Now you may have noticed that this is all written in the past tense, and I guess it’s for a reason. I don’t see myself keeping up with twitter anymore, as the new kid on the block is stealing all the limelight…

Just over two weeks ago, search giant Google started beta testing Google+ [Wikipedia article here]. If you don’t yet know what that means, visit that link and keep reading…Google+ is Google’s entry into the social networking market. Wait, what? Wasn’t that Orkut? …and Buzz?… and even Google Wave to some degree?

Yes, but think of G+ as a culmination of all three of those plus a dash of unique features, and that seems to be the magic ingredient.

Google touts “Circles”, “Streams”, and “Hangouts”. Circles are equivalent to Facebook friend lists done right the first time. Streams are feeds of content (articles, blog posts) tailored to your interests. Hangouts are group video chats, and from what I hear they’re a blast. These little things might be all it takes to offer up real competition to both Twitter and Facebook, the Social Media whales.

And just like that, there’s now a G+ on my Social Media Report Card.

Google is ramping up the hype with Plus just as they did with Google Wave, and Gmail before it. Currently the service is in “limited field test” and is therefore invite-only, though invites are going out pretty steadily now. Google CEO Larry Page publicly stated that G+ has already hit 10 million users, and it’s only been in beta since June 28. With that in mind, there’s a pretty good chance you can get in. You’ll need a google account (gmail, picasa, etc) and then just wander over to plus.google.com. If the signup page says they’re at capacity, just keep refreshing the page over the period of an evening. Turn the TV on, queue up a movie on NetFlix, and every so often just refresh the page.

If you have friends who can send you an invite from within the service, even better! Just be aware that an invite doesn’t guarantee you an account as the signup page can still claim they’re over capacity if you visit it from the invite-email link.

For more information about Google+, Christopher Scott (a colleague of mine at OWGM) has written a great blog post about his experiences. I don’t intend to think about it as hard as he has, so you’ll have to get that from him.

If you’ve managed to sign up already, I’ll leave you with a link to my G+ profile, and a link to a cheat sheet that Jason Perlow shared publicly. I almost forgot to throw in the collaborative book on Google+ written using Google Docs.

And that’s all I have to say on the matter right now. I have to stop myself from gushing about all the nice stuff because really, everyone else seems to be doing that. I wanted to be a little more neutral in this post, a little more informative and a little less opinionated.

Google me? Plus me? Circle me? They all sound awkward, but what I’m trying to say is: Come connect with me on Google Plus. Let’s hang out!

If you are using G+, how’s your experience been? Let me know in the comments so I can round ‘em up for the next post!

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First off, don’t assume that Twitter is amazing simply because the media is saying it. Twitter is very cool, but you have to be following the right people in order to see the “cool” factor.

The first time you sign up for a Twitter account, you’ll be presented with a list of “suggested” Twitterers (tweeple? tweeps?). This list is really only made up of celebrities and internet personalities. These people either tweet a lot and have a city full of followers (literally, some have over a million followers), or they’re just very well known in the non-Twitter world and have transferred their fame to Twitter. You may see these people, recognize a few, and go “Okay, so now what?” Well that’s a very good question. If you listen to what Twitter tells you and follow these folks, you’ll probably have a lot of very shallow tweets to read, with a few exceptions. There won’t be a lot of substance, but you’ll definitely have a lot of noise. The first thing this does is confuse people, because once you’re done reading the few tweets that actually interest you from these celebs, you’re done. You’re now sitting on your Twitter screen waiting for things to happen, because the media makes it seem like Twitter is constantly in motion. Twitter is constantly in motion, but if you’re not following the right people, you’ll never know it!

Let’s start with some good Tweeple to follow (I’ll switch to using “Tweeple” so you can learn some Twitter-lingo on the fly)…

I’ll be listing these people in no particular order, hopefully with a decent reason for you to follow them. I’ll link to their Twitter profile so you can easily check ‘em out and decide for yourself. Pick and choose, because one of the nicer things about Twitter is that you can choose who to listen to.

• @zaibatsu
  Reg Saddler seems like he never leaves the Twittersphere. He’s constantly updating with cool new stuff to read, websites to check out, and people to follow. He’s also REALLY nice, and very interactive!
• @murnahan
  Mark Aaron Murnahan, A Web Guy. It may not sound like much of a title, but he’s more like “THE Web Guy.” He updates all the time about new trends, awesome articles, and his blog is definitely worth reading. He’s another one of those nice guys, and he’s equally as interactive as @zaibatsu.
• @BuzzEdition
  Susan posts a lot of interesting updates about trends, social media (Twitter, FB, etc), and more. I visit about 1 in 3 of her tweeted links.
• @Sheamus
  His blog is “twittercism.com”, ‘nuff said, right? He blogs about Twitter, Social Media, new trends (and the irony that goes with ‘em) and more! I often find myself nodding in agreement when reading his opinions.
• @the_gman
  An SEO guy! (He’s actually pretty huge.) Fun tweets about web tips, Twitter trends, and random hilarity! He just now linked to the Team America theme song. Hah!
• @chrispirillo
  Chris is a well-known all-around geek. He doesn’t update as often as some, but his updates are usually worth checking out.
• @mattcuts
  The Matt Cutts, from Google! Matt’s a neat guy, his updates are often insights into what Google might be doing next, or how they do things. Definitely worth following since he’s the closest thing to a real person you’ll get from Google.
  -

Alright I just noticed that most of the people I’m following are geeks, perhaps that says something about me… Let’s try this again.

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• @mrskutcher
  Demi Moore! She tweets about herself and Ashton, her spirituality, global issues, and fun stuff.
• @mchammer
  The Real M.C. Hammer, you know… “Stop, Hammer Time!” He’s the real deal, and he’s not afraid to tweet it. Hammer tweets about his life and the people he meets.
• @cnnbrk
  CNN’s breaking news. Fun fact: This used to be an unofficial Twitter account run by a random guy, until CNN bought it off him. That sort of thing is rare though, Trademark law makes sure of that.
• @BarackObama and @whitehouse
  President Obama’s staff tweet for him about national issues, global issues, current events, and more.
• @lancearmstrong
  Lance Armstrong (you know, Tour De France and all that) tweets about the races, the fellow racers, his family, and more!

There are a lot more people you might enjoy following, but honestly I can’t list them all as I’d be here for weeks on end. The best way to find new interesting people is to watch for ReTweets (when someone posts someone else’s tweet in recognition of a good idea, link, etc). Usually the person being ReTweeted is worth checking out. Also, keep an eye out on Fridays for the #followfriday hashtag. Tweeple will use that to recommend other tweeps you should be following.

Now you’ve got your collection of tweeple to follow and you’re reading updates all the time. You’re stuck in Twitter for at least an hour or two a week, maybe as bad as a few hours a day (I’m that bad) so what’s the next step? Tweeting! If you feel you want to let people know what’s up, go ahead and tweet something interesting. Or just tweet what you’re having for breakfast. It’s totally up to you!

There are a few easy ways to gain recognition (if that’s what you care about)… ReTweeting what others post is a good way to get noticed, especially by the person you’re promoting. Using hashtags is also a good way to get noticed because it’s an easy way to search for things on the twitter site. Trends right now: #nhlplayoffs, #swineflu, etc. If your tweet is on a specific topic, you can use a hashtag to point it out in a standardized way, which just might get you noticed.

I said I’d tell you why I tweet, but if you’ve read this far you probably already know. I’m on Twitter because I absolutely love the insane amount of knowledge I absorb through the people I’m following, and because I enjoy throwing stuff back out there to the Twitter community. I use my tweeple as a sounding board for ideas, and I let them know about things I find interesting. Who knows, maybe they appreciate that!

I suppose this post wouldn’t be complete without at least one shameless plug… I’m on Twitter as @l0gic. Follow me and see what you’ve been missing!

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