Google Plus Overview – and Invite

As you know I’m always on the lookout for great freebies for Zencopy readers – such as the awesome free book marketing worksheet I posted a few weeks ago. This week, if you haven’t already been invited into Google+ field test and you’ve wanted to try it out, read on for invite information.

And if you don’t know much about Google’s new social media “project” here’s a brief overview of the basics.

The Stream

Your Google+ profile is centered around the Stream which serves the same function as Facebook’s news feed – the place where your information and buddy updates reside.

There are also four core elements – Circles, Hangouts, Huddle and Sparks.

Circles

With circles you create a “friends” group, or “family” group etc. This is Google trying to make sharing online more like sharing in real life – different things with different people. You can keep your conversations separate by putting your contacts into ‘circles’ such as ‘Work’ or ‘Parents’.

All you have to do is click and drag your friends into the relevant circle and then they’ll get the information meant only for them.

Hangouts

Virtual hanging out. Awesome. You can choose specific friends, or circles, to invite for a face-to-face video chat and anyone in the Hangout can invite others to join as well.

Google says: “Until teleportation arrives, it’s the next best thing”.

Huddle

The  Huddle is like a big group chat -  the where-are-we-all-meeting-up-tonight kind of thing – designed to be way more efficient that passing texts around.

Sparks

Tell Sparks what you’re into and it’ll send you things that you might be interested in – to watch, read or share.  When you like the results, you can click the ‘Add Interest’ button.

As I said, this is a really brief overview. But if you want a really in-depth explanation of Google+ check out this Complete Google Plus Guide from Mashable.

If you’re like me, you might just want to get in there and try it out. So, if you’re looking for an invite I’m happy to send you one – first come first serve.

added note: I just sent out the first batch of invites so if you already requested an invite it should be in your inbox. If you have not yet asked for an invite and would like one, simply click on this link (this is auto from google) – and let me know if you have any problems (email me at Karen at the name of this blog dot com. And don’t worry, I won’t use your email for anything else but this).

I still have some 100 invites available and will post right here when they are used up so if you see nothing below here, you’re good to go!

Tagged as: google plus, google social, social media, social media tools