Google Plus Sparks Ideas for Causes

Ray Krock, the founder of McDonalds said, “The two most important requirements for major success are: first, being in the right place at the right time, and second, doing something about it.” New media, especially the infant Google Plus, can help causes,  like the one I am privileged to work for, raise awareness and rally support for diverse social issues by being visibly inspiring without tiring and creating a thriving social media environment with a variety of options to participate.  Here’s why I am sold on Google Plus for causes even though at the present time business accounts are under development. I thoroughly expect when they are released that the business accounts will be as good as personal accounts, if not better.

1. Circles. Being able to easily create and customize private names for Circles, place people in them, and then target messages to these specific groups are steps forward for personal and business imaging. Applicable messages can be sent to and received, for example, by clients/customers/supporters, legislative representatives, family, local community figures, or work colleagues.  In addition, a message can be sent to a person’s email address if they don’t have a social account (we all have relatives that refuse to join social media, don’t we), assuring inclusivity.

2. Spark. The Spark feature that allows people to search for subjects reflecting their self-motivated interests and then easily share them with their Circles is seemingly the next generation of search.  So when someone has an interest in my cause they can search for a spark on the information right through their Google Plus account.

3. +1 and Google Search.  The +1 feature allows a public testimony for information  as it goes viral and the groundbreaking feature is that +1’s can be linked to a tab on one’s Google Plus account and are visible  by one’s connections in the massive Google search system. After using Google Plus for several weeks, I was amazed at another feature. Anything shared by someone in one’s circle is matched with Google Search results. So if someone in my circle Google searches for “child abuse” they will see my name under any website I have publically shared in Google Plus just like they can see my +1’s.  Wow!

4. Hangouts. Google Plus’ Hangout feature provides free video conferencing for up to 10 people to collaborate and potentially do community organizing to help change the world. 10 really is a nice working number. I’m looking forward to the day when we can get partners and stakeholders into Hangouts focused on preventing child abuse and neglect.

Individuals and organizations have different types of relationships.  Knowing they can separate people into Circles that represent those relationships, means control over the content they share with them. Taking the open platform popularized by Twitter to the next level, this is encouraging the early adopters of Google Plus to meet new people with shared interests through social media that could birth relationships to change the world in unprecedented ways.  Expect to hear more and more creative uses and positive results from Google Plus in the future as public officials, community leaders, businesses and nonprofit organizations start to use it to selectively and successfully communicate with the world through new media. 

Look for me on Google+. 

Alan Stokes, New Media Coordinator

Prevent Child Abuse Michigan (Michigan Children’s Trust Fund)

Google + Praise

Google + is a real winner for me personally. As one who uses social media some in my day job and has an above average experience with the main players in social media both personally and professionally, I can tell you that while Google + won't cause me to run right out and cancel my Facebook or Twitter accounts, it has quickly earned my vote as the top social media option for me personally.  I say this even though it is still in Beta (users by invitation only) and they are continually making improvements to it.

Before I explain my personal love for Google+, there are several great resources to help one get the most out of Google +.  Below is a CNETTV introduction to Google+ by Rafe Needleman on YouTube.

Simon Laustsen has a cheat sheet on the basics of Google+ that thanks to the collaborative resource of Google + has quickly made it's way around the world.   Simon lives in Denmark and the only 3 people we have in common at the time this was written is Larry Page (CEO of Google), Mike Elgan (Silican Valley, CA), and Newt Gingrich (US Presidential Candidate).  Page 1 of Simon's Cheat Sheet (English) .  There are additional pages to the Cheat Sheet that you can find readily available.


In a more detailed way than Simon's Cheat Sheet, 120 diverse people are working on a Collaborative Document to show early adopters of Google+ how use it to it's full potential.  See a story about this collaborative resource at the following site. 


The above three resources should help one to feel pretty comfortable using Google+ to the fullest extent possible.   Now on to why +Alan (as Google+ shows)  likes it so much.  When one logs in to Google, a black top bar lists links to all one's Google products (Calendar, Gmail, Documents, etc.) and after signed up with Google+, that area is accessed through a link that has +(the person's first name).   Here are 8 reasons I like Google+ a lot (not in any order of importance).

1. Finally Able to Include People Who Aren't in Social Media.   I have some people in my life that are very close to me that are not on any social media.  From time to time I post something that I really wish they could receive.  With Google+, all I need to do is add their email and my post is sent to them via email.  They don't have to be signed up with any social media account to receive the good news from +Alan.  
2. Avoid Certain Posts Going to All My Network.  The Circles in Google+ allow one to place people in certain groups (the name of which is kept confidential from anyone else).   This means that I can limit some of my posts to circles that the information actually applies to.  For example, I have a son with autism and therefore have a circle on Autism and many of my posts related to autism resources will be directed to an Autism Circle on Google+ and won't clutter the feed of all my friends. 
3. Get More Use Out of Other Google Applications.  Because Google+ is integrated into Google it makes it easy to open GMail, Google Calendar, Google Documents, etc.  from the top black Google bar within Google+.  This easy access means I'll undoubtedly use these other products more.  
4. Research with the Spark Search Feature.  I can save search subjects in my Spark tab and do repeated research on them.  This functions much like the Twitter search feature in theory, but actually searches Internet material on the World Wide Web not just what is on Google+.   I entered my name as a spark and a  news story came up about a surfer named Alan Stokes. 
5. Private Names on Circles.  I like the fact that I can call Circles what I wish and no one is going to be offended.  The name of the Circle is private and is custom established by the user to help with targeted posts.  In fact, one of my first questions on Google+ was whether people would know if I put them in a Circle called Fools.   The answer is no they would't know and no none of my Circles are for Fools (for the time being at least).   
6. No Game Apps to Clutter Up The Stream.   If one likes playing games and thinks that all their friends are interested in knowing when they reach a new level of achievement then Google+ probably isn't for them.  I see no reason why Facebook won't continue to own the gamer crowd.   So far Google+ isn't trying to compete with the Game App scene and doesn't appear to have any in place.
7. Selective Sharing of Location.  Location sharing concerns me in terms of privacy and Google+ has an excellent system in place for that.  Like all other posts, pictures, links, etc. one's location can be sent to just a specific circle or circles that the user feels it relates to.  So as long as you set up your circles up right you don't have to worry that your boss will see you were out late on a work night at a party in his neighborhood, especially if he/she wasn't invited.  
8. Following New People is Encouraged.   In Google+ it is easy to follow anyone and put them in a Circle.  Thus, Larry Page, the CEO of Google is in over 124,000 circles at the writing of this. Does he know many of those people. I doubt it.  These are people that want to read his public comments in their news stream.   Remember Larry Page is not put out because with Google+ he has the mechanism to post as much as he wants to a limited audience, bypassing the masses of his admirers.  That is why the cartoon below is appropriate to an extent.  

Someone can follow one's public comments in Google+ for purposes of personal enrichment and it doesn't matter to the user as long as they are only seeing one's public comments.  Just because one is following me doesn't mean I have to put them in a circle to receive any personal posts.  


On July 15, I posted on Google+ the following short analysis of why I liked Google+.  I end with this brief summary.  

In Praise of Google+ Google+ is like a hybrid of Facebook and Twitter that allows one to move back and forth smoothly between the full range of public discourse with the world and private conversations with those closest to us. And to accomplish that lofty goal they have harnessed the search, research,  communication, and organizational resources already part of the Google offerings.

My Favorite 30 IPhone Apps of 2010

Apple reports that there are 200,000 Apps available in their store for use on one of their great wireless products such as the iPhone, iPad, or iPod. Listed here are my 30 favorite that I used in 2010 on an iPhone 3G.

Here’s the Top 30 that made the cut on my phone (not counting standard Apps that are pre-packaged on the product)

• Pocket Informant($4.99). This app is a calendar date book (and a to do list with time saving recurring options) that allows me to share calendars with my wife’s phone so that whenever either of us adds a scheduling item the other will see it at the next sync of the shared calendar. It’s pretty important for my household organization.

• iLogger ($4.99) I use this for tracking the date and information on everything important
  in my life from health appointments and home repairs to movies watched.

• Text Free + Voice(Free) I use this for texting people for free. It saved me a $10 monthly charge for texting from my cell phone carrier.

• Shopper($.99) This is another app that allows me to sync with my wife’s iPhone data. We use this to share grocery lists. Either one of us can add an item and whomever goes to the grocery store first can sync the list and pick it up.

• List Master($5.99) This is a powerful app that allows the creation of custom lists. Generally I use iLogger (see #2) for items with dates as the central focus, and use List Master for information that is independent of a key date.

• Yahoo! Sportacular(Free/$1.99) I love sports and this is my one app that I use to get notifications sent to me on my phone of in-game score changes for my favorite sport teams. The free version is identical but I decided to pay the $1.99 to get the pro version without advertisements.

• Pandora Radio (Free) This is a way to listen to random music according to station
  themes. I have several different stations saved, but I listen most of the time to the Sovereign Grace Music station.

• YouVersion Bible (Free) This contains many versions of the Holy Bible with search capacity.

• Facebook (Free) Other Apps will offer fancy Facebook access, but this one from Facebook
  itself is the best and simplest template there is.

• Awesome Note($3.99) This is a great App for storing notes. I use it for notes on things I want to remember later and even have my funeral service wishes embedded within the notes of this App.

• Car Minder($1.99) I use this App to track maintenance repairs completed on my vehicle. The App will send notification when certain services are due again, from monitoring of the current mileage of the car. There is also a handy fuel log that calculates fuel mileage.

• Twitter (Free) Other Apps will offer fancy Twitter access but this one by Twitter itself
  is the best and simplest template there is.

• Foursquare (Free) Foursquare can be played easily from the iPhone with this App up and running on a mobile phone.

• GedView ($3.99) I use this App to store my genealogy records. It is very versatile and gives a good visual relationship presentation of family groups.

• My Stuff($4.99) This App tracks the things I own, such as clothes, appliances, books, etc. I can take pictures of them and record the date acquired and other custom fields that
  would be important for insurance purposes.

• ooTunes Radio ($4.99)
  This is the best radio App because it allows me to listen to diverse stations around the world. This past year I listened to several football games of my old high school team (Mt. Pleasant, Michigan Oilers) and listened to Talk Radio on a local station originating from as far away as the State of
  Hawaii.

• Read More($1.99) This App allows me to track the time I spend reading books and it has a formula that calculates when all the pages in the books are projected to be finished.

• Groups: SMS, Mail($3.99) I use this App the most for storing contact information of people and places because it allows me to assign multiple categories to any contact so I can find it easier later. I think it is the best option in managing contact information.

• Jot Not Scanner ($.99) This App has been a lifesaver a few times because I can use my camera on my iPhone and it acts as a scanner so the picture taken of the image is turned into a pdf or other format that I can email to someone or save.

• iQuarium(.99). Created by Infinite Dreams Inc. This is a fun game where I maintain two pet fish on my iPhone and feed them each day and watch their world change. It doesn’t appear to have an ending unless I forget to feed the fish and they die on me (this actually happened once to me and I had to start over)

• Google (Free) Google search engine. Enough said!

• Honey Do ($4.99) This is another App that I share with my wife. It allows us to give tasks to each other and it sends reminders of when they are due. I’m wondering how high on the list my wife would place this App (bet it wouldn’t be #22).

• App Shopper (Free) This is a great App to research and learn about other Apps in a way that the ITunes store can not provide. One of the great features is how it allows tracking of Apps one owns and how it highlights Apps that are on sale. By using this I found out that Runkeeper Pro App was free through the end of January, 2011 (and that is normally a $9.99 App).

• Google Earth(Free) This is a fascinating App to look at the geographical images of any place in our world.

• G-Whizz Pro! ($3.99) This is an App that provides one step access to various Google account services. Did I mention that I like Google?

• Fluent News (Free) This App provides notifications of breaking news, so I always know I’ll be one of the first to know if the sun shines or the sky falls.

• Detroit Free Press(Free) This App provides access to news from the Detroit Free Press, a local paper I reference for State of Michigan news.

• IWife($.99) This App allows me to call my wife with the touch of one button. It saves a few steps in dialing the phone.

• Doodle Buddy(Free) This App simply allows one to do good old fashioned doodling on one’s IPhone. It’s great, because sometimes a Dad just has to doodle.

• Spark People – Diet and Food Tracker(Free) This is a great App for tracking one’s food intake in order to keep diet goals.

I am frequently looking for better Apps, so in 2011, a few may be bumped off this list with the next greatest thing. I wonder what new Apps will get and keep my attention in 2011. Stay tuned!