So I’ve been in Google+ for a week. My life has not significantly changed.
I’m not going into the mechanics of the thing, there are far better places for that than here. Short version: It’s Facebook without the games, apps, or privacy concerns.
It’ll be good, I think, once more people are in there and the iOS app gets approved and they get a few bugs out. (The bugs that bugs me the most so far: if I share something with someone in a circle, that someone can choose to share it elsewhere [after a warning pops up]. I thought the point of circles was so you could disseminate things like drunken party photos without your boss seeing them? What good do circles do you if you send it to a coworker and that coworker broadcasts it? I think there needs to be a setting where if someone wants to share what you’ve posted, you can request that you be notified first so you can deny it. Just saying.)
But my main problem right now is, how do I integrate these things? I’m in Google+, I’m on Twitter, I’m in Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, DeviantArt. There are even old LiveJournal and Tumblr accounts of mine floating around somewhere, and my MySpace page is still there if anyone is still wandering those empty halls. And I really don’t want to log into all of them to post stuff. So what goes where?
Right now my blog posts here are automatically posted to Twitter, and all tweets are then automatically posted to Facebook. Fairly often I’ll post directly to Twitter if it’s a twittery thought, and occasionally I’ll post directly to Facebook, but Google+ won’t crosspost to or accept posts from any of them. I can use Tweetdeck to post to multiple social network accounts but they haven’t added Google+ yet (they have Google Buzz, but items posted to that don’t show up in G+ that I’ve seen yet). I don’t want to spend my day posting everywhere. Do I pick one or two and stick with them? Do I keep them all separate and use each one for different things? I’m pretty sure I don’t have that much to say.
Is there a logical breakdown of what audience is where? Twitter tweets fit nicely in my Facebook status but not the other way around, and would make silly blog posts here, especially since posts made here get posted to Twitter. And where does Tumblr fit in? Should I move my Flickr and Facebook photos to Picasa before Google+ takes off? Or post casual pics to Facebook/Google+ and reserve Flickr for my good, portfolio-type shots? Gah!
At some point soon I think I’ll be taking a look at all the places I have a presence (i.e. most of them) and start downsizing and consolidating where I can’t connect ’em up. How do you guys handle your accounts?
Yeah, I haven’t even tried to get an invitation to Google+. Until a decent amount of my friends abandon Facebook for it (which is exactly why I abandoned MySpace for Facebook), I don’t really see the need to add another social network just yet.
Right now I connect mainly through Facebook. My blogs post automatically to both Facebook and Twitter. I don’t do much with Twitter beyond that, though I’m thinking I should be doing more if I want it to have any impact.
I only update LinkedIn with vocation-related changes, and I’ve abandoned Xanga, Picasa, and other social start-ups. I’m also currently ignoring most of the link and article posting sites I’ve joined (Xomba, Bukisa, Infopirate).
My vice seems to be starting new blogs whenever I get passionate about a topic. I haven’t posted on many of them for months, though my oldest blog on writing and my newest blog on TV shows are still going strong (I have noticed that I at least refer to a Joss Whedon show in 90% of my posts).
Bonus points if that’s a reference to Buffy season 7 in your title!