Sharing Content on Google+
- Using the Share Box
- Sharing Photos
- Sharing Videos
- Sharing Links
- Summary
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using the Share Box
The share box displays at the top of your Google+ home page, ready for you to share interesting content with your friends and colleagues—or everyone on the Web. Using the share box, you can share text updates, links, photos, and videos.
To share a post using the share box, follow these steps:
- Click the Home icon on the Google+ ribbon, if you aren’t already on your home page. Figure 6.1 displays the share box on your Google+ stream, which opens. Your stream enables you to share content as well as view content other people have shared. See Lesson 7, “Viewing Your Google+ Stream,” for more information.
Figure 6.1. Click the Home icon to access the share box on your Google+ stream.
- Click in the share box to expand it, as shown in Figure 6.2. Alternately, click the Share button that displays in the upper-right corner of any Google+ page to access the share box.
Figure 6.2. Expand the share box to display additional fields.
- Type your post in the text box.
- Optionally, you can add other content and apply formatting to your posts. These tasks are covered later in this lesson. For example, you can do the following:
- Format your post using bolding and italics.
- Add a link to the profile of another Google+ user you mention.
- Add a photo.
- Add a video.
- Add a link to an external website.
- Specify who you want to share this post with. Your options include the following:
- Anyone on the Web. By default, Google+ makes your initial post public, visible to anyone on the Web. Later, Google+ uses the default settings from your most recent post. If you don’t want to share this post publicly, click the Delete icon (x) on the right side of the Public chip.
- People in specific circles. To share this post with specific circles, click the Add More People link. In the menu that opens (see Figure 6.3), select the circles you want to share with. If you want to share with all your circles, select Your Circles. If you want to share with your extended circles (friends of friends), select Extended Circles. When you’re finished selecting circles, click outside the menu to close it.
Figure 6.3. You can choose the specific circles you want to share with.
- A specific person. This is the equivalent of sending a private message on Google+. If the person you want to share with uses Google+, type the person’s name in the text box and select from the pop-up menu of potential matches (see Figure 6.4). Optionally, you can enter an email address to share with someone who doesn’t use Google+ yet.
Figure 6.4. You can share a post with just one person.
- If you want to send a notification and email message about this post to the people in a circle, hover the mouse above that circle and select the Notify About This Post check box. In general, you should send notifications and emails only for very urgent or important posts.
- If any of the people in your selected circles aren’t on Google+ yet, click the following link to send them your post by email instead: Also Email [Number of] People Not Yet Using Google+. For example, if two people you added to circles haven’t signed up for Google+ yet, this link says “2 People.” Again, use caution when emailing people and send emails only for very important content.
- Optionally, click the down arrow in the lower-right corner of the share box and choose one or both of the following options:
- Disable Comments. Prevent others from commenting on your post. This is most useful if your posts receive comment spam. Users will still be able to reshare your post and click the +1 button to support it. Click the Okay, Got It button to activate this feature. If you change your mind, click the down arrow again and select Enable Comments from the menu.
- Lock This Post. Prevent others from resharing your post or mentioning people you haven’t shared with. Click the Okay, Lock It button to activate this feature. A lock icon displays in the lower-right corner of the share box. If you change your mind, click the down arrow again and select Unlock This Post from the menu.
- Click the Share button to share your post with the people you selected.
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Figure 6.5 shows a sample post, visible on the streams of the people you shared with as well as on your public profile if you selected to make this post public.
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Figure 6.5. A post shared on Google+.
After you share a post:
- You can edit its content, delete it, or prevent others from sharing or commenting on it.
- Your Google+ network can comment on, share, or +1 this post.
See Lesson 7 for more information about these tasks and features.
Formatting Your Posts
Google+ enables you to format your posts using bolding, italics, and strikethroughs. You can do the following:
- Bold text by surrounding it with asterisks.
- Italicize text by surrounding it with underscores.
- Strike through text by surrounding it with hyphens.
Figure 6.6 shows an example of formatting text in the share box.
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Figure 6.6. Use these characters to apply text formatting to your posts.
Figure 6.7 shows an example of the results of this formatting.
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Figure 6.7. Formatting in a live post.
Mentioning Other People in Your Posts
When you mention another Google+ user in a post, you can link to that person’s Google+ profile. Mentioning a person is most useful when you want to give someone public credit or thanks within the Google+ community. Google+ also notifies this person of the mention.
To mention someone in a post, enter the plus sign (+) or at sign (@) in the share box, start typing someone’s name, and select the person you want to mention, as shown in Figure 6.8.
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Figure 6.8. Select the person you want to mention from the list of Google+ users.
Figure 6.9 shows a sample mention in a published post. You can pause your mouse over a mention to view a pop-up box with more information or click the mentioned name to view this person’s Google+ profile.
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Figure 6.9. Pause your mouse over a mention to view a pop-up box.