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Home > News > How to Use Even More Google+ Messaging Tricks

How to Use Even More Google+ Messaging Tricks

August 4, 2011 by Gord McLeod

Google Plus

I thought I was done with Google+ messaging posts after covering the basics and some advanced messaging techniques, but after using Google+ messaging for some time now I’ve come up with a few more tips and tricks I can share with you.

Default Sharing Circles

I’ve seen some people comment that it’d be nice to be able to choose which circle you post to by default. Currently when you create a new share, you get this:

You’re in your main stream, and by default you’re sharing to Public.

If you want to share somewhere else automatically, it’s just about this easy:

Geek CircleSo what changed here is this: Look down the left. I’m looking at my Geeks circle. Then I hit Share. That’s it… that’s all. By default, instead of Public, I’m defaulting to my Geek circle.

Unfortunately I have not yet found a way to make this work with Sparks. Since you leave your Streams when you go to Sparks, you always seem to default to Public while sharing Sparks.

Drag and Drop Sharing

When browsing through your feeds in Google Reader, you can share interesting posts to G+ by simply dragging the post by the headline into the Google+ box. The same works for photos, videos and links from other sources.

Drag and Drop Sharing

This gives you a nice clean shared attachment.

 

Shared Reader Story

EDIT: As was pointed out in the comments, you may find that dragging directly into the Sharing field does not work right away in Google Chrome, ironically enough! If you encounter this issue, first, send feedback about it. Second, try this: Click once in the field to expand it to a larger typing field. THEN try dragging your item to share into it. It ought to work after doing that. I encountered this issue myself a number of times but got so used to it that I overlooked that step when I wrote this post. My apologies! — GM

Combo Power

Here at GeekBeat.TV, we have a tips email address which the sharp-eyed among you may find somewhere on this site. We use this so that both you, our readers, and we ourselves can easily send in awesome stuff to have our bloggers write about or that Cali might want to cover on GeekBeat and/or GeekBeat Live.

I’m not including the address here because this tip makes it even more ridiculously easy, and I want to spare our inboxes. You dedicated few who search it out, feel free to use it!

Putting these two new Google+ messaging tips together with the ability to Share things with email addresses that do not have Google+ accounts makes submitting stories to us (and many other places) VERY, very easy. Ridiculously easy even, as I said.

My own setup looks like this, using two displays (or one really big display with half the screen given to each window):

Google+ and Google Reader, Working Together

Simply go to the circle that contains the address you want to share to; in my case, a circle I like to call GeekBeat Tips. Open Reader up in another window and stick it on the other half of the screen, or the other screen if you’ve got two or more. Drag the story over to post it, and by default it goes where you want. All you have to do is make sure you tick the option to email one person who isn’t on Google Plus, and you’re golden!

This is a simple variation on the Evernote technique I described in a previous post, but it’s easy to miss how useful it can be if you just get creative with it.

Have you found any other uses for any of the messaging techniques I’ve described? Let us know in the comments!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Google, messaging

About Gord McLeod

I'm a writer and game designer with a background covering everything from IT work to programming to the graphic arts. I'm intensely interested in everything game, gadget and science related.
Find me at Fiction Improbable, my fiction writing website, at @gordmcleod on Twitter, and at my Google+ Profile too.

Comments

  1. Marco Schoefield says

    August 11, 2011 at 11:09 am

    Thanks for ones marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you may be a great author.I will make sure to bookmark your blog and will eventually come back in the foreseeable future. I want to encourage one to continue your great posts, have a nice weekend!

    • Gord McLeod says

      August 11, 2011 at 11:26 am

      Thank you very much, Marco!

  2. Gord McLeod says

    August 8, 2011 at 3:27 pm

    You could open the Google Reader story in a new window, grab the URL and switch tabs back to G+ to paste the link, but for drag ‘n drop, you will definitely need separate windows.

    Great to hear about the Chrome fix. What version of Chrome are you running?

    • silverlokk says

      August 9, 2011 at 7:07 am

      Separate windows? Nope. I dragged the URL from the address bar to the tab where I have Google+, then to the Share-what’s-new text box, then release the mouse button. Check out my entry there — https://plus.google.com/u/0/115002145128916728489/posts. BTW, I did that same drag-from-URL-to-address-bar-to-comment-box trick with that URL 🙂

      • Gord McLeod says

        August 9, 2011 at 8:48 am

        Very cool, silverlokk! Thanks for the tip!

        • silverlokk says

          August 9, 2011 at 9:39 am

          Thanks. One additional discovery: the share box — and indeed, probably any text box — has to be open for this to work. Otherwise, you’ll just open the URL you’re trying to drag, closing the page you’re trying to drag it into. Dunno if the share box has to be open if it were in another window. I’d rather keep my open windows to a minimum.

      • silverlokk says

        August 11, 2011 at 7:00 am

        Forgot to mention that my browser is Firefox 5.0. Found out that at least for RockMelt, which is based on Chrome, you do need to have Google+ in a separate window. With Firefox, no need to open GR in a separate window.

    • silverlokk says

      August 10, 2011 at 4:17 am

      Just found out, for RockMelt, which is based on Chrome, you do need to have separate windows. When I dragged the URL onto the tab, it just hovered on the tab, as if RockMelt was waiting for me to release the mouse button. When I opened Google+ in another RockMelt window, then I could drag the URL into the share box.

      • Gord McLeod says

        August 10, 2011 at 8:42 am

        Very cool. I’m not a big Rockmelt fan so I would probably never have run into that. Thanks for doing the check!

  3. Steve Douglas says

    August 8, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    I can’t figure out how to get GR stuff into the G+ sharing box together other than having separate windows open — am I missing anything? Still cool, but a little cumbersome.

    Oh, and by the way, they’ve apparently fixed the problem in Chrome: I can drag stuff over without clicking in the sharing box first.

  4. Gord McLeod says

    August 6, 2011 at 9:09 pm

    Anyone who needs invites can take advantage of a new Google+ invitation feature. I’ve got 150 invites that are usable via a simple link, with no need to send me your email address.

    https://plus.google.com/_/notifications/ngemlink?path=%2F%3Fgpinv%3DmLfPMVQgpas%3AYPMpqUqxysY

    This is strictly first come, first served. Once they’re gone, I do not know how long it’ll be till Google gives me more, or whether they even WILL give me more. In the meantime, get in while you can!

    • Florin says

      August 7, 2011 at 5:27 am

      Where can you find this new invitation feature? I also have 150 invites that I would like to give away. But I can’t figure out where to find my invitation-give-away-link

    • Florin says

      August 7, 2011 at 5:28 am

      Never mind, I found it, it’s hidden behind the regular invite button.

  5. Anthony Navarro says

    August 6, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    Hey there! I second that remark. Any invites to be spared?

  6. CJ says

    August 6, 2011 at 4:16 am

    Still waiting for Google+ invite from Google directly so if anyone can hook me up with one it would be greatly appreciated Thanks!

  7. +1David says

    August 5, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    Anyone have a Google + invite for me? Please?

  8. Gord McLeod says

    August 5, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    Actually you can, it’s right up at the top. 🙂

  9. Ron Heiby says

    August 5, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    Too bad I can’t “+1” this page!

  10. Martha aka switchinggranny says

    August 4, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    Great Tips Gord.. keep them coming.. as I have lots to learn yet about G+

  11. Aaron says

    August 4, 2011 at 3:39 pm

    I have found that your tip for drag and drop from Reader does not work (ironically) in Chrome.

    • Gord McLeod says

      August 4, 2011 at 3:42 pm

      It actually does work in Chrome; all of those screengrabs are Chrome. What I find I have to do sometimes is click in the share box as if I were going to type before it works the first time. Annoying, but that fixes it. I’ll add a note to the post. I’ll be leaving feedback about it, it’d be helpful if you and our other readers could too.

  12. Ben Morrow says

    August 4, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    These are some great tips, Gord.

    You might add a picture for, “tick the option to email one person who isn’t on Google Plus” to help make it even more clear.

    • Gord McLeod says

      August 4, 2011 at 3:30 pm

      Yup, that’d be doable. I’ll see if I can find the time to edit it. Thanks for the suggestion!

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