Google+ Ripples #2

In October I wrote a blog on Ripples a Google+ feature that shows you how your public posts are being shared accross yours as well as others networks. I loved it (and still do) but somehow I never got to see the Ripples link when I was browsing my stream.

As I knew a workaround by getting the post id and copying it into a Ripples URL I could use it but that was far from easy and I couldn't figure out why I didn't get to see the Ripples option in the post menu's. Today I finally figured it out.  

Could it be it simply wasn't available for my language? Nah...surely not! 

But to make absolutely sure I tried setting my Google settings language from Dutch (my native language) to US English and bingo there was the "View Ripples" option.

Apparently Ripples is only there for the English speaking folks as its not showing up if you set your language to Dutch, French or German (didn't try any other languages but pretty sure most wont work either). I'm reporting this to Google, let's see why they aren't showing this to us. If it's simply a question of translations then surely 6 weeks should have been more than enough to translate that 1 paragraph of text on the Ripples page. But even without translation I really would have liked having this so please open it up!

Social translate... Google Giveth and Taketh

For the last year and a half or so I've been an avid user of Yoono. A browser plugin that allows me to review and update my Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare activity streams from within a side bar in my Firefox. I love it. It's easy, simple and because it's integrated in the browser it always keeps my Social streams in my perephial view. Right where I like it to be.

Now one of the things that I discovered recently is that it has a function to translate tweets right there and then in the sidebar itself. Simply right click the tweet and select "Translate (via google)". The translated text is shown right there and then in your stream.

Ok, yes. Google translations aren't exactly accurate all the time but in general they do the trick. And it means I could follow people I would otherwise not, simply because I can't understand a thing they are saying.


Like Mitsuru Katoh (Katoman), a Fellow self-proclaimed Domino Geek and IBM Champion from Japan. My Japanese is next to zero so this translate function really helped me and made it possible for me to socially connect to someone I would otherwise probably not even know about.


Unfortunately this morning the translate function didn't work and a tweet to @YoonoSupport helped clarify:  

@Yoono The translate (Google) function doesn't seem to work this morning. Anything going on?

 Bummer! 

Ok, I can understand Google wanting to make a buck out of this (although I'd wonder who'd want to pay for the crappy translations they give) but maybe Google had an alternative reason as well. I can (somewhat) understand them trying to promote their own networks so maybe this is a function they wanted to keep free exclusively for their own platforms..... aka Google+! I know Mitsuru is on G+ so lets check it out.....
Well, you guessed it. No function there to translate from within the stream itself.

Yes I know about the other Google translate options for translating whole sites but that is not really an option to me. As a Dutch national I read & write in English, Dutch, German and (a little) French and I follow people in all of those languages. Now I don't need (or want!) those translated as that sometimes means you lose part of the underlying sentiments and jokes. I want to be able to control which tweets I want translated and which I want to read in their original language. And I want to do it from within my active streams itself, not by having to step out to a different site. That takes out the whole social context in which I'm operating.

 So for now it seems I will have to unfollow Mitsuru... Not because he's not nice or interesting but simply because I can't understand his tweets (Sorry Mitsuru, I'll buy you a drink at Lotusphere).

Oh and for those (like me) wondering what that second tweet form Mitsuru said? I ran it through the ordinary translator and it came up as "That I was better with an umbrella. Worry.". 

I guess it was raining in Japan :-) 

Who is using Google+ ..... infographic

Interesting infographic by www.flowtown.com on the usage of Google+. There have been a lot of jokes around the internet on whether or not Google+ is really being used or if, after the initial hype most users returned to their old and familiar platforms. This seems confirmed by this infographic that shows only 17% of registered Google+ users is considered 'Active' and a 'Frequent Google+ user'.

So did they loose the battle? No, I don't think so. If you manage to pull in over 40 million users within a couple of months you must be doing something right. They just have to find their edge and unique selling point and that 83% that is currently inactive will be flocking back. The problem seems to be though that they don't really know yet what that unique selling point is....


Flowtown - Social Media Marketing Application

Choices.... where to post what

Nop, not mine but so excellent I can't help but post it. Love the Google+ one as it is so accurate!!!

I got it from Facebook but the original actually came from this blog post.

Google+ Ripples

So Google+ is still there. Yes, I know lots of people really like it but I'm still not there. The main reason? I STILL can't update from any of my social apps like Yoono and Hootsuite (Google+ API not released yet) and it STILL looks like crap on my iPad (iPhone app makes it a bit better but not much).
If they think I'm going to drop all my other networks and switch over just like that they are dreaming.

But in the mean time they are clearly working on it and this week an interesting new development was the release of Ripples. An option that shows you how your public posts are being shared accross yours as well as others networks. Yes, have to admit. I'm impressed. Will this win me over?? Not yet (see above) but it does make me wish Twitter will copy this one really quick because I'd love to see this kind of detail on my Tweets!

Google+ continued

Ok, now the whole Google+ hype has died down a bit and most of my 'friends' activities are back to normal (e.g. Twitter & Facebook) they've finally officially released it to wider audience. Unofficially everybody could join anyway (simple get an invite from someone already on it), but now it's open to the bigger community.

As my earlier posts might have already demonstrated I'm still not fully convinced on Google+. Ok, yes I can see they've got some really nice things in there and their interface is slick but after two months the main feeling I get from Google+ is:

Who the He.. are all those people adding me to their circles??

I mean I've posted only about 20 posts on Google+ in the last two months but had over a 100 people actively adding me to their circles. It took me a lot longer to get even close to these numbers on Twitter or Facebook. The problem is though that out of that 100 a considerable amount of people who added me really don't seem to be interested in what I am about. They're just following me so that I follow them back it seems.
On Facebook where you need to actively accept friendships I know or at least can place anyone I befriended and on Twitter, where following someone means their posts show up in your main stream I know or can place at least 80% of my followers. On Google+ however you can add someone and then just park them in a circle. There is no investment it seems. So although Google+ does seem to yield more 'followers', I feel less connected to them. And that makes it a lot less 'social'  to me.

Social Networking for me is all about broadening your community and I would lie if I said I was immune to the joys of seeing my followers list grow. Your social reach (follower base) is more or less the currency in Social networking. It determines how well your message gets around and it allows you to build relations with people you would otherwise never meet. But it's not just the amount of followers you have that is important but also why those people would want to follow you. Are they genuinely interested in what you have to say or just adding you in the hopes of being followed back?!?
How valuable are followers on Google+ as social contacts if they have the ability to add you and then bury you in a never read circle?? Ok they are 'following' you but they might never actually read any of what you are posting. And that is exactly what makes me feel less connected to them and less inclined to actually post on Google+.

A lot of the people that added me on Google+, I feel, were just doing that: Hoping that adding me would mean I add them back ('I follow you if you follow me'). When I don't follow them back a lot of them removed me from their circles just as easily as they added me in the first place.
True, this happens on all social networks, including Facebook & Twitter but with the circles model of Google+ it just becomes so much easier to distinguish between the people you are really interested in and the ones you simply added as 'social currency' that it makes it feel impersonal to me. It sort of sucks out the Social aspect of it all.

So on we go. I'm not counting out Google+ yet. I still think it's a strong contender that will grow significantly. I think a second grow spurt will happen when the full Google+ API's will be released. Allowing social apps like Tweetdeck, Yoono, Hootsuite, etc to incorporate it. So avid Social users like me can post to it simultaneously with our other social networks (Facebook, Twitter, linkedIn, etc). Until then it will remain something I look at periodically but hardly use I guess...

Google+..... Searching for the plus....

After waiting impatiently for days to get into Google+ I got in. Excited to check out all the new features I started exploring. That took me about 10 minutes. "Is that it?".... Yep that was it. Than real life caught up with me along with a major workflow project going life and a bunch of support request that buried me up to my armpits. It just lost that 'WOW!' factor, that made me jump through hoops to get in, really rapidly.

The one thing I had really high expectations of was the idea of the circles but at the same time it makes me so conscious about what I'm posting to which circle that I find myself hardly posting at all.

The same seems to be going on on the other side and the posts that I do see from my most active Social media connections seem to be mostly on Google+ itself. Another effect is that from certain people I now get only their 'business' content. Ok yes, I'm not calling them friends, most not even acquaintances but by reading not just their business content but also their quirky, personal, sometimes funny, sometimes sad messages they become alive to me. Keeping me interested and keeping me reading. Someone that posts just a lot of technical stuff I tend to loose interest in real quickly. Call me a sucker but I just love the 'social' in social media.

So am I won for Google+ ? Not exactly yet. Am I going to use it? Definitely! Probably a bit more after it gets picked up by Social Media tools like Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and Yoono. Because for now I don't see myself being weaned of Twitter and/or Facebook any time soon and updating all those networks separately is just too much of a hassle.

Anyway, if you want to add me to your Google+ circles then please do (Profile) and let me know what your opinion is. I'd love to hear! Who knows. Maybe we can 'Hangout'. Haven't had a chance to test that feature out yet anyway :-)

Still no access to Google+.... Getting frustrated!

Grrr.... Everybody seems to be tweeting and blogging about Google+ and I'm still waiting for my invite to arrive (yes I finally got someone to send me one, it just hasn't arrived yet!). So I'm left waiting for Google+ to open up or the invite to arrive. And in the mean time all I can do is watch the demo..... Yeah nice.

Does give me the time to do some senseless scrutinizing of the site though... Which of course I did (love senseless scrutinizing!).

So on the demo site you can switch languages, not something I would normally do, prefer English over botched up Dutch anytime, but in this case I tried (for lack of better things to try). And the first thing I notice is that the "You" in the left upper corner is translated into "U" (formal form of 'you' in Dutch). But in the screen print on the screen itself it's called "Jij" (informal form of 'you' in Dutch).

So, what does this tell us?!?

1. Google isn't sure how to address their users in Dutch (formal or informal)

2. I desperately need to get into Google+ before I start writing even more of these idiotic blogs!

Social networking in RL

I got this link from a tweet someone sent and checked it out. Nice presentation clearly when linked to the whole Google+ hype at the moment. What I found most intriguing though was the creators little bio. It said "I find out what things people need and care about, and help other people design and build those things. Work @ Facebook. Ex-Google".

Ok! Now I expected a link with Google, wasn't expecting the link to Facebook though. So as I stated in my earlier blog I guess it won't take long for these new and exciting options in Google+ (that for me still remain to be seen due to lack of invitation!) to make their way into Facebook.
Still, this presentation really is worth checking out. Even if its over a year old!

The Real Life Social Network v2

View more documents from Paul Adams

Could I offer you; another social network?

I'll admit it, I'm really curious to see what the Google+ project is all about! No, I don't have an invitation and judging on this post I probably will have to wait a while before I get one. But when I do I will certainly give it a try!

Even though its not even fully accessible yet, opinions are already given on its merits and potential. And even though I've only seen the slick presentations and haven't had a chance to explore it myself. My first reaction is leaning towards the ones that don't really see a future for this new social platform here......

 The reason being that this market has already more or less been conquered by Facebook.
Why would a user move over to Google+ when almost everything they can do there is available (or will most likely be available shortly) on Facebook, twitter or LinkedIn? You don't want to start all over again after you spent months/years building your social network, do you?!?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Facebook and Twitter will remain dominant in this market forever but I do think that any replacement will have to offer a lot more then some shiny new features to wean their target audience of them.

So what would it take me to be convinced to really switch over to let say Google+?
Apart from new functionalities (Hangouts, Huddles and Circles definitely look interesting!) I guess the main feature that could win me over would be a possibility of using the functionality without loosing my already existing social network. So instead of having to convince all my friends of Google+ benefits to get them to move over I would like a system that allows me to invite my existing Twitter/Facebook contacts to the new functionalities like Hangouts, Huddles and Circles allowing them to log in with their existing Twitter/Facebook credentials.

Mmm... nice for the user but how would this benefit Google+? Well, simply allow users with a foreign (eg Twitter or Facebook) account to use the functionality when invited, but build in a catch like not allowing them to initiate new Huddles, Hangouts, etc. This limits them in their usage and at the same time shows them the benefits of moving over. Then as deal closer offer them an easy registration process that copies in all the relevant data, pictures and information from their Twitter/Facebook account. Effectively eliminating their need to manually recreate their social profile. That, I think would make it a really strong contender. As said before, I haven't seen the darn thing yet, so who knows, maybe some of this is already in it. 

But even if all this was possible there's one more reason why I think Google+ could struggle:..... Its commercial.

I mean there is no illusion what Google's main purpose in life is: To sell adds. So joining a network exposing all of my personal interests and contact information to a company who's using that info to sell me goods.....I don't know......
Then again, Facebook isn't that idealogic student startup either anymore and is there really anything Google doesn't know about us already?!?

Future will tell how this will all pan out. It'll either be another Google Wave or maybe the new Facebook. Whatever it's going to be, it'll certainly be a thing to keep an eye out for!

Feedback? You bet!

With Google heading in a new and possible exiting direction with its Google+ project and their new Me on the Web tool I was checking out some of the new features and stumbled upon the Google Profile. Not something I had ever seen before (even though it supposedly has been around for a while) but nevertheless another Social Profile so why not try it out.

While doing so I ran into some simple things that I just didn't get from a usability point of view. One of them was that when I wanted to add links to the 'Links' section and choose the 'Manage Connected Accounts'  option I'm rerouted to another page. Nothing wrong there but when finished I don't see any option to return to the profile. Ok, yes of course I eventually tried simply closing it and that worked fine but it didn't feel logical to close it like that and gave me the uneasy feeling I might lose the data I had just provided. A simple "Finish" or "Return to Profile" button would have been nice.

I believe in the power of giving Feedback to help further the development of products and will not hesitate to give it when asked. So when I noticed the 'Feedback' button in the bottom lower corner of the Profile form I decided to report it back to Google as something they might be able to take into consideration.

And then....

So, first rule of involving your users: If you want their feedback and ask for it be ready to receive it!