Get The Most Out Of: Google+
We’re wrapping up our “Get To Know Streamified” column this week, so we thought it was time to start a new one! This new series, titled “Get The Most Out Of…,” aims to show you how you can use the browser extension and/or the mobile app to get the most out of specific streams. Since the history of our company has its roots in the Google+ social network, we thought it’d be a good idea to start here. If you haven’t joined us on G+, add us to your circles here!
Read about Google+ in the browser extension!
Read about Google+ in the mobile iOS app!
Google+ & the Streamified Browser Extension
The Streamified browser extension’s predecessor, Start Google Plus, came about when our developer, Zane Claes, started using Google+ himself. The social network’s potential was evident and Zane went about creating a way for users to easily start using Google+ – hence, the name.
When we released the Streamified browser extension as an upgrade to the original Start Google Plus extension, (it’s live in the Chrome store, and extensions for other browsers are coming soon), it was rather overdue. We’re excited that it’s back! Here’s a few ways that we’ve been able to use it to supercharge how we use Google+.
You may have already seen our walkthrough to the extension. If you haven’t, click the link; it’ll help you get set up with your streams. Being able to see posts from your streams directly in your Google+ home timeline is cool (though if you don’t want these posts to be ‘injected’ directly into the home view, just disable that by clicking on the Streamified button in your browser, then unchecking the option to inject posts into G+), but one of our favorite uses is how the extension makes crossposting much easier.
As noted in our walkthrough, you can either click in the compose box at the top of your screen (it says “Share what’s new…” inside it) or click the “Share” button in the upper right corner to create a new post. You should see little icons for each of your streams below the composing box; just click and unclick to enable each one as a recipient for your crossposted message.
A special note for Twitter, everyone’s favorite length-constricting network: a special setting called “link-back” is enabled by default for Twitter accounts. This means that if you post a message to Twitter that is over 140 characters, a link back to your Google+ profile will be included with the Tweet so your followers can click back to see the full text. This link will work even if you solely post to Twitter and not to Google+. You can disable “link-back” by going to Streamified’s settings, viewing to the settings for a specific Twitter account by clicking on the account name, and unchecking the box next to “link-back.” Please note that you will need to uncheck “link-back” for each Twitter account you may have added if you really don’t want this feature.
You may not have noticed that you can also crosspost when resharing a post on Google+, too. Try it out– click the reshare button on any Google+ post, and you should see the crossposting icons below the compose window. The reshare-crosspost works best when you input text in the “Add a comment…” field that pops up whenever you click to reshare. Here’s some examples to show you how this functions:
- I want to reshare a Google+ post that solely consists of text. If I select to crosspost my reshare to networks like Twitter and Facebook, those other non-Google+ networks will solely see the text I inputted into the “Add a comment…” field.
- I want to reshare a Google+ post that has a link to a URL or a video. If I select to crosspost my reshare to networks like Twitter and Facebook, those other non-Google+ networks will see the text I inputted into the “Add a comment…” field as well as a link to the URL or video.
- We’re currently working on patching a bug that gets in the way of resharing a Google+ post that has a picture. We’ll keep you posted regarding when this is fixed!
These crossposting features also work when you’re managing a Google+ brand page, too, making Streamified a handy tool to use when you want to administer a client or product’s brand presence across multiple social networks. You can initiate a new post on your Google+ brand page, then send the post to other networks instantly. Crossposting when resharing from a Google+ brand page works well, too.
As we stated in our walkthrough, you can still indicate whether you’d like your Google+ post to share to a specific circle or person, even when crossposting a new or reshared post.
Lastly, did you know that you don’t even need to update Google+ in order to post to Twitter/Facebook/etc. from Streamified? If you click the “x” on the circles or people Google+ is prompting you to share to to remove them. This makes Google+ think you aren’t sharing to anyone, which will result in no posts going to Google+. Then you can select the other recipients, create your post, and hit share. Watch the notifications to ensure the posts are completed. The Google+ compose window will stay open, since technically you didn’t post to Google+.
Google+ & the Mobile iOS App
Unfortunately, the team behind Google+ hasn’t released a full API (it stands for ‘Application Programming Interface’ and lets 3rd party applications, like Streamified, talk, read, and write to Google+). This puts a lot of limitations on how well we can integrate Google+ into the mobile app, and this kind of integration is actually one of our most-requested features.
What we can offer you right now is the ability to view Google+’s public feeds. You can add Google+ to your mobile app in the Stream Settings view. First, swipe to the left, then hit the “+” to go to this view. Scroll down to find Google+.
Once your Google+ account has been added, you can give Streamified the ability to show “My Public Profile” in the app; this will load your public posts in addition to the Google+ public feed.
We’re hoping that soon, Google+ will release a full API so we can integrate this social network into the mobile app. Of course, we’ll keep you posted if anything in this area changes!
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How do you use Streamified? Let us know in a comment or hit us up at our Twitter, Facebook, or Google+! Stay tuned for next week’s installment of “Get The Most Out Of…,” featuring the Tumblr platform!
Justine Dolorfino is Streamified’s marketing coordinator. She can be reached at Justine@Streamified.com.
