05-18 20:03:10 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Of circles, communities and serendipitous discovery.

Social discovery is key for social growth. Auto-hashtag generation in Google+ could spawn a new means of content discovery.

This is an extended of version of my Google+ post here:
https://plus.google.com/100732792168944455620/posts/VuzoXJpikyW

2013-05-18 16:35:30 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Of circles, communities and serendipitous discovery.

Social discovery is key for social growth.

I have long said that saved searches are isolated events and treated as second class data.

(http://colinwalker.me.uk/2012/12/with-google-communities-social-goes-full-circle/)

Let's consider how we connect and discover:

- when we circle someone we have a permanent connection and can choose the amount of posts from their circle to include in our stream

- when we join a community we have a permanent connection and can choose the amount of posts to include in our stream

A community is essentially a topic based circle that is independent of its membership but wholly reliant on that membership for its content.

What about saved searches? What about hashtags?

The new auto-hashtag generation is an ideal... more »

2013-05-18 07:08:01 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Cortese staying, praises club unity.

Just the news we all wanted to hear.

2013-05-17 17:54:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Don't forget these :-)

2013-05-17 07:15:44 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Good morning all.

It's Friday so let's get stuff done and get ready for the weekend.

Just a quick thought for you:

Some say regret nothing but this is bad advice. Having no regret means we are not open to admitting our mistakes, not willing to say "it matters!"

So, have your regrets, learn from them but do not dwell on them or they will consume you.

Take steps to ensure you don't make the same mistakes again.

Have a great day.

2013-05-16 21:47:45 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Ouch! Our host is experiencing a DDoS attack - everything down, and I mean everything.

2013-05-16 21:35:44 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Sweet, just got access.

#newgooglemaps  

2013-05-16 21:36:24 (11 comments, 3 reshares, 10 +1s)

It took a while to get this finished and I know a lot of the initial noise will have died down but I wanted to get this up anyway.

Thoughts: the new Google+.

Change is divisive – some embrace it others fear it.

Change is scary and incredibly risky but can be immensely rewarding.

That's how I started a blog post back in August prompted by changes at Twitter - looks like we're in a similar boat now. 

But it's not the first time.

This time last year people were up in arms over a redesign of Google+ and new look mobile applications - history repeats itself as a number of the same points are being raised after #newgoogleplus launched yesterday.

Reaction?

We know that things need to move with the times but how far does this need to go? We acknowledge that a consistent approach to design andfu... more »

2013-05-16 09:51:27 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

There is no #whitespace , only Zuul! Er, I mean #greyspace .

2013-05-16 09:46:01 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Go away! Stop trying to sell web design and SEO to a web design and SEO company!

#annoyingspam  

2013-05-16 09:41:37 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Should we be worried?

Personally, I want them both to stay.

2013-05-16 06:54:45 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Good morning all.

Rushing headlong towards the weekend and still trying to absorb everything from yesterday so I'll be posting some holistic thoughts and specific issues with the new G+ look a bit later.

Have a great day.

2013-05-15 22:04:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Signing off for the night folks, enjoy the meta-fest ;)

Overall, I like the new look but will spend more time with it tomorrow. Such a radical change will always be divisive (remember the changes to the mobile apps?) but let's be grown up about it and make sensible suggestions via #feedback  

The great thing about Google is that they listen.

I think we can all now see why the stream was having some issues over the past few days when we look at the changes that have taken place. As well as the new look there is a huge amount going on under the hood so I think we can forgive the big G.

Night all.

#googleplusupdate   #newgoogleplus  

2013-05-15 21:41:22 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Aha!

Clicking on the little Hangouts logo top right toggles the right column on/off.

Hurrah!

2013-05-15 21:31:47 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

An instant criticism of the new look is that we have lost the fly-out sub menus for Communities and Pages. Would love these back to avoid extra clicks.

#googleplusfeedback   #newgoogleplus  

2013-05-15 20:55:32 (7 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Logged out, cleared cache and now have the new look :)

2013-05-15 20:53:36 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I really need to get into Hangouts more. It's just a question of time and somewhere to do it.

2013-05-15 20:29:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Waiting until tomorrow to post a couple of things or they'll be lost amongst the #io13 keynote meaty goodness.

2013-05-15 19:04:32 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Apple are well and truly playing catch-up - iOS7 HAS to be awesome!

2013-05-15 18:50:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Try the new Hangouts app on iOs

2013-05-15 18:39:15 (7 comments, 3 reshares, 4 +1s)

Oh yeah!

2013-05-15 15:50:43 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Google+ is brought to you today by the letter C and the numbers 5 and 3.

I'm very much having a 'C' day.

All will become clear.

We now return you to your regular programming.

2013-05-15 13:36:11 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

What do you think of the news about Cortese?

I've seen mixed reports ranging from a natural break in his contract to disagreement with the Liebherr estate so who do we believe?

He has been a most divisive figure but at least he has brought a degree of professionalism to the club unlike the "he said, she said" spats from previous years.

Will you be sad to see him go or welcome a change?

2013-05-15 09:26:22 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

Social opportunity

Ever since defining the 5 C's of Social Media (contribute, comment, conversation, collaborate, community) back in 2008 I have been searching for ways to express what the "social revolution" means to us. I added culture as a sixth C later once social became mainstream.

The original post has been quoted, linked, reworked and stolen but the principle remains the same.

I equate true social with the indomitable human spirit: learn, grow, explore.

Be all that you can be... to quote a cliché.

The captain's monologue from Star Trek is a direct reflection of this spirit:

"To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no one has gone before"

It has its parallels in our social exploration.

Responsibility
more »

2013-05-15 07:02:11 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Morning all.

The past couple of days have been interesting with my Michael Palin post hitting What's Hot and the relevance algorithm post getting a lot of attention (even if it was just a bug).

Anyway, here's a little bit of levity for you on a Wednesday morning - search can be fun!

Things like this are why I love Google.

2013-05-14 21:04:29 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

That awesome moment when...

Not sure where this originated.

#starwars  

2013-05-14 08:30:31 (13 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

Social relevance, algorithms and choice.

In response to user queries over strange stream behaviour, Googlers confirmed that they were "experimenting with ways of bringing the most relevant posts to the top" sparking fears of the introduction of an Edgerank style relevance algorithm.

This brings back to the fore the debate over who should filter the social web: the user or the network.

2013-05-13 23:09:02 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

So, when the TV announcer says "the next program contains strong language and scenes of a sexual nature" it's not a warning, it's to entice you in and make sure you watch it!

2013-05-13 22:08:26 (26 comments, 48 reshares, 16 +1s)

Social relevance, algorithms and choice.

In response to user queries over strange stream behaviour, Googlers confirmed that they were "experimenting with ways of bringing the most relevant posts to the top" sparking fears of the introduction of an Edgerank style relevance algorithm.

This brings back to the fore the debate over who should filter the social web: the user or the network.

2013-05-13 13:59:53 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Soundcloud goes Google.

This is good to see, Soundcloud for iOS now has Google+ Sign-in and native sharing.

2013-05-13 10:13:06 (53 comments, 91 reshares, 304 +1s)

Morning all.

In recognition of Michael Palin being awarded a Fellowship by the British Academy I had to link to one of my all time favourite Python sketches.

Hope it raises at least a titter for your Monday morning.

Have a great day.

2013-05-12 18:51:38 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Gotta love the spammers....

2013-05-12 17:30:29 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Counting the change pot.

2013-05-12 16:58:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

Forget the last day, Saints are safe.

Because Wigan play Villa on the last day of the season Saints are safe. If Wigan lose to Villa they are down even if they beat Arsenal on Tuesday.

If Wigan beat Villa (and Arsenal, and other results go against us) then Saints will only be in danger if we lose 12-0 to Stoke.

Can't see that happening somehow ;)

2013-05-11 14:51:15 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

It just goes to show that sometimes it's better to do something about the situation rather than moan about it.

If oneQube can launch a new Twitter chat tool that is compliant with API 1.1 then the likes of Tweetchat should stop whinging and rebuild accordingly.

It's never a good idea to build solely relying on someone else's foundations but if you insist on it then be prepared to patch things up if those foundations subside.

We've known API v1 is being retired for the longest time, we've known what the changes were and about losing unauthenticated API calls etc.

Why wait until closing time to complain that you didn't order your drink?

2013-05-11 14:22:36 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Merde, il pleut!

2013-05-11 14:16:16 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I'm in the kitchen and could half hear a TV ad for hayfever treatment.

Could have sworn the ad said "protect your gnome from hayfever".

Can you imagine that? A garden gnome with hayfever?