Grab the Permalink of a Google Plus Post

How To Acquire The Permalink of a Post on Google Plus.

1. Use the drop down menu next to a post to select the "link to this post." 
     Then copy the link in the dialog box and paste it wherever you need it.

2. Click on the time stamp of a post. On the full post page, copy the web address (url) in the address bar on the full post and then paste that link wherever you need it.

posted by Margie Hearron

Youtube Mobile Videos Not Playing On Mobile

Youtube Videos Mobile Dilemma: Easy Workaround

If you are on a mobile phone or tablet (Android), and you click on a Youtube link but can't play the video in the Youtube MOBILE app, and you don't want to hassle with searching for the video on Youtube Mobile web, I have a solution for you. 


Fix:

1. Install "Choose Browser" on your Android device.

Link to "Choose Browser"
- https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.benhirashima.choosebrowser


2. Install "Dolphin Browser HD" (or any mobile browser that handles flash well and can be easily set to DESKTOP MODE from the UA (User Agent) settings. Go ahead and set the browser to Desktop mode once installed on your device.

3. When you encounter a Youtube video that you can't play on Youtube Mobile player, click on "MENU" on the Youtube App (while on the Youtube video that can't be played on mobile) and then select "SHARE". 

4. Select "Choose Browser?".

5. Choose Dolphin Browser HD (or whatever browser that you have set to automatically give you the desktop version of sites.).

6. You should now see the video on desktop Youtube in your browser. Just double tap on the video to go full screen and if you have auto rotate enabled you can watch the video in landscape mode. 

Simple workaround that keeps you from having to copy and paste and search for the Youtube video.

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posted by +Margie Hearron 

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link to original post here

(P.S. -- there are lots of apps that will allow you to choose a browser for your mobile Android device. You can choose anyone you want. I just use "Choose Browser" because it was simple, and it worked for me.

Want to play a game?

Every now and then, it can be fun to blow off some steam and play a game.

Yeah, a game. You may have heard of them. A pleasant way to waste some time and have fun, preferably with friends. Games can be pretty social things, if done right.

No no... wait... I'm not talking about games you might find on other social networks, where part of the point is to send messages to all your friends asking for something. Sure, those games are in Google+ (even if you didn't know it), but theres more. Lots more.

"Social" Gaming

A small pile of games developed over the past few years, mostly centered around building your world and convincing others in your social network to help you do so. They're mindless, but can be fun and a good way to unwind. There are other games in this vein as well, mostly played on social networks, and generally with some social component (usually allowing you to post updates to your friends). Don't worry about those updates, however - only people who are looking at their game stream will see those updates.

To access the games, you can click on the "Games" navigation tab on the left side of Google+. (This may be available under the "More" tab, if you don't immediately see it.)

Hangout Games

Perhaps you like to see your friends when you play games. No problem! Hangouts to the rescue!

One of the first things that people did when Hangouts rolled out were to play popular games like Pictionary. There are now apps that let you do simple drawings right in the hangout, so you don't need to draw something on paper and hold it up to your camera. But there are plenty of other games, too. Want to play pool with your friends? 8 Ball Pool Multiplayer may fit the bill. Into some role playing? Tabletop Forge will help you out. A bit of a mind game? Perhaps some 3D Tic-tac-toc-toe.

Check out their pages on Google+ for information about how to get started, or take a look in the "Apps" tab when you're in a hangout.

More Social Social Gaming

Unlike the games where you try to beg your friends for help, a lot of people are choosing to play games directly in Google+ itself, and they're doing it with some games that are more like the parlor games you've probably played in the past. A recent popular game has been Breakfast Combo, a guessing game where the initiator has to cleverly give clues to an object they're thinking of.

These games are much more free-form - just start a post and invite people to play it in the comments!

Make it an Event

Finally, sometimes you may need to plan these games out ahead of time and schedule a time when everyone is available to play. Take a look at the "Events" navigation tab on the left side of Google+ and you can invite your friends.

You can even plan to get together in person and play some games. Wow... what a radical concept.

Whatever you do - have fun!

We have met the enemy...

I wanted to take a step away from the "how to do this" posts I've recently made and talk a little about the "why". More importantly, I want to talk about the "why not".

I have a lot of motivations for doing so. One is this post, where the author talks about how he was pretty viciously harassed by an anonymous stalker. First online... and then through physical mail. He talks about what happened when he encountered the troll - in person. But he didn't get much of an explanation out of the perpetrator. Other motivations are posts from a few friends of mine, talking about how they shouldn't need to use the safety tools (ignore and block) that Google+ offers - that people should be courteous enough to behave. And finally, I've been pondering my own behavior - wondering how people see me and my actions.

The biggest problem with online communications are that the secondary cues that we're so used to in conversation (tone of voice, body language, facial expressions, etc) are totally missing. Posts are largely reduced to facts or, when they degenerate, to shouting matches with each side trying to be heard. We seem unable to have civil conversation because we are unable to "look the other person in the eye". At the same time, we tend to feel safe(er) hiding on our side of the monitor, free from possible repercussions about what might happen if we said the same sorts of things in person.

We try to compensate. Sometimes our avatars do give the impression that we're a real person. We share personal details of our online personas, which can help to bind us to others. All of these are some level of risk, of course...  but they are similar levels of risk that we take in person.

Perhaps that is what we most need to remember when we talk to others online. We are talking to real people. So why shouldn't you make crude or threatening comments to someone else? Because you wouldn't in real life - and you know you shouldn't. (And if you don't know you shouldn't - then that is why you'd be ignored or blocked.) Why, in a discussion, do you sit and listen to someone else and then try to discuss their points? Because in person you can see this is a person who deeply cares, and you want to understand, and they want to understand you. Because you're a real person, and you deserve to be treated as a real person.

And, as the author found out, the troll is a real person too.

Circles of Life

We have talked a lot about circles in the past - no surprise, since Google+ has circles as a core feature. Today we're going to discuss two approaches to circle management - how you create circles, who you put in them, and how you use them. Remember that nobody will ever know what circle they're in unless you tell them.

Theme Circles

The method that Google seems to suggest is that you break up your circles by theme. These themes are somewhat broad - friends, family, and a generic "following" circle. This makes senese when you want to use circles as a way to share private things to different groups - so you can share photos of your party with your friends, but your family and coworkers don't need to know. You can invite your coworkers to a meeting, which doesn't make any sense for your friends. If you have particular themes that you talk about that others may not be interested in (for example, if you're a big Twilight fan), theme circles are also a good way to just keep your chatter to yourself. Most of these circles will have the same "volume" - the default setting will make sure you get the messages you want, but you may wish to adjust the volume of some of them. We've discussed volumes in an earlier post.

There are downsides to this, of course. The biggest is that just because someone is in your "knitting" circle doesn't mean that all they do is knit - they may talk endlessly about a movie that you're not interested in. But thats how friends can be sometimes, isn't it?

Watch Circles

Another popular strategy is to setup circles based on how much you want to hear from different people. So you might setup a circle called "volume low", set its volume to a very low level, and put people into it who occasionally have interesting things to say, but are generally too chatty. Other people say things that you never want to miss, so you may have a "volume high" circle for them. And there are a few people who, if they ever post, you want to make sure you know immediately - and you can put them in a "notify" circle, and set the volume accordingly.

This also has some downsides, although it works fairly well for people who post publicly, it doesn't always work well for private messaging.

What is the Best Method?

Both of course! You may need to find a mix and some circles and volume settings that work best for you, but here is a strategy that combines the best of both worlds:

Create theme circles that you primarily will use to *send* messages. So you know that when you need to send a message to your college buddies, you can send it to the "College" circle and be reasonably assured that they'll see it if they're interested.  These circles will likely have the volume set to "off", although for some circles you may want to set the volume higher.

Then create a watch circle, and add everyone to one of these circles if you want to hear from them. This way you can determine what level of interest you have in each one. If you find someone is getting more spammy, you can put them in a lower volume circle. If someone is particularly interesting - move them up! You can move them right from their hovercard, so you don't have to break your stride when reading messages.

People can be in more than one circle, and Google will pick an individual volume based on the highest volume circle they're in. So it is safe to put a person in a circle whose volume is off to categorize them, and then also put them in a volume circle to adjust how much you want to hear from them. This is a good balance of both tools.

There are other strategies, and you may want to adjust the specific way you balance these, but give this a try and see if it helps you find and interact with the people and messages you most want to.