Mountian View, CA ( home remodeling )
Search engine and internet giant Google debuted ( home remodeling ) "Find My Face". ( home remodeling )
The new tool designed for its Google+ ( home remodeling ) users is Google's first step into the growing field of social facial recognition.
The "Find My Face" ( home remodeling ) tool exists as a tag for its Google+ ( home remodeling ) social network. ( home remodeling )
The tool scans users' ( home remodeling ) and their friends photos for recognizable faces, and then suggests nametags for the faces by matching them with users' profile photos and other tagged photos on Google's social network site Google+. ( home remodeling )
Google ( home remodeling ) has privacy as its main concern in the the new launch.
"Find My Face ( home remodeling )" is unlike Facebook ( home remodeling ) in that it prompts users to first opt into the service before atomically suggesting to their friend that they be tagged in photos. Google ( home remodeling ) also requires the subject of a suggested tag to approve it before it goes public. ( home remodeling )
Tagging is the digital ( home remodeling ) equivalent of writing names on the back of of photo. ( home remodeling )
When Google ( home remodeling ) launched its Google ( home remodeling ) Chrome browser, I was instantly smitten: ( home remodeling ) The address bar did double duty as a URL display and search box. It was a simple concept, ( home remodeling ) yet it was strong enough to convert me from Firefox. ( home remodeling )
Three years later, ( home remodeling ) Chrome offers thousands of extensions that allow users to custom-build their browser for better searching, storing and privacy settings. Shoppers can add extensions that store their most wanted goods ( home remodeling ) (Add to Amazon Wishlist); design freaks can opt for a sleek, ( home remodeling ) 3-D image display (Cooliris) ( home remodeling ); and jetsetters can translate websites into English with one click (Google Translate). ( home remodeling )
Here are a few other reasons why I love Google ( home remodeling ) Chrome: ( home remodeling )
1. ( home remodeling ) I kick personalized ads to the curb. ( home remodeling )
Personalized ads can feel a little too Orwellian, ( home remodeling ) especially when they're generated from your most personal emails and most private of Web searches ( home remodeling ) (er, uh, "best hemorrhoid cream?"). ( home remodeling ) Opt out by installing the "Keep My Opt-outs" ( home remodeling ) extension. This will prevent companies that are part of the Network Advertising Initiative from targeting ads to what you type. ( home remodeling )
2. ( home remodeling ) I stay under the radar. ( home remodeling )
To keep your browsing and downloads from being recorded in your history - ( home remodeling )- and to prevent cookies from being kept after you close a window - ( home remodeling )- switch to incognito mode. (home remodeling ) Once you're browsing in incognito mode, ( home remodeling )Chrome won't store any information about the websites you've visited - ( home remodeling )- a must when working on a shared or public computer. ( home remodeling ) Want an extra layer of protection? Pause the Web history tracking stored in your Google ( home remodeling ) Account before you browse. ( home remodeling )
3. ( home remodeling )I optimize my Web surfing. ( home remodeling )
( home remodeling )Check out the Extensions section of the Chrome ( home remodeling )Web Store for free add-ons. ( home remodeling )Whether you're a blogger ( home remodeling ), sports nut or photographer, you can find extensions by filtering them by categories on the left-hand side of the page. ( home remodeling )After you install an extension, it will automatically update with new features. ( home remodeling )
Here are a few of my favorites: ( home remodeling )
Aviary Image Editor: ( home remodeling )
Lets you capture a screen-grab and edit a picture, ( home remodeling ) like a mini Photoshop, ( home remodeling ) without leaving the browser. ( home remodeling )
Shareaholic: ( home remodeling )
Love sharing Web finds with your friends? This extension allows you to share via Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and more by clicking on an icon in the toolbar. No need to navigate away from the page or to open another program. ( home remodeling )
TooMany Tabs for Chrome: ( home remodeling )
When you have 57 ( home remodeling ) tabs open in your browser and are starting to feel overwhelmed, ( home remodeling ) this extension will help you navigate and manage them all. ( home remodeling )
ChromeVis: ( home remodeling )
The Web can be impossible to navigate if you have poor vision. ( home remodeling )This extension lets you magnify any selected text on a ( home remodeling )Web page and customize the magnification box by changing print and background colors to best suit your needs. ( home remodeling )
When Google ( home remodeling ) launched its Facebook-rivaling ( home remodeling ) social network this summer, some balked about having to deal with yet another social network. But what many early adapters found is that Google+ ( home remodeling ) is cleaner and more efficient - ( home remodeling )- and best of all, not everyone you connect with has to be a "friend." ( home remodeling )
In Google's ( home remodeling ) attempt to fashion ( home remodeling ) its social network after the real world, Google+ ( home remodeling ) lets you make a contained circle for family, friends, work buddies, chess club friends and a secret society (if you belong to one) ( home remodeling ). In the same amount of time you'd spend posting on Facebook ( home remodeling ), you can pick which circle sees your various posts - ( home remodeling )- which is kind of perfect if you don't want work buddies to know about your family dramas, right? ( home remodeling )
While the newest social network is just a few months old - ( home remodeling )- and at least a few months away from mainstream adoption - ( home remodeling )- the potential for Google+ ( home remodeling ) to deliver relevant information is too attractive to pass up. Here's how to get started: ( home remodeling )
1. ( home remodeling ) Create your searchable profile. ( home remodeling )
Apps, Docs and social networks aside, Google is first and foremost a search engine. As Google+ grows, so does the relevance of its profiles in search results.
Try Googling ( home remodeling ) yourself. Unless your name is John Doe ( home remodeling ), your Google ( home remodeling ) profile will be one of the first results to come up. ( home remodeling ) This is prime real estate on the Web - ( home remodeling )- and happily, you are in control of how it's shaped. Building out your Google profile authenticates your Web presence and allows you to better own your online image. ( home remodeling )
To log into Google+ ( home remodeling ), sign in with your gmail address (yes, you'll need to get one if you don't already have one) and click on Google+ ( home remodeling ) on the top tab of your account. In Google+ (home remodeling ), click the "Profile" ( home remodeling ) button on the top navigation bar, and add job history, education, bragging rights, etc. ( home remodeling ), in the "About" ( home remodeling ) section. Make sure you link to your websites, videos and pictures to promote your projects, accomplishments and affiliations. Embed links in text to share other content-rich places where people can find you on the Web (like an Amazon author page, ( home remodeling ) SoundCloud music page or high school teacher website). ( home remodeling )
2. ( home remodeling )Organize your personal circles ( home remodeling )
Whether you consider it a blessing or a curse, Google ( home remodeling ) makes you organize your contacts into circles before you can do much else. ( home remodeling ) Google claims that Google+ ( home remodeling ) users are three times more likely to share ( home remodeling ) within certain circles than share publicly. ( home remodeling ) That means hovering parents are more likely to share with other parents, and foodies with other foodies, theoretically cutting down the amount of useless posts you see in your stream. This targeted content is an outright blessing for those of us who have grown sick of the "my kid's latest accomplishment" ( home remodeling ) or "today's lunch choice" posts that taint our Facebook ( home remodeling ) walls. ( home remodeling )
To help you organize your circles, Google gathers all your email contacts and allows you to click and drag people into the circle of your choice. "Friends" and "Family" circles are no-brainers, but what about the members of your soccer team? Create a "Ball Kickers" circle just for them. If you follow public figures or people in your field online, place them in your "Following" circle.
3. ( home remodeling ) Structure some circles for business ( home remodeling )
Creating certain circles around your work is a great way to send targeted information to different types of people you work with. ( home remodeling )A real estate agent might create circles for past and current clients, as well as circles of people by neighborhood. ( home remodeling ) The agent can then send clients who bought or are looking to buy in a particular neighborhood some information about a new juice bar set to open, ( home remodeling )neighborhood alliance meetings or featured properties all within the same 25 blocks, for example. ( home remodeling )
Want to gather information for your business? ( home remodeling ) Get more information about people who circled you by posing a question to the group. ( home remodeling )A "Do you read my advice column?" ( home remodeling ) query, for example, ( home remodeling ) gives you an idea of how many followers are fans of your work. ( home remodeling )You can also directly message people who follow you as a way of crowdsourcing ideas for your next project.
4. ( home remodeling ) Set up easy video-conferencing meetings ( home remodeling )
With a few clicks on Google+ ( home remodeling ), you can set up group video conferencing with any of your established circles. ( home remodeling )Aside from chatting with buddies across the globe, starting a Hangout is a great way to conduct quick-and-dirty ( home remodeling ) virtual meetings with your mom group, ( home remodeling ) co-workers or extended family when planning the next reunion.
To start a Hangout, ( home remodeling )click one of your established circles on the right of your stream, then click the green "Hangout" ( home remodeling ) button on the left side of your stream. Pick up to 10 people to participate. ( home remodeling ) No third party chat or virtual meeting software is needed. ( home remodeling ) The camera's focus will move with whoever has the floor, keeping the talker front-and-center in the biggest box on the screen. ( home remodeling ) Once you've started a hangout group, you can also watch a YouTube ( home remodeling ) video together and type notes for one another in the chat field. ( home remodeling )
5. ( home remodeling ) Fine-tune your feeds ( home remodeling )
After you type a post to your stream, ( home remodeling ) you can choose which of the circles to send the content to. ( home remodeling ) You can share your particular post with a few of your custom circles, to extended circles (which not only posts to your circles, but your friends' circles as well) - ( home remodeling )- or to public, which is open viewing for the whole Web. ( home remodeling )
You can also create Sparks, ( home remodeling ) which are like Google ( home remodeling ) Alerts for your favorite things. ( home remodeling )When you set up Sparks of your biggest interests, you receive a curated feed of things happening around the ( home remodeling )Web based on those interests. ( home remodeling ) From the home screen, click Sparks on the left-hand column. ( home remodeling ) Type in any interest, from "gastropubs" to "gluten-free diet" ( home remodeling ) to "Glee," ( home remodeling ) and then click "Add Interest." ( home remodeling ) A feed of the latest of your favorite things on the Web will be ready for you to view via smartphone or computer when waiting in line at the bank or for a flight at the airport. ( home remodeling )
Google+ ( home remodeling )also allows users to turn multiple conversations into one streamlined group chat (in Huddle) and automatically upload pictures and video from your Android Smartphone (Instant Upload) to your Google+ account to share with whichever circles you choose later on. Take the Google+ Tour for more on these features and check What's New in Google+ for the latest tricks and practices. ( home remodeling )
If anyone could go after the Facebook jugular - ( home remodeling )- and its three quarters of a billion users - ( home remodeling )- it's Google. The online search giant took aim at Facebook ( home remodeling ) when it launched Google+, a social network that combines old services (Google Profiles, Google Buzz, etc.) with new. But is Google+ strictly for consumers, or can its applications benefit businesses too? ( home remodeling )
Google+: ( home remodeling ) Best Features for Business ( home remodeling )
Amber MacArthur ( home remodeling ), a social media strategist and author of Power Friending ( home remodeling ): Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business, says Google+ ( home remodeling ) isn't a Facebook ( home remodeling ) clone, though at first glance they do appear similar. ( home remodeling ) Once you get to know the social network, you'll likely see it as a hybrid: "It has the advantage of long-form posting like Facebook ( home remodeling ) (but better) and the immediacy of a real-time ( home remodeling ) stream like Twitter, ( home remodeling )" says Doug Lacombe, president of the communicatto ( home remodeling ) social media agency in Calgary. ( home remodeling )
Other unique Google+ ( home remodeling )features that can benefit your business include the following: ( home remodeling )
Photos ( home remodeling )
Forget the regular online photo albums you're used to; Google+ ( home remodeling ) arranges your photos into a beautiful one-page layout. ( home remodeling )"The search engine giant has created a platform that has a better in-line photo viewing experience, as images are larger and the overall design of the page is cleaner, ( home remodeling )" says Lacombe. ( home remodeling )
Circles. ( home remodeling )
An easy way to share content with friends or colleagues ( home remodeling ), without being forced to share the same things with everyone. ( home remodeling ) "Your work circle gets different content and conversation than your family circle, and so on ( home remodeling )," says Lacombe. ( home remodeling )
Hangouts ( home remodeling )
A feature that lets you video chat or watch videos together with others. ( home remodeling )
Sparks ( home remodeling )
A feed of everything you're following. ( home remodeling )
Huddles ( home remodeling )
( home remodeling )An instant messaging feature for Android and iPhone users. ( home remodeling )
Better integration ( home remodeling )
If you use Google products regularly, ( home remodeling ) Google+ is a natural extension to your Internet experience, says MacArthur: ( home remodeling )"The network sits neatly within your Google account." ( home remodeling )
How can you use all these features to maximize your business? ( home remodeling ) Get one person from your company to represent your business and manage the social network account. (Google+ ( home remodeling ) is set to launch its business pages later this year.) ( home remodeling ) "The same principles for building a community exist on Google+ ( home remodeling ) that exist on Facebook - ( home remodeling )- it's important to be authentic, post regularly and engage with everyone," says MacArthur. "It's like going to the gym: If you don't stick to a regular schedule, you're not going to see the results you want."
Google+ ( home remodeling ): Security Concerns ( home remodeling )
Facebook ( home remodeling ) is no stranger to privacy concerns. Google ( home remodeling ) too has come under fire over Gmail ( home remodeling )hacks and revealing too much info on Google ( home remodeling ) Maps with Street View. So can Google+ ( home remodeling ) be trusted? ( home remodeling )
"Yes ( home remodeling )and no," ( home remodeling )says Lacombe. "In the sense that Google ( home remodeling ) successfully and securely runs millions of accounts on Gmail ( home remodeling ) and Google Apps, I think G+ accounts are as secure as any other online service. The weakest link is usually careless users with weak passwords, ( home remodeling )or those who leave their devices open and accessible to thieves." ( home remodeling )
But Lacombe also reminds us that anything posted online can be copied, pasted and shared, so you need to manage information security by being judicious in your posting. ( home remodeling ) "No service can protect you thoroughly ( home remodeling )," he concludes. ( home remodeling )
Google+ ( home remodeling ): Its Future in Business ( home remodeling )
Like Facebook, ( home remodeling ) Google+ ( home remodeling )will become an increasingly important social media destination for ( home remodeling ) brands and small businesses, predicts MacArthur ( home remodeling ). "We've seen over the past couple of months how quickly this new social network has grown, so with millions of users, it's only natural that companies will want to build a presence on Google+ ( home remodeling ) in order to reach customers and clients." ( home remodeling )
Search engine and internet giant Google debuted ( home remodeling ) "Find My Face". ( home remodeling )
The new tool designed for its Google+ ( home remodeling ) users is Google's first step into the growing field of social facial recognition.
The "Find My Face" ( home remodeling ) tool exists as a tag for its Google+ ( home remodeling ) social network. ( home remodeling )
The tool scans users' ( home remodeling ) and their friends photos for recognizable faces, and then suggests nametags for the faces by matching them with users' profile photos and other tagged photos on Google's social network site Google+. ( home remodeling )
Google ( home remodeling ) has privacy as its main concern in the the new launch.
"Find My Face ( home remodeling )" is unlike Facebook ( home remodeling ) in that it prompts users to first opt into the service before atomically suggesting to their friend that they be tagged in photos. Google ( home remodeling ) also requires the subject of a suggested tag to approve it before it goes public. ( home remodeling )
Tagging is the digital ( home remodeling ) equivalent of writing names on the back of of photo. ( home remodeling )
When Google ( home remodeling ) launched its Google ( home remodeling ) Chrome browser, I was instantly smitten: ( home remodeling ) The address bar did double duty as a URL display and search box. It was a simple concept, ( home remodeling ) yet it was strong enough to convert me from Firefox. ( home remodeling )
Three years later, ( home remodeling ) Chrome offers thousands of extensions that allow users to custom-build their browser for better searching, storing and privacy settings. Shoppers can add extensions that store their most wanted goods ( home remodeling ) (Add to Amazon Wishlist); design freaks can opt for a sleek, ( home remodeling ) 3-D image display (Cooliris) ( home remodeling ); and jetsetters can translate websites into English with one click (Google Translate). ( home remodeling )
Here are a few other reasons why I love Google ( home remodeling ) Chrome: ( home remodeling )
1. ( home remodeling ) I kick personalized ads to the curb. ( home remodeling )
Personalized ads can feel a little too Orwellian, ( home remodeling ) especially when they're generated from your most personal emails and most private of Web searches ( home remodeling ) (er, uh, "best hemorrhoid cream?"). ( home remodeling ) Opt out by installing the "Keep My Opt-outs" ( home remodeling ) extension. This will prevent companies that are part of the Network Advertising Initiative from targeting ads to what you type. ( home remodeling )
2. ( home remodeling ) I stay under the radar. ( home remodeling )
To keep your browsing and downloads from being recorded in your history - ( home remodeling )- and to prevent cookies from being kept after you close a window - ( home remodeling )- switch to incognito mode. (home remodeling ) Once you're browsing in incognito mode, ( home remodeling )Chrome won't store any information about the websites you've visited - ( home remodeling )- a must when working on a shared or public computer. ( home remodeling ) Want an extra layer of protection? Pause the Web history tracking stored in your Google ( home remodeling ) Account before you browse. ( home remodeling )
3. ( home remodeling )I optimize my Web surfing. ( home remodeling )
( home remodeling )Check out the Extensions section of the Chrome ( home remodeling )Web Store for free add-ons. ( home remodeling )Whether you're a blogger ( home remodeling ), sports nut or photographer, you can find extensions by filtering them by categories on the left-hand side of the page. ( home remodeling )After you install an extension, it will automatically update with new features. ( home remodeling )
Here are a few of my favorites: ( home remodeling )
Aviary Image Editor: ( home remodeling )
Lets you capture a screen-grab and edit a picture, ( home remodeling ) like a mini Photoshop, ( home remodeling ) without leaving the browser. ( home remodeling )
Shareaholic: ( home remodeling )
Love sharing Web finds with your friends? This extension allows you to share via Facebook, Twitter, Gmail and more by clicking on an icon in the toolbar. No need to navigate away from the page or to open another program. ( home remodeling )
TooMany Tabs for Chrome: ( home remodeling )
When you have 57 ( home remodeling ) tabs open in your browser and are starting to feel overwhelmed, ( home remodeling ) this extension will help you navigate and manage them all. ( home remodeling )
ChromeVis: ( home remodeling )
The Web can be impossible to navigate if you have poor vision. ( home remodeling )This extension lets you magnify any selected text on a ( home remodeling )Web page and customize the magnification box by changing print and background colors to best suit your needs. ( home remodeling )
When Google ( home remodeling ) launched its Facebook-rivaling ( home remodeling ) social network this summer, some balked about having to deal with yet another social network. But what many early adapters found is that Google+ ( home remodeling ) is cleaner and more efficient - ( home remodeling )- and best of all, not everyone you connect with has to be a "friend." ( home remodeling )
In Google's ( home remodeling ) attempt to fashion ( home remodeling ) its social network after the real world, Google+ ( home remodeling ) lets you make a contained circle for family, friends, work buddies, chess club friends and a secret society (if you belong to one) ( home remodeling ). In the same amount of time you'd spend posting on Facebook ( home remodeling ), you can pick which circle sees your various posts - ( home remodeling )- which is kind of perfect if you don't want work buddies to know about your family dramas, right? ( home remodeling )
While the newest social network is just a few months old - ( home remodeling )- and at least a few months away from mainstream adoption - ( home remodeling )- the potential for Google+ ( home remodeling ) to deliver relevant information is too attractive to pass up. Here's how to get started: ( home remodeling )
1. ( home remodeling ) Create your searchable profile. ( home remodeling )
Apps, Docs and social networks aside, Google is first and foremost a search engine. As Google+ grows, so does the relevance of its profiles in search results.
Try Googling ( home remodeling ) yourself. Unless your name is John Doe ( home remodeling ), your Google ( home remodeling ) profile will be one of the first results to come up. ( home remodeling ) This is prime real estate on the Web - ( home remodeling )- and happily, you are in control of how it's shaped. Building out your Google profile authenticates your Web presence and allows you to better own your online image. ( home remodeling )
To log into Google+ ( home remodeling ), sign in with your gmail address (yes, you'll need to get one if you don't already have one) and click on Google+ ( home remodeling ) on the top tab of your account. In Google+ (home remodeling ), click the "Profile" ( home remodeling ) button on the top navigation bar, and add job history, education, bragging rights, etc. ( home remodeling ), in the "About" ( home remodeling ) section. Make sure you link to your websites, videos and pictures to promote your projects, accomplishments and affiliations. Embed links in text to share other content-rich places where people can find you on the Web (like an Amazon author page, ( home remodeling ) SoundCloud music page or high school teacher website). ( home remodeling )
2. ( home remodeling )Organize your personal circles ( home remodeling )
Whether you consider it a blessing or a curse, Google ( home remodeling ) makes you organize your contacts into circles before you can do much else. ( home remodeling ) Google claims that Google+ ( home remodeling ) users are three times more likely to share ( home remodeling ) within certain circles than share publicly. ( home remodeling ) That means hovering parents are more likely to share with other parents, and foodies with other foodies, theoretically cutting down the amount of useless posts you see in your stream. This targeted content is an outright blessing for those of us who have grown sick of the "my kid's latest accomplishment" ( home remodeling ) or "today's lunch choice" posts that taint our Facebook ( home remodeling ) walls. ( home remodeling )
To help you organize your circles, Google gathers all your email contacts and allows you to click and drag people into the circle of your choice. "Friends" and "Family" circles are no-brainers, but what about the members of your soccer team? Create a "Ball Kickers" circle just for them. If you follow public figures or people in your field online, place them in your "Following" circle.
3. ( home remodeling ) Structure some circles for business ( home remodeling )
Creating certain circles around your work is a great way to send targeted information to different types of people you work with. ( home remodeling )A real estate agent might create circles for past and current clients, as well as circles of people by neighborhood. ( home remodeling ) The agent can then send clients who bought or are looking to buy in a particular neighborhood some information about a new juice bar set to open, ( home remodeling )neighborhood alliance meetings or featured properties all within the same 25 blocks, for example. ( home remodeling )
Want to gather information for your business? ( home remodeling ) Get more information about people who circled you by posing a question to the group. ( home remodeling )A "Do you read my advice column?" ( home remodeling ) query, for example, ( home remodeling ) gives you an idea of how many followers are fans of your work. ( home remodeling )You can also directly message people who follow you as a way of crowdsourcing ideas for your next project.
4. ( home remodeling ) Set up easy video-conferencing meetings ( home remodeling )
With a few clicks on Google+ ( home remodeling ), you can set up group video conferencing with any of your established circles. ( home remodeling )Aside from chatting with buddies across the globe, starting a Hangout is a great way to conduct quick-and-dirty ( home remodeling ) virtual meetings with your mom group, ( home remodeling ) co-workers or extended family when planning the next reunion.
To start a Hangout, ( home remodeling )click one of your established circles on the right of your stream, then click the green "Hangout" ( home remodeling ) button on the left side of your stream. Pick up to 10 people to participate. ( home remodeling ) No third party chat or virtual meeting software is needed. ( home remodeling ) The camera's focus will move with whoever has the floor, keeping the talker front-and-center in the biggest box on the screen. ( home remodeling ) Once you've started a hangout group, you can also watch a YouTube ( home remodeling ) video together and type notes for one another in the chat field. ( home remodeling )
5. ( home remodeling ) Fine-tune your feeds ( home remodeling )
After you type a post to your stream, ( home remodeling ) you can choose which of the circles to send the content to. ( home remodeling ) You can share your particular post with a few of your custom circles, to extended circles (which not only posts to your circles, but your friends' circles as well) - ( home remodeling )- or to public, which is open viewing for the whole Web. ( home remodeling )
You can also create Sparks, ( home remodeling ) which are like Google ( home remodeling ) Alerts for your favorite things. ( home remodeling )When you set up Sparks of your biggest interests, you receive a curated feed of things happening around the ( home remodeling )Web based on those interests. ( home remodeling ) From the home screen, click Sparks on the left-hand column. ( home remodeling ) Type in any interest, from "gastropubs" to "gluten-free diet" ( home remodeling ) to "Glee," ( home remodeling ) and then click "Add Interest." ( home remodeling ) A feed of the latest of your favorite things on the Web will be ready for you to view via smartphone or computer when waiting in line at the bank or for a flight at the airport. ( home remodeling )
Google+ ( home remodeling )also allows users to turn multiple conversations into one streamlined group chat (in Huddle) and automatically upload pictures and video from your Android Smartphone (Instant Upload) to your Google+ account to share with whichever circles you choose later on. Take the Google+ Tour for more on these features and check What's New in Google+ for the latest tricks and practices. ( home remodeling )
If anyone could go after the Facebook jugular - ( home remodeling )- and its three quarters of a billion users - ( home remodeling )- it's Google. The online search giant took aim at Facebook ( home remodeling ) when it launched Google+, a social network that combines old services (Google Profiles, Google Buzz, etc.) with new. But is Google+ strictly for consumers, or can its applications benefit businesses too? ( home remodeling )
Google+: ( home remodeling ) Best Features for Business ( home remodeling )
Amber MacArthur ( home remodeling ), a social media strategist and author of Power Friending ( home remodeling ): Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business, says Google+ ( home remodeling ) isn't a Facebook ( home remodeling ) clone, though at first glance they do appear similar. ( home remodeling ) Once you get to know the social network, you'll likely see it as a hybrid: "It has the advantage of long-form posting like Facebook ( home remodeling ) (but better) and the immediacy of a real-time ( home remodeling ) stream like Twitter, ( home remodeling )" says Doug Lacombe, president of the communicatto ( home remodeling ) social media agency in Calgary. ( home remodeling )
Other unique Google+ ( home remodeling )features that can benefit your business include the following: ( home remodeling )
Photos ( home remodeling )
Forget the regular online photo albums you're used to; Google+ ( home remodeling ) arranges your photos into a beautiful one-page layout. ( home remodeling )"The search engine giant has created a platform that has a better in-line photo viewing experience, as images are larger and the overall design of the page is cleaner, ( home remodeling )" says Lacombe. ( home remodeling )
Circles. ( home remodeling )
An easy way to share content with friends or colleagues ( home remodeling ), without being forced to share the same things with everyone. ( home remodeling ) "Your work circle gets different content and conversation than your family circle, and so on ( home remodeling )," says Lacombe. ( home remodeling )
Hangouts ( home remodeling )
A feature that lets you video chat or watch videos together with others. ( home remodeling )
Sparks ( home remodeling )
A feed of everything you're following. ( home remodeling )
Huddles ( home remodeling )
( home remodeling )An instant messaging feature for Android and iPhone users. ( home remodeling )
Better integration ( home remodeling )
If you use Google products regularly, ( home remodeling ) Google+ is a natural extension to your Internet experience, says MacArthur: ( home remodeling )"The network sits neatly within your Google account." ( home remodeling )
How can you use all these features to maximize your business? ( home remodeling ) Get one person from your company to represent your business and manage the social network account. (Google+ ( home remodeling ) is set to launch its business pages later this year.) ( home remodeling ) "The same principles for building a community exist on Google+ ( home remodeling ) that exist on Facebook - ( home remodeling )- it's important to be authentic, post regularly and engage with everyone," says MacArthur. "It's like going to the gym: If you don't stick to a regular schedule, you're not going to see the results you want."
Google+ ( home remodeling ): Security Concerns ( home remodeling )
Facebook ( home remodeling ) is no stranger to privacy concerns. Google ( home remodeling ) too has come under fire over Gmail ( home remodeling )hacks and revealing too much info on Google ( home remodeling ) Maps with Street View. So can Google+ ( home remodeling ) be trusted? ( home remodeling )
"Yes ( home remodeling )and no," ( home remodeling )says Lacombe. "In the sense that Google ( home remodeling ) successfully and securely runs millions of accounts on Gmail ( home remodeling ) and Google Apps, I think G+ accounts are as secure as any other online service. The weakest link is usually careless users with weak passwords, ( home remodeling )or those who leave their devices open and accessible to thieves." ( home remodeling )
But Lacombe also reminds us that anything posted online can be copied, pasted and shared, so you need to manage information security by being judicious in your posting. ( home remodeling ) "No service can protect you thoroughly ( home remodeling )," he concludes. ( home remodeling )
Google+ ( home remodeling ): Its Future in Business ( home remodeling )
Like Facebook, ( home remodeling ) Google+ ( home remodeling )will become an increasingly important social media destination for ( home remodeling ) brands and small businesses, predicts MacArthur ( home remodeling ). "We've seen over the past couple of months how quickly this new social network has grown, so with millions of users, it's only natural that companies will want to build a presence on Google+ ( home remodeling ) in order to reach customers and clients." ( home remodeling )
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