I’ve dragged my feet about writing this, as I simply haven’t wanted to admit that G+ is truly about to disappear from the Web. Sure, somebody is looking to archive all the public posts, but that’s not the same thing as being able to participate in it anymore. Not that I’ve done much on it for many months, as I didn’t see much point. It’s still one of the Home tabs on my Chrome browser though, and it will probably stay there until April 2nd, the day Google officially pulls the plug. It’s just hard to let go.
Google+ Was the Best for Meaningful Discussions
Yeah, I know that a lot of people never “got” G+, and Google certainly didn’t make it easy to learn how it worked well. There were some really great social tools & metrics built in early on, like Circles, Circle Sharing, and whatever they called the info on a post’s reach, which let you see who’d shared. Then you could follow the dots and connect with more people interested in those topics. Or figure out which people you needed to mute/block. Of course, Google killed all of those features within a few years. 🙁
It used to be said, “Facebook is for the people you know, but Google+ is for meeting new people and having great discussions about topics you care about.” Something like that. I certainly found it to be true. I connected with so many people there, many of whom I’ve now followed on other platforms, but none of them have the same feature set, all the same people, ways to share content, as G+ did.
Some of the things I loved, which really made G+ awesome:
G+ let you use your whole screen; you could choose to see from 1 to 3 columns.
Actual TEXT formatting!
Collections were Da BOMB & Actually WORKED
Photos were displayed BIG and BEAUTIFUL!
G+ Changed My Life
There are quite a few blog posts here, which were inspired by conversations and opportunities on G+, not even counting all the ones that I’ve now imported. A few:
- The Law of Unintended Opportunities (and Consequences)
- To Be Grateful
- Book Review of David Amerland’s Google Semantic Search
- What Do You REALLY Want?
- Social Media Success Part 1 and Part 2 (I caught a lot of flak for some of the things I said in those 2 pieces LOL
Google+ Photography Was INCREDIBLE!
The Photography Communities on G+ were simply the BEST for both inspiring and upping my photography. I’ll have to upload a bunch more images for this gallery, but there were so many parts and pieces to it. The number of inspiring and mind-blowing photographers, whom I met on G+, is beyond my desire to count. There was the G+ Photowalk in New York City with Joel Tjintelaar; an Outer Banks, North Carolina workshop with Alistair Nicol, Tommy White, and Athena Carey; a Scott Kelby/G+ Photowalk in Charlotte NC; thought-provoking assignments from Jake Johnson; the stunningly beautiful reversed-macro lens water droplets by Roni Delmonico; Kalebra Kelby’s #shotonmytrustyiphone; the incredible creativity of all the worldwide participants in the Chrysta Rae Scavenger Hunts; #DancingwithLight inspired by Alan Shapiro; Don Komarechka’s mind-blowing snowflakes; dog photos with Heidi Ann Morris; the B&W Project; Johnny Wills’ #JoininDaily; and so much more. The following gallery includes a small sample of the many photos I took for G+.
Want to Save Your Info? Act NOW
I’ve been using the Google+ Exporter to download as much as I can from my Collections. At least, the ones I want to keep. There’s a ton of older, Public content that I’d posted, and while I’ve exported the XML file of all of it, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to import all of it here. It’s a huge amount of data! But I have been slowly importing many of those Collections here, as I have time. I’ll also need to delete a lot of the posts, but for the moment…I’ll have it here and can then decide to keep or trash it.
Amazing Connections Made with People Around the World
I can’t even begin to count the many amazing people I met on G+. So many photographers, especially through the Chrysta Rae Scavenger Hunt (that’s the new community link). A bunch of SEO/social media gurus, many of whom I still follow and trust to keep me updated on what I need to know for my practice website. Mathematicians, astronomers, biologists, skeptics and critical thinkers, ag-vocates – scientists of all stripes and flavors. People who are passionate about their professions, helping the world, etc. And now they’re scattering, trying to find a new place to share and discuss. None of them can match what G+ had though, because none of them have the resources and manpower that Google does.
The G+ Exodus has been going on for some time, but on April 2nd, it officially ends. Where then? I think Bilbo’s song from Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkein, perhaps sums it up best:
The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.