30 Google+ Tips to Enhance Your Google Plus Experience

Google has finally rolled out Google+ which is not yet another service like Google Wave and Buzz, but is an amazing and power-packed social networking website that is deemed to rise very high and compete with today’s biggies Facebook and Twitter.

I tried out Google+ after getting an invite and found it really interesting, may it be its simple and cool design or the variety of features it offers. One has to accept that Google has done some really good and hard work in bringing out Google+. After all, it was their longtime wish to have a Google Social Network that can dominate the web.

# Here are some useful Google+ Tips shared by Matt Cutts and users who responded to Matt’s post at Google+. All these tips are handy and let you experience the actual power of Google+ (PLUS). Check them below:

1. Click on Profile pictures to rotate through them.

2. Click ‘j‘ to navigate down to the next item or ‘k‘ to navigate up when checking the stream using a keyboard.

3. To add formatting to your text, use the simple trick below.

• (*)bold(*):  Add * before and after the message.
• (_)italics(_):  Add _ before and after the message.
• (-)strike-through(-):  Add – before and after the message.

For example, *Hello* _everyone_ -Mayur- will appear as shown below:

4. Click on “Limited” next to the timestamp to find out the actual list of persons with whom you are sharing a particular post.

5. Add a + or @ signal to mention someone specifically in a post.

6. Click on the Timestamp to get the permalink (web URL) of any post.

7. Share your post with the Public or Circle/Circles only. You can even share a post with an individual by typing their name or email address. A very useful one!

8. What’s more, you can even edit the photos uploaded by you. It’s easy and flawless.

Open any picture uploaded by you or visit the gallery. Select Actions > Edit photo.

Then improve your not-so-good photos by adding some smart effects to them in a click.

Read: Why the Built-In Photo Editor on Google+ Rocks

9. Unlike Gmail, you can Resize the Chat Box in Google+. To do so, just drag the box by its corner or sides.

10. If you’re annoyed with some post that is getting lots of comments and thus irritating you with notifications. Just Mute the post. You can even Block any person and can Report Abuse against him.

11. Set Options for any post made by you by clicking the grey drop-down ‘Options’ icon. You can choose to Edit it, Delete it, Disable comment or Disable Resharing a post.

12. Tired of receiving notifications for a particular post you made or commented on? Just hit “Mute this post” to get rid of it.

13. Share a post or check notifications on Google+ directly from within your Gmail account without opening a separate webpage for Google+. Now that’s seamless integration. 🙂

14. See how your profile appears to others – Input his/her username, select Edit profile, make the alterations to your profile only for that specific person. Something unique!

15. While on the Home tab, press twice the q key on the keyboard to search and add people to your chat list. (Press q 2nd time after a gap of sec).

16. Hitting Enter, when focused on a Post, opens up the comment box.

17. Set delivery preferences and tick mark desired entries under “Receive Notifications”. Visit this link to edit the settings: https://plus.google.com/settings/plus

18. What’s that Incoming option under Stream? “Incoming” stream is stuff from people who are sharing with you, but who you haven’t added to a circle.

19. Give feedback – Found any bug or have a tip to suggest? Just click Send feedback from the lower right corner, the cool part is you can highlight the faulty area and report about it.

20. Trick to Invite anyone to Google+ even if you don’t have invites – Make a post, share it with that person using his email address. Then ask him to click Learn more about Google+ in the received email. On opening it, he would be able to Join Google+.

Update – Check more New Tips below:

21. New Bonus Tip – How to Enable Email Feature on your Google+ Profile

22. Use the Scroll wheel of your mouse to navigate through the photos in the gallery.

23. Enable Chat for Circles – How to Chat with People in your Google+ Circle

24. Drag and Drop Photos, Videos, and Links directly to the post box from your desktop.

Tip credit: Gerard Sanz

25. Manage how People from your Circles appear to everyone on your Profile – Open your Google+ profile and edit it. Then click the round black-grey icon and select the desired options. You can also choose to hide the “Have you in Circles” box.

Tip credit: Dave Bort

26. Make +1 Tab Public – The +1 tab on your Google+ profile is disabled by default to be seen by anyone else, i.e. only you can see that tab. To make it public, visit your profile > Edit profile. Click on +1’s tab and tick mark the option ‘Show this tab on my profile’. Now everyone would be able to see the +1s by you. (It only lists the +1s that you’ve done on any webpage outside of Google+).

Tip credit: Alex Williams

27. Alternate links to access Google Plus – Besides http://plus.google.com, Google+ can be accessed from http://google.com/+ or http://google.com/plus and from http://m.google.com/plus on mobile phones.

Tip credit: Kanda

28. Set the privacy setting for Gender on your Google+ Profile – Google+ now allows you to control who sees your gender on your Google+ Profile. Just open your profile, select Edit profile, tap on the Gender option and choose whom you want to make it visible for.

29. Report Abuse or Remove Comments – Seems this option wasn’t present originally and has been added recently. It is very useful, might come in handy when someone spams on your post or make derogatory comments. You can report abuse or remove any desired comment. This option appears only when there is a comment on any post made by you.

30. Rename albums in Google+ – Google Plus has recently added the functionality to rename photo albums right in Google+. To do so, navigate to Photos > Your albums > click an album and click on the album title. Voila! Edit the album title.

Tip credit: Vincent Mo

Also See: Best Google+ Extensions for Chrome

Also See: Google+ Web App – Adds Google+ to Chrome’s New Tab

Thanks to Matt Cutts and various responders for sharing most of these cool tips.

>> If you’re on Google+ then you can add me to your Circle. [My Google+ Profile]

>> Do post your comments below and share this post with your Google+ friends. 🙂