Since we purchase pretty much everything from diapers to lawn mowers and computers at Amazon these days, you’ve got to hand it to the guy. He’s a visionary. Seems he never was worried all that much about making money selling books. And he’s done it again with the Kindle.

It’s the sort of device every book-addicted early -adopter had to have the second it came out. The thought of carrying around hundreds of books, with more for the asking at the speed of bandwidth and the price of jelly beans was just too much to resist. Did they do right by those customers as they upgraded and improved the Kindle? Of course not. No one ever does. It’s the bane of the early adopter.

What Amazon did do is create an incredible inventory of ebooks on Amazon – currently outselling physical books – as well as in the accounts of every Kindle owner. Enter Apple and the iPad or Barnes & Noble and the Nook. Talk about non-starters. If my books are already on Amazon, for my Kindle, why am I going to diddle with those?

To close the deal, Bezos and Amazon gave away the Kindle App for free, thus allowing their avid reader customers to read their Amazon-purchased Kindle books on any device!

Analysts predict there will soon come a time when 90% of the ebooks read on any device will be read through the Kindle app.

What can I say except …

Bezos calls it again!

Anyway let’s see if I can do more than write 3 posts on here !!!

Anyway, it happens, I think I’m losing a step. I was watching a discussion about Nooks versus Kindles via twitter the other day with a little bit of interest. I’ve always been a pretty avid reader, but I’m loyal to the printed page and that will remain, but….

My final christmas gift arrived yesterday. My son’s lovely mom imparted a Kindle on to me. It’s a straight forward reader, which is good as I don’t need another data port at this rate, but as somebody who rarely needed the directions for gizmos, I found I was looking for some directions (a first). With a little futzing and learning where the buttons are, I had two books that I was curious about, but not enough to buy loaded up at nice discount prices. I immediately remembered a former boss’s words of doom about the end of the printed book as we know it, ignored them and kept working the due diligence between Amazon.com and my new toy

So, it’s a noble experiment, figured out how to work it all in the privacy of my living room, reducing the silliness of figuring it out in front of, well, my tech savvy kids.

So far? Kinda cool. Don’t think it will get in the way of any real book store purchases, but might digitally get my arse to the library a little more.

It’s been a long time coming and many have suggested that Google made a blunder by releasing their new social network to regular consumers, without creating any business offering.

In theory, Google+ should be a great service. It mixes the best parts of Facebook and Twitter and is directly connected into the Gmail email service, but so far consumers have not really embraced it and expert commentators have predicted a slow spiral into obsolescence – just like Google Buzz and Wave.

But perhaps a look back in time is what we all need?

Over two years ago the film star Ashton Kutcher was an early adopter. In a famous interview on CNN, he challenged the TV channel to get to one million Twitter followers before him.

This was really the start of the celebrity adoption of Twitter. Soon, musicians, actors, athletes, writers and artists were all using the network to interact directly with fans – without the need for a TV station as a medium. The adoption of the network soared to the point at which it now seems quaint to talk of a race to one million followers – Lady Gaga has almost 16 million today.

If the Pages service on Google+ now allows companies – and celebrities – to start using the network more effectively then will we see an Ashton Kutcher effect for Google? It’s not certain, but it’s too early to write off Google+ just yet.

When I was watching the 4S introduction at the Apple event a few days earlier, I remember immediately answering a poll on Mashable.com where they asked “Would you be upgrading to the 4S?” I quickly answered “No” and thought that was the end of it. But I am always interested in in these new devices so I keep a close eye on the technology. I was very intrigued by some of the new features of the iPhone 4S especially the voice control from Siri as well as the expected improved performance and speed.

On October 14, just a week ago, as I was heading home from some errands in the mid morning, I decided just to stop by my local AT&T Store. I noticed some barricades for the line and I noticed there were just two people standing at the front door (a worker and a customer). In fact, I didn’t even realize it was a line and just walked right for the door and was stopped. I had no intent to buy, but thought I would just come by and check out the excitement for the phone. (There wasn’t much, by the way.)

While waiting, I realized I could simply renew a family member’s contract (who was quite happy with her iPhone 3 – she uses it for phone calls!) for another two years and go ahead and get my iPhone 4S. I would just have to transfer it to my account. About an hour later, I walked out with the brand-new iPhone 4S 32GB unit and plans to sell my only five-month-old iPhone 4 on eBay.

So it’s been a week and I have some first impressions. First of all, the performance is indeed great. I ran a few benchmarks on the 4 and the 4S using BrowserMark from RightWare. (bit.ly/brmark) . When I ran it on the iPhone 4 running iOS 4.x, the reading came back 34,253. After the upgrade to iOS 5, that same device scored 53,353. So just by upgrading to iOS5, I saw a 55% increase in the benchmark. I ran the same on the new 4S and got a blazing 85649. That’s 2 ½ times the speed as my former iPhone 4 running iOS 4.x. The iPhone 4S is FAST.

I’ve been experimenting with Siri. In fact, I am dictating this now because Siri, not only is your personal assistant, but also provides a voice input for any application that would normally use the keyboard. I find it works well and gets most of the words right. Siri, on the other hand as a helpful assistant, is a bit temperamental. Yes she can read my calendar, tell me the weather, and do a Google search, but more often than not, when I need her, she cannot understand me and way too often, cannot connect to the Internet. Siri is a cloud-based app that depends on access to Apple servers in order to do anything other than local dictation.

I never really like talking to anything or giving verbal command in general. I enjoy talking to people through my phone but not to my phone, so I’m not sure if it will ever catch on for my normal routine, but it is an interesting feature nonetheless. I’m sure in time it will improve, but for me, Siri as a personal assistant is nothing more than a novelty.

Another nice feature is the introduction of shortcut keys, a little-known feature of iOS5. They have taken the much maligned “autocorrect” feature and allowed you to create your own abbreviations that help you rather than introduce errors. Nice concept! If you go into Settings, General, Keyboard, you will see the ability to create keyboard shortcuts. I created one for my email address because I type it so many times as a login entry.

Another feature of iOS5 that I certainly like is Twitter integration. For me it means being able to tweet directly from a picture. Now, it’s not such a big deal to add a picture in my Echofon client, but tweeting directly from the photo viewer is a nice plus.

The iMessage feature certainly looks good. It is an alternative to text messaging but, like FaceTime, it only works with the with Apple devices. We would be better off if we could get an open standard for this in the future. I’m sure the carriers don’t like this new competitor to their overpriced text-messaging feature.

The camera certainly is an improvement. Pictures are crisp and clear and the video is hi definition. Built in photo editing features also add convenience. Unfortunately you have no standard definition choice for video. So, here we go using up much more storage than we need. Plus, HD adds a lot of time to share your videos on YouTube or other services.

The new Newsstand features nice. So far, it is just a nice way to pull together magazines. That’s something I will likely use more on my iPad than on the iPhone

One of the real exciting new promises of iOS5 is the iCloud service that allows immediate synchronization of songs, photos and calendar entries. I found it works well with songs, but have been reluctant to try it with photos and disabled it for calendar entries. Using Google calendar I began to see multiple entries and, in some cases, missing entries so I turned it off. I think iCloud shows great promise but I think it can take some time: 1) for me to learn how to use it and 2) to see how it works with other Cloud services such as various Google services and 3) for all the bug fixes to be deployed.

One thing I did notice was that just by default it asked if I wanted to back up my device to the cloud. I thought that was great idea so I enabled it on my iPad, my iPhone and also my son’s iPod Touch. All began to back up immediately and I got a message saying I had used up all of my storage and I needed to purchase more. So the 5 GB provided by the cloud really is not enough and immediately you are encouraged to buy more.

They say the iPhone is really the same on the outside and totally different on the inside. I certainly won’t argue that but I did notice the silent switch moved down ever so slightly, enough that most cases will have a little trouble. It is the switch on the upper left side just above the volume switch that has moved down about 1/8th of an inch. I might just have to carve out my speck case a little bit with a razor blade to make it work perfectly.

Overall I’m pleased with the iPhone 4S mainly for it’s blazing speed. I’m also equally pleased that I was able to sell my old 16GB iPhone 4 for nearly equal the price that I paid for a new 32 GB 4S. Judging from the HD video, it looks like I will need that extra storage.

So, for this early adopter, I found it a good experience to upgrade. It will just take a little more time than I thought to learn the new features, and sorry but in my experiences regarding iCloud, I can’t say “It Just Works!”

So what do you think? Please add your comments below or on twitter. Are you going to spend the money to get the new 4S or can you wait for the 5? For me I am fortunate to have three AT&T contracts in the house and a family where I am the only one eager to upgrade the devices as soon as they come out. So when the iPhone 5 comes out in June or so, I will probably to get an opportunity to upgrade again.

M. Halama

Summary Bullets:

• Later adopters learn from occasional disappointments of early public cloud services users
• Broadening cloud classes (public, hybrid, private) complement traditional services

There’s some industry talk of a backlash against the cloud. That’s inevitable, given the hype over its promise. In general though, ‘backlash’ presents things too strongly – some individuals understandably feel angry, but market-wide momentum is still behind the uptake of cloud services.

Outsourcing markets occasionally have some companies returning projects in-house, even while the industry trend continues towards outsourcing – one such return to in-sourcing was in 2002-2003, two to three years after the dotcom bubble, so perhaps any spreading cloud disaffection correlates with the 2008-2009 credit crisis and downturn. In any event, the cloud market is still developing, so it is not yet constant.

The dissent is often among those using public cloud services – whether for production services by smaller businesses or relatively minor test and development (perhaps ‘undercover’) projects by larger enterprises.  This may presage problems of user churn for providers in this market once it matures – though they should be prepared for individual extremes of ‘elasticity’ in the cloud services they offer to customers. (Users may be able to leverage this for loyalty rewards.)

Even here it’s not disaffection with the cloud technology or service that’s at the heart of things so much as users finding that the public cloud doesn’t fulfill every need of their business. Those needs can be for specific features, or related to corporate policies (perhaps security or change policies), or even funding arrangements.  Although the cloud has become commonly understood to offer universal pay-as-you-go, OpEx-only salvation for user companies that wish to eliminate CapEx, this common understanding, in isolation, is an unrealistic expectation of the cloud relative to the complex needs of larger organizations in particular.

In many instances, moving to the cloud involves great preparation and investment beyond any new cloud services. User organizations with extensive and complex needs should invest time in assessments of current positions and objectives, optimization (rationalization and replacement) of existing hardware and applications, training and education – capital investment may also be needed. Hybrid and private clouds are often more suitable production environments for these organizations – but sometimes traditional managed and outsourced services remain the best choice and complement to cloud. The cloud model is still maturing but with the benefit of hindsight, later adopters are now better placed to determine their cloud strategies.

IT service providers such as HP Enterprise Services and IBM Global Services can help big companies develop cloud strategies after educational workshops and technology assessments and offer vendor finance.  Others such as Colt have a reputation for working also with smaller businesses, while Rackspace and others provide for smaller companies and those that seek open-source cloud solutions. BT Global Services, T-Systems, Verizon Business, Dimension Data, Fujitsu, Cable & Wireless Worldwide and many others around the world offer comparable services – it’s time to shop around.

Many companies have yet to make a move with the cloud. Current Analysis surveyed hundreds of European enterprises’ cloud service usage and plans, which showed that 56% intend to make cloud moves during 2011, 2012 and early 2013. (Current Analysis’ Webinar ‘Current Reality: A Look at Cloud Opportunities Beyond the Hype’ is available for clients to replay for a closer look. Other surveys have been conducted in the US and Asia Pacific.)  To avoid disappointment in the cloud, all businesses that have yet to make cloud moves should study the experience of early adopters – including service providers that have developed solutions based on their early on-demand experiences. Early adopters, even angry ones, should refrain from throwing away lessons learned that can better inform their choices of cloud services and service providers that are available now.

So don’t get angry, get experience on your side to make the most of the cloud.

danah boyd, who sacrificed her usual handle to join, commented on this problem. Arguably, danah now is better known by her real name than the fake ones, but past experiences and research interests afford her great empathy for people who would want the option not to be themselves on a public site. She followed up with some thoughts on how this affect the practice of building communities:

Social norms aren’t designed into the system. They don’t emerge by telling people how they should behave. And they don’t necessarily follow market logic. Social norms emerge as people – dare we say “users” – work out how a technology makes sense and fits into their lives. Social norms take hold as people bring their own personal values and beliefs to a system and help frame how future users can understand the system. And just as “first impressions matter” for social interactions, I cannot underestimate the importance of early adopters. Early adopters configure the technology in critical ways and they play a central role in shaping the social norms that surround a particular system.

Twitter is great example; it had simple mechanics and great leeway about how you found value. As a result, there are hundreds of ways to make use of that tool, most of which were not anticipated by Obvious when they built the platform.

The gist is not that designers are at the mercy of the people using their systems, but that use is part of the conversation of design. The moment you release an application into the world, the rest of the world is able to influence how it is used. Designers/Developers are well-advised to consider each release as an invitation to talk with their users, understanding that they speak most through actions.

Apophenia (August 5, 2011, by danah boyd)

Image via Wikipedia

We all have seen the news stories of the line around the Apple store when iPhone was released and then again when iPad was released. It’s pretty clear to see that those customers outside that store are the early adopters of Apple’s technology. They are completely invested in trying the new tool out and they willingly go forth knowing that first generation usually will have some blips and beeps that aren’t exactly right.

So when you are facing a new project, what qualities or characteristics do you need to see in the people around you to know that they are your early adopters? For me, I have found that often what I need in an early adopter of a tech project is not always the same person who is standing outside of Apple waiting to have a new iPhone or iPad in their hands. Sometimes, I have found that those Apple early adopters are amongst the most difficult people to get on board with my tech project.

I’ve noted a few characteristics and I really hope that this drives some conversation, because early adopters are the life blood of almost any tech project. I’m always looking for new ways to convert over more to this category and I might not see something as a sign of being this type of person – but you might. Let me know what other characteristics you would include on this list.

• Leadership - There are two things I must mention under leadership – I need both types – the leaders with official power and the leaders without official power. Most tech projects do not get launched if there is not a member of upper management who has given their blessing. If I can’t get that leader to bless the ‘go forth’ movement, I have to go above them – to the board tech committee. That is very rare now. But the more important leader you need to get into the early adopter category is the unofficial leader. This is the person that others might go to for help because they are afraid of tech staff. This is the person who you know if they discount the project that their word will care far more harm. I find most of my time is spent with these types of leaders – but no doubt about it – you need both leaders.
• Ability to give constructive feedback - There are some people who are going to find every single thing wrong with a project. If it is a database project, they are going to hate the font, color, logo, and even the pace of the cursor blinking speed. This person is just providing criticism – not truly useful feedback. Constructive feedback never feels like an attack and it provides more information. Maybe the issue with the font is a true issue. The person providing constructive feedback would indicate that the font is an issue and then provide examples about why it is an issue. That why is so important! For more about constructive feedback, read The 4-1-1- on Constructive Criticism.
• Independence – Counting on the scope of your project, you may not have a lot of time to provide one-on-one training. Early adopters are more than happy to explore on their own. In fact, they often prefer to be given a little bit of information and go off on their own. While this can be scary (they might run into something that isn’t done!), it is so useful for you. Your time can be spent on preparing for those other users who need more guidance and assistance.
• Sees the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ – Again, your type of project impacts how important this is. Switching out hardware probably won’t be hard to sell the end of the project. But if you are in a project with lots of twists and turns (database development is my example here again), you need to have someone who can see that after a lot of work up front, the work will be less at the end. Too many people get hung up with how much ‘extra’ work there is at the beginning of a project. Their fears get in the way as they begin to fear that it will always be all this extra work to make it happen. Your early adopter needs to be invested in your vision of the end of the project. They then become your voice with others when you start pushing the project out to others.
• Ability to market the project – You are not the best person to sell your project to other end users.  Your early adopter is the best person to sell your project. These early adopters should be able to communicate either verbally or written the positive points of the project. They will tie in the ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ vision along with benefits they have found. Your early adopters are going to find benefits that you haven’t even thought of – and they should be able to tell others about it. They need to be able to talk to you, of course – but more importantly, you need them talking to others.
• Not always tech savvy - While I would want users who are a bit more tech savvy if I was working on a completely mobile solution, I know the big kudos that can be gained if you get that person who isn’t as comfortable with technology involved in your project. Often users don’t believe me when I saw that I’m targeting the project for the non-technical comfortable person more than the ones who may have been out buying an iPhone or an iPad that first day. Truly, projects fail if you aren’t able to address that user who struggles with figuring out the power button. If you can get someone like in as an early adopter, you are tapping into a valuable resource that in the long run will make the project more successful.

Early adopters are so important that I plan on spending more time on this topic. It has been a very vital part of my job of late and I know as a nonprofit techie I cannot always find enough tips on how to find, manage, assist, encourage, develop and maintain these early adopters. They make the projects successful.

Related articles

• Marketing to Early Adopters (pr-squared.com)
• Are You An Early Adopter? (cindyholman.wordpress.com)

We were all on Quora at Christmas, because of who was there.

We continue to stay engaged on Twitter because of who is there.

We are bored with FaceBook because of who is there.

We use LinkedIn because of who we can find.

We use SocialCast in the Social Business Council because of who is there.

We use Jive with the Community Backchannel because of who is there.

We use Yammer in our jobs because of who is there.

It’s not about the tools, it’s about the relationship. The great thing about any social network is the socializing that takes place there. Yes, the tools are nice and a bad tool set can certainly squelch the conversation. But it’s not about the tools it’s about the relationships.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many people over the past few months who are not at all engaged in the social web. The line goes something like this….”I don’t have time for all that social media.” What they are really saying is “I don’t value those relationships and what I learn there. I get all I need from other sources.”

That’s fine. When people start to understand what they can get, the relationships they can build, and what an amazingly large diversity of ideas is out there, they decided to connect.

Many stick with email and cocktail hour networking. That’s fine, I do that sometime too, but I find it is not at all efficient as a stand alone activity. It’s good when I want to go deep with someone, but at a typical event, I can only do that with 1 or 2 people. At best, I’ll touch base with 5 or 10. During that same evening, I can touch hundreds or even thousands through online tools.

Through my Blog, Twitter, Google+ and various private communities, I can keep a conversation going with hundreds and my network can jump into overdrive when needed.

If you don’t want to use the social media tools now and think it’s too geeky, that’s fine. We used to say that about CompuServe and then AOL came along to break the ice among the masses. Then came FaceBook and everybody went online.

It is indeed gone widespread. Google+ may not replace FaceBook. Everyone may not get on Twitter, but in the long run, the mega trend is that, more and more, our lives are moving online. What was once called a “virtual” meeting is just a meeting.

Do any of you call your FaceBook friends “virtual” friends? Do you call these virtual conversations? No, it’s a wall post, it’s a message, it’s real interaction.

Social is happening, it is happening in different rates for different people, but there is no going back. As my friend Chris Rollyson says, It’s an “and” world, not an “or” world. We keep getting more ways to connect, as a result we are more connected, and finally we can innovate and move faster.

That is just what’s happening. Don’t deny it.

So go ahead, get social. You can start by connecting with me on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Google+ and while you are at it, subscribe to my blog.

See you online!

Image by The Daring Librarian via Flickr

My husband likes to say this about me, “Cindy is an ‘early adopter’ and an ‘early embracer’”  I like new ideas – can move well into new concepts, even if they are somewhat difficult to wrap my brain around.  I love a challenge.  I love new technology.  I will usually be one of the first to jump in.  I will learn it if it KILLS ME!

But I also have a really practical side.  Some would call it “cheap” – but I like practical and careful.  I do my research – am an avid reader and learn all I can about new things.  I love the latest gadget and you don’t have to convince me of anything – except the price.  For example:  I have a free wordpress.com account for my blog, I have a 3G iPhone that I got for $99 a couple of years ago when the latest iPhone came out that summer.  I have two free music accounts on my computer, Pandora and Spotify.  Sure the ads are annoying – but pay for a monthly subscription when I can get it for free?  Never!  I live on Ebay and NEVER pay retail for anything.  And I would LOVE to have an iPad – and I’m looking for a used one for $99 and then I’m IN!!

My husband Greg is a late adopter, and a “late embracer”.  Although I think he embraces things and new people faster than he thinks he does.  He is what I would call a slow processer.  Nothing wrong with that – it’s just another way of  looking at things.  He does not jump on the latest technology right away.  He has to think about it and process things before he decides.  I bought him his first iPhone a few years ago and he has the one that is the 3GS – one step better than mine – so it will do video where mine won’t – a feature that he has used quite a bit.

And he is also very practical – even more so than I am.  So paying for things like computers, cell phones, web pages and music subscriptions do not sit well with him at all.   But being a practical man – who also has a small business, he has had to have two web pages and he pays a monthly fee to maintain both of them.  Because this is for “work” and not “play” he can easily justify it – as it brings him monthly business and that means money.  But I remember this being hard for him – he didn’t jump right on.

I am aware of the “early adopters” – they are all on google+ – the techno geeks and those who are interested in the latest trends in social media.  I was one of the first ones on there as well – and it’s been fun to connect with all the “movers and shakers” of technology.  Some are impractical and have the latest phones and computers – some are practical like me and do not – but we are all in the same vehicle – moving forward and seeing if this generation will be changed by what google is doing right now.

I am aware of the “late adopters”.  I have some in my family and in my circle of friends.  Some are on the internet via facebook and twitter – some are not on either one and use email as their only source of connecting with the outside world.  Believe it or not – some of these people don’t even have a cell phone.  I know it’s hard to believe – but there it is.

So my question is:

Which one are you?  Early or late adopter?  Practical or impractical?  Do you easily embrace new ideas and try to incorporate them into your lifestyle – or do you tend to think about things first and see if it will be useful?  I’d love to hear your story!

God Bless

Image by shuuki

I like to think of myself as an Early Adopter most of the time. I like to find out about new technologies, and be among the first to try them out. I know I’m not alone in this need. With the rapid rate of new technologies available, and the increased features and functionalities being added to existing tools, there is broad opportunity to fall into what I’ll call Early Adopter Syndrome – that state of need to be among the first to explore…and judge new technologies.

But I’m definitely an Early Adopter Introvert. Aside from technology, I like to think things through individually first. As those who know me well will tell you, my best thinking happens while walking my dog…or in the middle of the night. I guess it’s probably a good thing I’m not an Extrovert with that time schedule.

My approach to learning technology follows the same logic. I am someone who will push every button, explore every menu, and try every option. I just prefer to do that individually. So when new social technologies, like Google+, arrive on the scene, I do like to get in early, but you won’t see early posts from me. I’m more of an “explore behind the scenes, gain some mastery of the tool, and then post” kind of adopter.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this notion of Early Adoption, and some of the benefits and downsides it might have in other areas. None of these are based on research. In fact, none of them are based on thorough observation…just scattered thoughts mostly based on my own experiences and those of people around me.

Benefits of Early Adopter Syndrome

• Tolerance for change: One of the biggest benefits I have experienced is a sort of expectation that things will change that can transcend technology. So, for example, when changes happen to processes or structures at work, the time to react-deny-accept is much quicker.
• Tolerance for “bugs”: Back in the day, technology was released when it was thoroughly tested, and all user documentation was in place. Not so today. With the release, evaluate, fix, update cycle, I see a growing acceptance that things may not work perfectly. Again, I think this transcends beyond technology, adding tolerance to life’s imperfections.
• Opportunity and ability to provide feedback: With the bugs comes the opportunity to provide feedback. Not only is this an opportunity, it creates I think an ability to identify, specifically, what’s not working, and perhaps suggest solutions. “It doesn’t work” doesn’t seem to be heard very frequently.
• Rapid learning: With rapid change in technology comes the ability to hone our skills in learning quickly. In addition, we also need to find the sources of information, which may not be a thorough user guide – it may be fellow Early Adopters.
• Contribution to a community of Early Adopters: The follow up to the previous bullet is that, if you are so inclined, you can share your learning with fellow Early Adopters and the larger user community. That feels good.

Downsides of Early Adopter Syndrome

• Intolerance for change: Tolerance for change is a benefit, but I think its evil sibling – intolerance for change can also appear. I see this when people rage against feature changes that affect their favorite functionality. Or, when people mistake updates for imperfections in previous versions, and signs that the developers must not be competent.
• Expectation that others are as competent as you: Sometimes I think we forget that we are Early Adopters, and expect other users of the technology to know as much as we do. The need to remember to allow others to adopt at their own rate is important. I recently witnessed one Early Adopter responding rather harshly to another Early Adopter over something that the second person had yet to learn. She felt quite chastised for what was an honest “mistake” – it was something she had not learned in a technology that was new to everyone.
• Early judgment of a tool based on limited experience: With the rapid release of technology, and the abundance of tools with which to adopt – early or not – I think it’s easy to make judgments of tools on what may be limited experience with them. Remember that many tools are in a “beta” stage, and so their full feature set may not be released – or even known.
• Need to find the next big thing: Because there is this community of those with Early Adoption Syndrome, the competitive among us may be driven by a need to find the next big thing – to be the first of the first to discover something new. A little competition is healthy. Too much is not.
• Leaving behind those less adventurous: There will always be those people who fall outside of the Early Adopters. In fact, if Rogers is right, most people will fall outside of it. The ability to communicate, interact and teach those who will fall in those later stages is an important task of Early Adopters. However, if we’ve already moved on, we all lose.

What do you think? What have you observed as an Early Adopter, or as someone who waits until technologies are more stable?

So, what has brought me out of my premature blogging retirement? Well, Google+, of course. I know that you’ve seen everyone talking about it and if you haven’t, you’re apparently not as entrenched in the social media landscape as I am. And don’t worry, most people aren’t. But since this is my career of choice, I’ve been on top of the story since the launch.

A Little Background
Launched on June 29, Google’s top-secret social media project Google+ hit the social media/tech world with a vengeance. Originally only open to press-types, the by-invitation-only platform spread through the Twitter/Facebook grapevine quickly. I was lucky enough to get an invite on Day 2. They are calling us ‘Early Adopters.’ I gotta say, being on a brand-new social media platform on the second day of launch was neat & I totally felt like the new kid at school. I hadn’t felt that kind of feeling since one of my best friends sent me her NYU-originated Facebook invite in 2005. I was giddy then, too.

Let’s Compare
This time, being in the social media world I’m in, getting a Google+ invite felt just a little better. Like a badge of some sort. Comparing the two time-periods may not be fair, but when Facebook was launched, everyone was MySpace-ing. That was the cool thing. When I hopped on Facebook, social media was in its infancy. It wasn’t a worldwide phenomenon. So, I went rogue and completely embraced this new thing called Facebook. No walls, no pictures, just a bio about me, what school I went to, whether I was in a relationship or not & a simple ‘What are you doing?’ question. The fact that it was uniform – no fancy HTML coding needed, nobody’s page was any better than anyone else’s – really appealed to me. It definitely didn’t to some who were busy adding new backgrounds to their MySpace profiles.

As I watched Facebook grow into this amazing thing, I sat back and watched naysayers flee MySpace for this new platform. It was fun to watch. I remember moving back to Odessa, TX from NYC in 2007 & people here didn’t even really know what the heck Facebook was. They had no concept. I was one of few people who’d jumped the MySpace ship. As with most things in West Texas, it just took a little more time. I remember finding a few of my high school friends on Facebook (because the ease of finding people was far superior to anything MySpace had done) & them telling me that I was like a journalist, keeping them informed about what was going on. My college broadcasting major was finally paying off! But I really was like a journalist. I passed along pertinent community information. If I found an article on CNN.com or The New York Times, I posted it. If I passed a wreck, I let people know to be careful in that area. Although my audience started small, it began to grow.

Let’s reminisce a little…
Remember when you could tell who the newbies were by the fact that they would take all those quizzes – What 80s Song Are You?, What Color Represents Who You Are?, etc? After we’d been on a few months, those got old, but we could always tell when someone new jumped on. It was almost like a rite of passage. Oh, those were the days…

Flash-Forward to 2011. Now, Facebook reaches over 750 million people in the whole world (and we’re not even counting China where Facebook is blocked by their government). We are spending more than 700 billion minutes a month on it. And most of us, thanks to our iPhones, Droids & Blackberrys are constantly connected to it.

During the first half of this year, Facebook was unstoppable. It’s growth was exploding. The next generation of users – older adults – were quickly realizing that Facebook was the place to be. Since the college kids from 5 years ago were now in their 20s, they passed the torch along to the high-schoolers/college students. The mid-20-30 crowd had jumped on reluctantly, followed by mom and dad so it was inevitable that Grandma & Grandpa would be next – because think about it, who’s left?

The big question at the beginning of this year was, “Where else can Facebook go? What else can Facebook do?’ The multi-billion dollar company began to debate taking the company public. Other online companies had or were thinking about it – LinkedIn, Zynga, Groupon. Should Facebook be next? Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s 20-something, billionaire CEO hinted at it, but never really made anything binding. In late May, early June, he said that he’d probably do it in early 2012 & analysts analyzed all day about what Facebook would be worth – $20 billion, $50 billion? Some estimated upwards of $100 billion!

We all figured that Facebook would remain king. The $2.2 billion they were raking in from advertising was historic. Not only were personal profiles still being created, but the speed at which businesses were flocking on the platform was outstanding.

Enter Google+
Almost out of nowhere, Google launched it’s Google+ platform. For those of us on this side of the industry, we’d heard rumblings about it. We gossiped amongst ourselves about it. Would it be another Google Buzz? (Which failed miserably!) Or maybe it would be something like Google Wave. (Which failed just as miserably!) Google kept things hush-hush, but would, every now and then, drop us a bone. ‘It will be like nothing you’ve ever seen.’ Well, ok. I’m game.

Following our social media bible, Mashable, we learned it had been released. Only the really, really cool people got to be on it the first day. Then, we heard that invites would be given out by the people who were lucky enough to already be on it. We all scrambled to find ‘those people’ who had those invites. I found one. I got on.

So?
Starting any new platform is always a process. Remember setting up your Facebook profile? Or your Twitter page? It’s a process and since Google+ was so completely new, there really wasn’t anyone else to ask for help. It became a lot like Twitter was in its infancy. Lots of people asking, ‘How do you do this? How do you do that?’ The cool thing? ALL of the Google staff (it seems like) was also on. So, they were answering questions. That was pretty cool. How often do you get to talk to the actual programmers, coders, developers? Very rarely. On Twitter we used to be able to Tweet the big guys, but if they Tweeted back that was a good day. Today, I can ask a specific Googler a question about G+ & I can usually get an answer pretty quickly. Already, the way that they have listened to user feedback has been impressive.

What About the Platform?
Okay, okay, so you want me to talk about Google+ now. Is it the Facebook killer everyone is saying it is? Is it as great as everyone keeps saying it is? What’s so great about it? Fine, fine, here I go…

Look & Feel
When you log on, you’re immediately greeted with a very pretty, simple layout. Black header bar, grey sub-header bar, pops of red & lots and lots of white space. It is VERY much like Facebook, in that, you have a menu on the left-hand side, your stream of feeds in the middle, and other miscellaneous stuff on the right-hand side. But again, lots and lots of white.

One of the biggest comments I heard in those first few days was that G+ was ‘clean.’ And it is…for now. (I’ll tell you what I really think about all the white space later.)

You have a profile page that ties into your Google profile, so if you’re a Gmail user, that stuff will already be pulled from your public profile. If you’re a Droid user, you’re also in a good position, because all of your contacts and info will be pulled from that info, too.

You can still upload pictures and G+ has arranged them in a really cool gallery. It’s not uniformed, like Facebook’s, but it looks pretty cool. There’s also a great function for pics if you’re a Droidie. You phone will automatically upload any pics you take with your phone into a folder if you want it to. That folder is kept private, but you can opt to make some of those pictures available to the people in your circles or to the G+ public.

Circles?
In what has been touted as Google+’s biggest new feature, Circles is a way to group your friends into specific ‘circles’ which will then allow you to send posts to only those people…or to multiple circles of people.

Huh?

Yeah, I know. Think of it like Twitter Lists or Facebook Groups on speed. Google+ has made this feature mandatory in order to add anyone to your ‘circle.’ You go to add people and before you’re even able to add them, G+ makes you pick a circle or create one. They have a few already established for you – Friends, Acquaintances, Work – you can use those or expand and make your own. New circles I’ve added, for example, include ‘Tweeps’ (people I know from Twitter), ‘Facebook’ (people I only know from Facebook who are not ‘real,’ personal friends) & Mashable (people who work or write for Mashable.)

Now, let me back up just a minute and tell you about the way gaining friends on G+ is different, yet much the same, as Facebook or Twitter. On Facebook, you must be approved as someone’s friend. Once approved that friend will then show up in your feed and vice versa. On Twitter, anyone can follow anyone but one does not have to follow anyone back. So, if Danita decides to follow Abel, Abel’s posts will then show up in Danita’s feed, but unless Abel follows Danita back, he won’t see any of her posts. Got it?

Well, G+ is more like Twitter on this point, but only slightly. You can find anyone on the G+ network & you can opt to put them into your circle of choice. They don’t have to do the same to you. The difference with G+ is that even if that person doesn’t put you in their circle, your posts will be seen by them (since they are in your circles) and your feed will drop into a category called ‘incoming.’ You’ll also get a notice that says something like, “‘PersonA’ has started sharing with you. View their posts on ‘incoming.’” You can then read their stuff, but if you don’t want to add them, you don’t have to.

You also have the option to put people into more than one circle. Let’s say one of my social media peeps is also a freind of mine that I work with. I would put that person in all three of those circles – Social Media Peeps, Friends, Work.

This is what is cool (or not, depending on how you look at it) about Google+. Let’s say that I want to share a new article about social media. Most of the people in most of  my circles could really care less, but my circle of social media peeps would definitely want to see it. I create my post and before it even lets me hit send, it forces me to choose which circle that post will go to. I will then choose ‘Social Media Peeps’ and hit send. Only those people, in that circle, will get that post. I can also opt to choose multiple groups. Let’s say I’m having a birthday party. People in my ‘Celebrities’ or ‘Mashable’ or ‘Google Employees’ circles would have no use for that info. I write my post and choose to send it to ‘Work,’ ‘Family’ & ‘Friends.’ When I hit send, only those people in those circles would get that info on their feed…or in their incoming if I haven’t been added to their circles.

So far, people love this feature, but there are a few that have already realized how out of control your number of circles can get. As of today, I have 22 circles. Some have a few people in them, some have one, some have tons. I’m already trying to figure out a game plan as I move forward collecting more people for particular circles.

So What Else is There?
In addition to the inclusions of ‘circles,’ Google+ has also introduced ‘Hangouts.’ This takes the videochat one step further by allowing you to videochat or ‘hangout’ with up to 10 people. You can keep your hangout private and send invites for people to hangout with you or you can join public Hangouts. While business pages haven’t been launched yet, it will be very interesting to see what ‘Hangouts’ will do for customer service. Let’s wait and see…

There is also a feature called ‘Sparks’ which, so far, is the most lackluster of the G+ features. Sparks is basically way to integrate Google search into the platform. So, if you are an avid runner, you can use Sparks to ‘find stuff you’re interested in…’ You would type in ‘running’ to the Google search bar on the Sparks page and you would be directed to all the articles online regarding ‘running.’ You can then add that search topic to your list. When you go back to your ‘Sparks’ you would just click on the topic & there will be online stories about that topic. Personally, I already have that feature, it’s called http://www.google.com.

There is also a chat feature. Same as Facebook. Woo.

+1
Something else that Google+ has prominently displayed on their new, spiffy platform is the +1 button. Much like Facebook’s LIKE button, the +1 button allows users to +1 comments, articles, pictures or whatever else might have a +1 button attached to it. When the +1 button was launched a couple months ago, we didn’t know what to do with it or what it meant. We already LIKE things on Facebook. Why did we need another one? Apparently, we needed it for Google+. People are +1ing all over the place. It’s basically like a LIKE. Actually, it’s exactly like a LIKE. Google is saying that it will start using the +1 results to help certain things place higher on search. So, I guess, eventually, it will come in handy. Right now, I’m quite happy with my LIKE button.

What About Mobile?
In a very unusual turn, Google+ was launched on the Android platform first. (I know, I just about fell out of my chair, too!) But don’t forget, Android is a Google product, it would only make sense that the mobile app would be available to Google-based phones first. I actually like the mobile app better than the desktop version – minus the hangouts, which aren’t optimized for use on mobile…yet. The mobile app is easy to use & a little easier to understand. IPhone-ers just received their app, and while they’re all screaming about all the bugs & quirks, I think they’re just making noise because for the first time in a long time, they weren’t the first to have a coveted app! Droidies Unite!!

What’s the Bad?
With the exception of a handful of friends who’ve requested an invite from me, the only people on are people from Google, Mashable & lots and lots of tech/social media/IT/programmer/developer/coder/gamer-types. I have been fortunate to meet a few authors, bloggers, and the like, but a majority of my nerdy-type circles are more full than others.

They also have not started to allow businesses to set up pages. They are currently about to launch a beta-testing group of businesses who will be allowed to create pages, but for the moment, those are a few months off for the rest of us.

I’m also starting to get a negative vibe from everyone slamming Facebook. Personally, Facebook is still a very big part of my life. It has to be. It’s still extremely vital to the clients that I manage. Facebook & it’s 750 million people will not ALL be jumping on the G+ bandwagon. I still have one foot out the door…just in case. Remember, I was there for both Buzz & Wave & I’m not very proud of that.

So…Now What?
Well, Google+ is still only available by invite only. It’s been rumored (read, ‘It’s been Tweeted’) that they will open it up to the masses on July 31st. It will be interesting to see what happens & whether or not Google will be able to handle the demand. Even in the early stages, they would periodically shut down the opportunity to join due to the high use of their servers.

And remember that white space I was telling you about? That beautiful white space that everyone keeps talking about? Here’s my theory. There is absolutely no way that Google isn’t going to monetize the Google+ platform. No way! Facebook has done an amazing job of monetizing itself on the business side and even has Google beat on some profit forecasts. Do you really think Google is leaving all that white space white just because? NO! Not just no, but hell no!

So, while it looks very nice now, just wait…those spaces will soon be replaced by pay-per-click campaigns…or at least something like that.

I also think that things like games (which are hugely popular on Facebook) are not far off, either. They will just be designed for a different platform. I think we’ll eventually be fending off requests to join people’s mafias or to help with trees on farms.

So, is Google+ the Facebook killer? Not yet…no. Could it be? While it DOES have the potential…and a very credible Google name behind it (or, in this case, in front of it), I don’t see that happening any time soon. Facebook has a hold in just about every facet of our lives. It’s integrated on our phones. It’s the first thing we check in the morning before we even roll out of bed. It’s our homepage on our Internet browser. And to be honest, it’s taken a while for that to happen.

Think about how difficult it was to get people onto Facebook in the first place. And there are still people who are just jumping on…even now. You really think those people will say, well, forget that, let me go check this out? I doubt it.

Personally, I’ve never really completely embraced G+. Not yet, at least. I’ve been extremely hesitant to let myself fall in love with it. There are definitely some very cool features & the fact that Google is right there listening to feedback is a definite plus, but I just can’t let myself get too excited. As of the moment, I make my money due to Facebook. Don’t get me wrong, the minute that G+ launches the business pages, I’ll be all over them, but for the moment, my livelihood depends on Facebook. My businesses depend on Facebook.

I’m very curious to see where Google+ will go. I call myself very fortunate to have been invited on. Watching it grow since day two has been really, really fun & I’ve already met people who I hadn’t yet run into on Twitter or Facebook.

Are you interested in trying it out? Shoot me your email (gmail is preferred on the Google+ platform, naturally). I have a limited number of invites, but I’m willing to give those out to people who are truly interested. Email me at danitalicious@gmail.com.

And in closing, I want to thank Google+. If it wasn’t for them, this girl wouldn’t have started blogging again.

- Danita

Get Social With Me:

danitalicious@yahoo.com
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I began test-driving Google+ a little over a week ago.  Thus far, I love it.  It is still too early to tell if Google+ will replace Facebook for me.  If I had to guess, I’d say no.  It won’t replace Facebook entirely.  I may simply prefer Google+ to Facebook.

My experience so far has been this:  I love the simple interface and layout of Google+.  Personally I find it more intuitive than Facebook.  I also like that I appear to have more control over Google+.  I’m not sure if that is the case.  I do know that I love that the people I’ve come across on Google+ thus far seem more interested in actually interacting in meaningful ways.  There appears to be much less whining.

I also love the fact that Google+ is game free so far.  I know that it is inevitable that games will debut sooner rather than later.  I just hope that it is easier to block invitations to games, etc. than on Facebook.

I love being an early adopter on websites!  I enjoy watching new features develop and content grow.  Below is a list of tutorials and information on Google+.

Using Google+ Circles

The Google+ Cheat Sheet

Everything You Need To Know About Google+

The One Google+ Feature Facebook Should Fear

Google+ Takes Aim At Facebook

Google+:  8 Quick Tips And Tricks

19 Essential Google+ Resources

Related articles

• iCrossing’s Google+ Watch: Early Observations (thecontentlab.icrossing.com)
• Is Google Plus Causing Facebook & Twitter Usage to Decline? (readwriteweb.com)
• What’s Up With This Google+? (themarketingguy.wordpress.com)
• Who is Using Google+ and How Often [Stats] (searchenginewatch.com)
• Google+ : How long will the Craze Last? (aisjournal.com)
• Google+: A Chance for Early Adopters (ewriting.pamil-visions.com)
• Social Media Top 5: Dammit, I’m Writing About Google Plus (doughaslam.com)
• Valeria Maltoni: The Only Google+ Advice for Business that Matters Right Now (socialmallard.com)
• Google+ vs. Facebook: What Will Surprise You (wlte.radio.com)
• Google+ May Have 10 Million Users, But They’re Not Visiting Very Often (GOOG) (businessinsider.com)

Here’s an early adopter’s guide to Google+ written by Ahmed Zeeshan

Google+ | The Early Adopter’s Guide

Note: This guide specifically targets the Google+ Early Adopters, Bloggers, Social Media Enthusiasts, Photographers and All Users with a following of 1k+. However, other users are more than welcome to read through, provide feedback and re-share.

It has only been 4 weeks since Google+ went into field trial. Us social media enthusiasts and early adopters flooded in like this gif:
http://bit.ly/iZGosF
. In this short span of time g+ has taken over our online presence. Why? Because g+ offers us a publishing platform catering to our social needs like no other network before it:
- The posts can be as long as you want them to be while holding videos and pictures.
- Feedback here is instant and meaningful. For example, Photographers have found an excellent following here. They can publish pictures in elegant portfolios as well as share their skill and technique with other photographers.
- There are no spams.
- I’ve never been a fan of blogging and hence never had a blog/website, but Google+ makes me want to write, publish and share!

And the list can go on for much more I’m sure.

The issue I want to highlight and possibly solve is that even though most of us know how to work google+, we still don’t use it to its full potential. It is important we do so because:
- It will make our presence on google+ more organized and manageable both socially and individually.
- It will increase our rewards on the time we invest into google+.
- Our followers, especially the new comers, rely on our knowledge of the system for guidance and support. The google+ community managers are already swamped with support requests so surely we can help out with what we know.

For these reasons and more, I believe that there is an unknown but very real need for a guide that will fully unlock the power of g+ for the early adopters and social media gurus. We are quick to provide Google+ with a list of features that we would like to see but we ourselves aren’t even using the complete set of features that have been giving to us. Using them properly will show you that most of what we need is already in here just waiting to be discovered.

The guide is divided into six main sections:

Circles | Sharing | Commenting | Chrome Extentions | Sparks |Educate

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Circles
a) Organization
I know of quite a few users on here that are popular; they follow a lot of people and are likewise followed by even more. However, they are of the opinion that even though they really need to sort out their circles, they would rather not because it’s a hassle and there is no time. Instead they just put everything into one or two circles and share everything publicly.
I humbly refuse to agree with that. Granted that it can be a hassle to sort out 10k+ people but if you are spending 12 hours a day on google+ then you definitely have two hours to invest as a one-time investment to organize your circles. Doing so will save you a lot of trouble in the future when the list of your followers will grow even further. Circles are the most powerful feature of google+ in my opinion. If used in the right way, they can make the sharing and reading experience a 100 times more efficient and manageable. How? Here is one way to do it using Dividing, Nesting and Prioritizing: 
http://bit.ly/gpcircles

b) Etiquette
More importantly, managing circles is also a matter of etiquette. Even though people are following you, that does not necessarily mean they’re interested in all the things you’re posting and would rather not have you clogging their stream. However, they’re still interested in some of the information you share relevant to their interest. Therefore, I would suggest creating circles meant purely for interest-based sharing. For example: Mobiles, Movies, Books, Music. Then poll your readers; let them know that you have created the above-mentioned circles and will be posting to them accordingly. In response, they should let you know which circles they want to be a part of based on their interests. Afterwards, add them to your interest-based sharing circles accordingly. This way you will accomplish two things:
- You will be filtering content automatically so that your readers get information from you that they’re interested in specifically.
- You will add your readers to your circle. Even if you’re a famous actress or a social media guru with 50k followers, you adding your readers to specific circles makes them happy and lets them be a part of the google+ community. An inspiring example of this is +Trey Ratcliff setting up his photographers circle. Think of the world of good that will do to the aspiring amateur photographers.

So, don’t just amass followers. Add them to circles based on interest. That way content will be filtered and people will feel wanted on here. This is something I am working on too by setting up my Movie Maniacscircle.

c) Bookmarking
So much content is being generated on here that it’s hard to keep track of it. A bookmark circle is one of the most popular tips being shared on g+. Surprisingly though, a lot of people haven’t created it yet, and if they have then they don’t use. Create an empty circle called Notes or Bookmarks and bookmark things in it by sharing content with that circle only so only you will be able to see it. I find this an excellent way of saving long articles I’m typing as drafts or to go through interesting content on google+ as per my own convenience.

Sharing
a) Content Filtering
One of the important aspects of sharing was already mentioned above with content filtering using circles. So to recap don’t share everything publicly, rather use Interest-Based sharing with the help of content filtering that is made possible by circles.

b) Formatting / Layout
A brilliant aspect of google+ is the ability to format your posts. And yet it is so under-used. When you’re posting something, take the time to format your text and lay it out in an aesthetic way. This will make your posts more readable, presentable and will definitely attract more attention. A well formatted post stands out in the stream. Furthermore, add helpful text so people can give one look at your post and tell what it’s about. Here is what I try to do mostly: 
http://bit.ly/pz1wTU
. Some note-worthy tips from that link:

- Give a bold category heading at the top. It further helps filtering based on interests.
- If you’re sharing a link/picture/video then give your own description of the link even if it silly. It gives readers something to talk about in your comments and gets a discussion going.
- Keep it precise but make sure the users get all the necessary info at a glance. For possible ideas please refer to the link above.

c) Re-sharing
Don’t re-share a post straight away. Space it out. If someone popular with 50k+ users just shared a post publicly then that means tons of people see it already. So you re-sharing will clog the streams of users who already got it the first time and will be counter-productive. The better thing to do would be to wait thirty minutes so that the original post has disappeared down in the streams. Re-sharing after that time-period will spread the message more efficiently because users who missed it the first time will now get another chance to see it.

d) Crediting
Always give credit when you re-share what someone else posted. That is a big question of etiquette. Doing so will earn you respect on the network. The aim is not to earn followers and +1s, rather it is to allow everyone to share original and quality content.

Commenting
a) On other posts
Don’t just post your own content. Interact with other users on the network. Only then will you become social on this network. Go through your stream. Comment on other people’s posts. Discuss. That “Incoming” circles stream is there for a reason. It is most definitely not to block out people that have followed you. You are not the only one sharing interesting content on Google+. Therefore, see what the users are posting and provide feedback to them for it. This will also earn you more respect on the network and people will look forward to having you online.

b) On your own posts
After posting something, do not leave what you just shared for other people to comment on. As mentioned earlier, the great thing about google+ is you get real-time genuine and helpful feedback. So respond to people when they leave comments by +mentioning them. It is the least you can do. This will not only show them you actually care about what they have to say and but it will also make them feel integrated too. You needn’t respond to each and every one of them but make your presence felt in the comment threads regardless of the number of followers you have.

Chrome Extensions
Google+ has an excellent, clean and functional UI. It is pleasing to the eyes. There are some handy extensions for Chrome that make the Google+ experience even better. Here are some of the ones that I use and would strongly recommend them:

Google+ Photo Zoom: 
http://bit.ly/rurhrR

Replies and more for Google+: 
http://bit.ly/pMH2GB

Usability Boost for Google+: 
http://bit.ly/pPXWa1

There are lots more out there. If you have some really helpful ones to share then please link them in the comments. I will add them here as necessary.

Sparks
Sparks is the most un-used feature of google+. I agree that there are some flaws in Sparks that need to be ironed out but it still provides an easy way of looking up the most popular content on the internet relevant to your interests. So create Sparks for yourself. It is a great way to find content not just for you but also for your Interest-Based circles.

Some sparks that I’m using so far are: Android, The Dark Knight Rises, Movies, Google+, WTF, Samsung Galaxy S II, etc. If you have more terms for Sparks, please do leave a comment and I will add them here.

Educate
As the well-settled adopters of google+, we now have a responsibility to the social network. We’ve all wondered and written about whether google+ will last long and eventually be a big force in the market both for companies and individual users. But what we don’t realize is that the network has to spread through us. I already mentioned in my previous article, Google+ Starter Pack (bit.ly/gpstarter), the average facebook user(AFU) uses the internet strictly on a personal level to share with a small group people within their real-life social circles. If they browse the internet for looking up content related to their interests, they either use their facebook stream, follow a popular twitter account or lurk on sites like reddit.

This AFU is now giving Google+ a try thanks to the invite system opening up recently. However, when they come here they see a large community of well-settled users, like me and you, who have a relatively huge following compared to theirs and who publish regularly. As a result, they feel blocked by a learning curve making it harder for them to become a part of the g+ community. We as Google+ early-testers can help bridge this gap by guiding these people with what we already know about the network. Here is what you can do to play your part:

- I’m sure you’ve all come across posts/tips both on googIe+ and elsewhere that helped you with your first few days on the network. Include this collection of articles and tips in the About section of your profile. The Introduction textbox is most suitable for this as it allows formatting and embedding of links. New users always look at About sections of other users. Therefore, any helpful tips and articles found there will greatly assist them with getting started smoothly. If you can’t find a good collection of articles then you can use mine:
Google+ | The Starter Pack - bit.ly/gpstarter
Google+ for the Average Facebook User - bit.ly/gp_fb
Circles: Dividing, Nesting and Prioritizing - bit.ly/gpcircles

- In a similar way, use the Introduction text-box to advertise anyInterest-Based circles you created for sharing. Users can then message you and request to be added. Again, this will help them with getting integrated into the community while immediately exposing them to content relevant to their interests. For ideas, please look at myIntroduction text-box: 
http://bit.ly/zeeshan_about
. If you know of other helpful About profiles, please do share in the comments below.

That marks the end of the guide. Indeed, there are many ways of using Google+ and each person utilizes the available features as is most convenient and suitable to them. However, in writing this guide, I hope to show you all that Google+ offers a lot more than we actually see at the moment. Exploiting the true potential of g+ will do wonders for you and the community in terms of content, management and integration.

Thank you for reading through.

Cheers,
+Ahmed Zeeshan

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Note to fellow readers:
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https://plus.google.com/

Way back in 2010 when I went all in with a hosted website, I selected Google to host my “business” email needs. The Google Apps for Business account gives the average user a fantastic suite of tools to manage an enterprise-style email set up: multiple addresses, analytics, the legendary Google-powered spam filter, and a metric crapload of additional storage. These are all good things and exactly what I wanted for www.jeffreytharp.com.

Along with the goodness that is Google, however, comes the badness. With the beta rollout of Google+, I discovered that Apps/business accounts are not yet supported. Bummer. This means that in order to poke around with Google+ I have to log in with my old “regular” gmail username. Not a big deal, you’d think, but after spending the last year tweaking everything so it’s seamless from desktop to laptop to phone to tablet, the need for a second logon is a huge step backwards.

Technology is supposed to make out lives easier or better in some way. Until Google+ rolls out support for Apps users, though, for me it’s a little like a broken toe. It’s not going to kill me, but it’s enough to be ridiculously annoying every time something touches it. I’m not going to take a step backwards just to be an early adopter. For now Google’s go at a social network doesn’t integrate into my “everything else.” Until it does, I’ll be sticking with Facebook and Twitter… who manage to play nicely with my Google-powered email address. Too bad Google itself can’t seem to do that.

I’m not always an early adopter to new technology or social media but I definitely wanted to be among the first group of users to surf the Google Plus wave. Kudos to Andres Duque for sending me a Gvite and allowing me to be a Beta Tester. There is so much I love about it but I’ll blog about my personal experience at a later time.

Another opportunity to Beta Test a new website fell into my lap over the weekend when I discovered Scoop it. “Scoop It” is a site that allows users a way to curate any content they find on the web and publish it for all to see.  It is very easy to use, edit, and post. I don’t think it can be easily embedded into a WordPress blog but I’v provided a link below.

I found some really great blog posts discussing the benefits and a few negatives of  Google +.  My plan was to gather up all of the links and drop them at the end of this post when I came across the Scoop It site. As I was exploring  it dawned on me that this would be a great format to present my G+ findings.  Check it out here—-> Google+ on Scoop it.  Note: once you move over to the “Scoop it” site go ahead and click on any of the articles that you are interested in viewing (it’s not just a pretty picture). 

Are you ready to jump into Google Plus? Take the poll below and see how others feel.

I received my invitation to join Google + last Wednesday evening from @ITSinsider.  It was a bit of a surprise.  I had just heard of the launch a day or two earlier.

Since then, it’s been a daily party like I have not seen with any other SNS (social networking system) launch.  We had heard something about Google’s Social Circles back during SXSWi, but the launch turned out to be just a rumor of what was to come just four months later.

iPhone in browser mode

My first take will be a little different from most because my time with G+ has been almost exclusively on an iPhone 4 or iPad 2.  Of the 15 or so hours I’ve been on G+, only about 15 minutes or so have been on a PC.  Even though the product is optimized for the full PC / Mac OS or Android mobile OS.  I must admit, even with its many flaws, the iOS experience is good enough to keep me coming back.

Here are my first impressions.

Central to the User Experience is the circle concept.  We all socialize in various circles. Google+ has made that literally the metaphor.  G+ daily offers me up to 500 invitations to add to my circles.  If the person is not yet in G+, they will get an invitation.  If they are already in, they join into my circles and I begin following and sharing with them.  (Be patient, G+ is still throttling invitations.)

Since I have not use the PC version with a webcam, I’m missing out on Hangouts – multipoint video chats.  That will come in time. I expect very good value for work groups and enterprise applications of this feature.  I also expect integration with Aple products with the forward facing camera (lal multi user FaceTime). With the recent introduction of Apple’s FaceTime and now Google’s new Hangout feature, perhaps personal video conferencing will finally reach the tipping point to general adoption.

I’m also excited about the ease of adoption.  Google+ has quickly added most of my social graph to their SNS and the conversations are quickly turning to real substance other than just discussing Google+ itself.
So what are my takeaways so far?

iPad in Desktop Mode

1. This is going to be big.  Google+ has scaled very quickly showing robust, well thought out features. It works easily on many platforms, combines access on any device to central cloud storage, performs well, and has already attracted the necessary early adopters

2. This will evolve quickly.  Google is known for quick iterative innovations and promises constant upgrades and introduction of new features.  They also appear to be leveraging many of their various products without any sign of internal power struggles that will derail progress.

3. Facebook and Twitter have a real competitor now. Most early comments have been that Facebook should be scared, but little has been said about Twitter also being in Google’s sights.  With the recent announcements of tight integration between Twitter and Apple’s iOS, it looks like the Google+/Android camp is stacking up as a good alternative.  It might even be a three way race of the rumored Facebook / Skype entry materializes.  Anyway, like Facebook, Twitter has been acting monopolistically as of late (terms of service, acquisitions, apathy to partners)  It is good to see a
product come along that offers a viable alternative.

iPad in Mobile Mode

4. Enterprise 2.o is in the game plan for Google+.  All the talk about Consumer and Facebook should not hide the fact that Google+ coupled with Google Apps will offer a powerful platform for enterprise collaboration, eating away at the SMB market first and later moving up the food chain to the Fortune 500 market.  E2.0 stalwarts such as Jive Software, Socialcast, Yammer, IBM Connections, and, to a lesser extent, SharePoint will see Google+ providing a new alternative in the young and growing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration market space.

That’s my first look.  So much more can be said, but there will be plenty of time for that in the future.  The Google+ introduction is a major tectonic shift in the social software landscape.  It’s aftershocks will be felt for some time to come.  So find me on Google+ (
http://gplus.to/jimworth
) and let’s continue the conversation.  I look forward to adding you to my new Circle of Friends.

One way to think about offerings being sold is a contiuum.  At one end are commodities, items that are very well understood in the market, often standardized and for which the sale process is typically defined by a well understood need, price and terms.  Finding a ready buyer can take a lot of effort, but the actual sales cycle is short.  Buying gasoline for your car is fairly crisp process and;  even though the oil companies work hard to differentiate their products, you likely are more driven about the price at the pump or convenience than features of the gas you buy.

At the other end of  continuum are offerings that are highly conceptual – they may or may not be exist when sold (new ideas, slideware), they meet new, unmet and often unidentified needs.  You both have to find a prospect that is open to your new idea and educate him/her about the benefits you are proposing – these are the early adopters that we in technology talk so lovingly about.   The sales cycle is also long here because a conceptual offering almost always entails big changes within the buying organization, if it is to deliver the promised benefit.

A conceptual sale has often has no direct competition (good) but also nothing to compare it to (difficult).  It is very hard to generate references because few people “get” your product and even fewer use it.  This is the domain of most disruptive technologies: think of the first time you used an iPhone, or your initial experience buying a book on Amazon.  Explaining its benefits after the fact it easy, less so beforehand.  Imagine trying to explain what email can do to someone from business 20 years ago: they would see no need for this electronic communications tool that you are describing – memos, and letters work just fine.

An early stage technology sale is usually closer to the conceptual end of the continuum that the commodity end.  As your business grows and as competitors enter your space, your sale will shift along the continuum to the commodity end, but you need to start out thinking high concept.

There are a few things you can do to manage the conceptual sale more effectively.  First, acknowledge that this is what you are dealing with.  Second, get your story down nice and tight: it is all about the big idea, less about features and, while money always matters, less about price.  Third, sell high.  Big ideas work best with VP level and C level folks.  Fourth, plan for a sales cycle with a large amount of education (be prepared to run trials, work your way through buying organizations, work through issues with your beta customers), i.e. one that is long.  Finally, be patient and persistent – tough to do when you have investors and y0ur CEO breathing down your neck, but still important to focus on.

Canada Day

Because today is Canada Day and because that is the country that both Justin Bieber and I hale from, it is fitting that I end this post with one of the lad’s hit videos, which I see has had 228 million (yes million) hits.  Nothing conceptual about this.

An ongoing economic downturn does not necessarily mean that business will decline forever, but it definitely will require changing “what’s always been done” for most small business owners.  The old way of marketing yourself and your business simply may not be as effective these days.

I strongly encourage you to seek out new ways of building your business.  If you have a website, but are not active on social media – now is the time!  Most of the tools are free; establishing accounts, finding a preferred social network stream aggregator to monitor your business presence online, and getting involved in the newest trends.

Early adopters of internet ‘trends’ have the luxury of being among the first to get your brand name populating search engines, generating traffic through online gaming programs, and being involved in your area’s online community.  It takes time, yes, but if you are experiencing a slowdown in traffic, the time is available – it’s how you choose to use it.

Seek out online communities in your area and become active.  Share your personality first and product second with thousands of people in your area, for absolutely free.

If you are not particularly internet savvy, or just simply don’t get it, that’s fine – there are plenty of former professional marketers with years of experience just starting their own companies to show you the way and assist you in your efforts.  Think of how you began your business, how you wanted to share your product or your skills with the world and re-energize that dream.

Downturn is only that for those that get smacked by the wave.  Grab your board and rise above it.  The view is endless!