Google+ for Dummies

by Jesse Stay

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(R), 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(R) videos

Genres: Nonfiction, Internet

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2011

About the author

Hi – I’m Jesse Stay! As a 13-time author on social media marketing and techonology books and former professor of social media advertising and advocacy, I founded Stay N Alive as an answer to multiple requests by companies wanting a very unique strategy to growing their audiences through digital and social media marketing.

As a software developer in my original days, I consulted and helped build some of the top apps on Facebook. I actually worked for Facebook and helped develop some of the original documentation for Fortune 50 companies to integrate their websites and apps into Facebook Connect. Companies saw this talent and before I knew it they were asking me how they could grow their Facebook, Twitter, and other audiences. I combined my knowledge of APIs, data, and pixels to begin building unique strategies for growth and focus on conversion goals to success for clients, and before I knew it Stay N Alive was born! This is my baby and my dream – I want to show you the future of marketing!

In 2008 I embraced the “Facebook developer dream” by building apps, and helping companies build apps on the newly-released platform for developers. Before I knew it I was helping out some of the top apps on Facebook, and even spent time building the developer documentation for Facebook during the launch of Facebook Connect. I even developed initial design specs for We’re Related, which made it to number one in the app store (yes, there used to be an app store on Facebook!). Soon, I was being asked to help companies grow their audiences using my deep knowledge of social media.

Around 2009, I built an app called SocialToo.com, built as a solution to help brands grow their Twitter audience and following. We built tools to help brands grow, and produced some of the first analytics for Twitter showing how many, and who were following the brands utilizing our service. Our customers included @pepsico, @brittneyspears, and even @mchammer!

I spent 3 years kicking off and running all social media initiatives for the LDS Church, including not only the religious elements during what Newsweek defined “The Mormon Moment” with the candidacy of Mitt Romney, launch of The Book of Mormon Musical, and launch of the “I’m a Mormon” campaign, but I also helped launched social channels for Brigham Young University (BYU), the online bookseller owned by the Church DeseretBook.com, the real estate developments of City Creek Mall, and the International growth initiatives throughout Asia and Eastern Europe and Africa. I even led the launch of FamilyShare.com and growth of over 20 million followers and 1 million pageviews within its first month of launch through our unique growth technique and use of “Passion Pages”, or verticals within social media branding channels.



I was named by Mashable as one of 20 Developers to Follow, and one of 10 Essential Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter. I have been regularly featured on Techcrunch, Mashable, Venturebeat, Readwrite, AdWeek, Forbes, USA Today, The New York Times, and other publications. I designed and taught LDS Business College’s SMM160 Social Media Advertising and Advocacy course, and have written 9 books on the topic. I have written numerous online courses on social media marketing. Much of my writing, blogging, and teaching has lead to what many of my own competitors are using to grow their clients. And I will continue pioneering new techniques to grow my clients!

If I haven’t convinced you yet, contact me at jesse@staynalive.com – I’d love to give you a half hour consultation and show you how we might help your brand grow!

Reviews

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’ve been wondering if you should sign up for Goole+, but aren’t sure that its right for you or whether you need yet another social networking site to keep up with, or don’t know which site you should sign up for, then this book is for you.

Stay walks you through the steps to becoming familiar and comfortable with making Google+ your social networking outlet. He tells you how to create your profile, how best to configure your privacy settings, how to group your contacts into circles so you’re not broadcasting your secrets to the world when what you wanted to do was to let your immediate family know you’ve decided to quit your job to write the great American novel, and how to chat with your friends and not every Tomasina, Dick, and Harriet.

Like the many other Dummies books there is a specific layout that Stay follows, and if you’ve ever used a Dummies book to increase your knowledge, then you’ll be familiar with the icons used throughout Google+ for Dummies, including the Warning, Tip, and Technical Stuff icons.

If you’re one of the people who are still hung up on buying a book with the word Dummies in it, don’t tell anyone you’ve done it. Your friends and family will think you are brilliant and Google savvy, and come to you for advice once you’ve invited them to be on Google with you.

You won’t find a lot of highly technical stuff in the book. The information in this book is meant for the person who isn’t highly technical, who doesn’t want to know how stuff works, and is, then, a beginner.

You might be able to find the same information online, but if you prefer a hard copy in your hand as you navigate the intricacies of learning a new skill, you’ll like this slim book.

Of course, there may be a few things that Stay chose not to include in this book, but as a beginner, you’ll find everything you need in this portable edition to get started on building your empire on Google+.

[Jacqui Jacoby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had quite a bit of basic: how to sign up for, how to write a post. I was looking for something more in depth to show me how to utilize Google+ advance momboo jumbo

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative book would recommend to anyone new to social media and Google + in particular. However because G+ is so new and changing so quickly much of the information has changed since the publication of the book, the author points this out himself through out the book.

[Ibukun]

The book told me stuff I already knew. The things I didn't already know, I could have easily gotten off Google

[loafingcactus · Rating 3 out of 5]

So it's not that I'm missing something- Google+ really is that lame. The book is a good map, but it's like getting a map for the McDonald's playground- you don't need one.