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Bye-Bye Chris Brogan And Company - Feature Request For Google+

Written by John W. Furst, has got 6 Comments.

Chris Brogan on Google+

Before we get started I want to put the title of this post into the proper perspective, right away.

No, I don’t have anything to hold against Chris Brogan (↑), not at all. He is a fine person! Otherwise I would not follow him on Twitter, in Google Reader, now in Google+, and probably elsewhere.

Unfortunately for him -- I hope his ego can cope with that -- he becomes my poster child for something he is not even responsible for himself. (Life can be tough, isn’t it.)

Chris posts a lot on Google+ (at least now) and his followers are eager to comment and share. The result is that he (as well as other heavy posters like Robert Scoble (↑), Trey Ratcliff (↑), … show up first almost every time when I look at my stream.

Don’t get me wrong, I follow them, because they usually have blurbs of value to share. Anything from entertaining to educating …

It’s just that I don’t want them right in my face all the time whenever I look at my stream.

When taking this screenshot above it just happened that Chris Brogan was up there twice in a row. It was not planned. Seriously. It could as well have been someone else. Sorry, Chris.

Robert Scoble has addressed the problem and has described how you can organize your circles to take your stream back into your possession. You can read Scoble's tips for newer users of Google+ (↑) (a post on Google+, I believe you can read it even without being signed up for G+). Note his point 2.b.

But wait a second! Your stream should not be hijacked in first place.

Isn’t that something the user interface is supposed to protect you from? That question might be a bit philosophical and we don’t need to address it here but why should you be foreced to arrange your circles in a certain way so that your stream remains usable?

Nevertheless, I found a cure (theoretically.) You can see it in the screenshot.

The solution is rather simple:

The user should be able to toggle each circles to be included or excluded in the stream.

Turn circles in the main stream on and off

Currently you can only select one circle at a time. I think it shouldn’t be that way.

Of course you could switch from circle to circle but probably all you need is to exclude one or two from your streamin order to do just fine.

That’s what I propose here.

Tell me what you think? Could this solve this initial G+ hick up?
Since many people are writing about that issue it might be worthwhile tackling it. I have scribbled other, smaller ideas somewhere on my notepad but who cares about those.

From that list:

On the +1 tab of the personal profile I’d like to see a share and comment link next to the items I have previously 1+’ed.
I’d like to be able to hangout with audio / texting capabilities only (skype like). .Don’t require me to hookup a webcam and show my face.
I don’t have a remedy for this one: Maybe it is only me, but sometimes I feel insecure when selecting members. “Is this really the person I mean?” I am so used to see unique identifiers like an email address or an ID#. Now, it’s only a name and a photo. I guess I have to get used to it.

That's it for the start.

It seems that Google is really actively listining to the tons of feedback they get from users. And Google is implementing some popular and important user requests fast (↑).

Update

While I suggest what Google could do to improve the user experience with G+, my friend Dr. Mani shared his personal tricks and shows how he organizes his circles.

He has some pretty smart ways of doing this.

Read his blog post here:

Circles = Sharing : How I’m Using Google+ Circles (↑)
Google+ In Ten Minutes a Day (↑)

__________

Now, what do you think?

Yours
John W. Furst

P.S.: Besides that I am having a very positive Google+ experience. Thanks to the team of Google+.

P.P.S.: Don't of think that I am focusing on what might not be working that well so far. I must confess my Google+ experience is really much better than when I got started with Twitter, Facebook or Google Wave (remember that one?)

Posted by John W. Furst in Social Media, Usability on Saturday, July 16, 2011 has got 6 Comments.

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You are back. Good to know. Not have signed up for Google but have never signed up for Facebook either. I will see once the first buzz has set.

#1 Jane Fuller on 2011-07-16 18:09

Finally having found the time to approve comments here.

Thanks Jane,
I'll try to post more frequently, again.

Oh boy, 95% spam comments from Poland. Stop it dude, you don't get through here.

Yours
John

#2 John W. Furst from www.fcon21.biz on 2011-07-16 18:12

Thank you. I will check out Dr. Mani's tips next.