Google+ is the hottest social networking buzz among the Internet audience today. People are rapidly moving their profiles to it and abandoning other social networking sites like Facebook. It also provides a superior user experience with modern graphical interface and other sophisticated features.
In this article, you will learn few tips that will enhance your Google+ experience even further and take it to a different level altogether.
Tips #1: Add Google+ search to the list of search engines in your Google Chrome browser
You can add Google+ search to the list of custom search engines of your Chrome browser. Follow the below given steps carefully.
- Open Google Chrome browser. Click on spanner icon in top-right corner of the browser and select Options.
- Under the Basic tab, click on Manage search engines in the Search subheading. The Search Engines page will show you a list of all the default search engines present in your Chrome browser. Scroll to the bottom and add a new search engine with any set of the these 3 textbox values given below.
For searching in Google+ profiles
Textbox 1: Google+ profiles
Textbox 2: profile
Textbox 3: {google:baseURL}search?q=%s&tbs=prfl:e
For searching in Google+ posts
Textbox 1: Google+ posts
Textbox 2: Post
Textbox 3: {google:baseURL}search?q=site:plus.google.cominurl:posts/*%s
After adding the above, it should look something like the below image. You can now make any of this search as default and start searching in Google Chrome browser.
Tip #2: Integrate Facebook and Twitter into your Google+ account
Few of you may still miss Facebook and its stream even after moving to Google+. Do not worry, you can view your Facebook stream within your Google+ account using a browser plugin. It’s only available for Firefox and Chrome users as yet. Firefox users may visit here and Chrome users may visit here. Install these plugins in your browser and you will see a Facebook button in your Google+ account as follows:
Click on the Facebook icon and you will see Facebook stream in your Google+ account.
Similarly, you can read your tweets within your Google+ account by using this Firefox and Chrome plugin.
Tip #3: Transfer your Facebook contacts to your Google+ account
Facebook does not allow direct import/export of its contacts to Google+ using any browser plugins or apps. But you can use a Yahoo account as a middleman – i.e. import all your Facebook contacts into your Yahoo account and transfer them to Google via Gmail. Gmail contacts will automatically show in your Google+ account too. It’s a lengthy procedure but definitely worth it until you have direct access from Facebook to Google+.
Tip #4: Tag friends in posts on Google+
You can easily mention your friends in your posts on Google+ by simply prefixing “@” or “+” (without quotes) and typing friend’s name. The post will now contain a link to your friend’s profile and also send email to him/her that he/she was mentioned in this specific post.
Tip #5: Save a Google+ post as draft and share it later
Facebook allows limited number of characters in its post, whereas Google+ post can be lengthy. You can type a half-written post, save it as draft and share it later when you complete it. To do this – create an empty Draft circle and share your half-written post only to it or share it with yourself only. At the time of publishing it, you can share the same post with other circles.
Further Reading: Google+ Tricks: Play around with your Google Plus account
