Notifications on Google+ - Some Thoughts

Do you like getting notifications in Google Plus? Does your heart race every time you see that red box scroll into view? Have you used the new notification tools to make sure you get lots and lots of notifications?

Perhaps you should pause and think about the best way you can use notifications. Here are some of my thoughts.

I think this feature isn't really about making sure I see every message I want to see - I think of it as making sure I see every message I don't want to miss. Lots of things in my stream are great - and I read my stream often to make sure I see them all. But sometimes I get busy. Or sometimes I have a lot of stuff in my stream and I''ll miss some things. 

If I turned all of these into notifications - that red number would never stop spinning!

Instead, I think of all of these as messages that I'll probably read anyway - so I don't need the reminder to go look at them. But a few things are important to me. These are messages that I want to make sure I don't miss - no matter what else I might be doing. The people who send me these messages are in my "Alert" circle, and I have that circle set to send a notification (and an email) when a message comes in.

But I don't always use the red box to read them. Sometimes I'm busy, so to make sure I see these messages, I'll use Gmail to read the notifications. This is also a good place to mark them in case I need to followup in more detail later, or file them away. When I do reply, I can reply right from Gmail.

There are lots of strategies to help you manage these notifications in Gmail, and we'll be covering some of them in the future. In the meantime, why don't you share with us some of your tips for managing your notifications?

I'm Allen Firstenberg for Oasis in the Stream

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More to Sharing than Sharing

So you want to share what's new? No problem. Just type in your text and click Share, right? What about names and circles? Or sharing a photo or video? And how do you prevent your post from being re-shared?

Here is a rundown of some of what you can do when you share a thought.

The non-option
Your first option, of course, is to post nothing. Change your mind? Just click the X in the upper right corner. But be sure you mean it.


Photos, Videos, Events, and Links
You may want to share some pictures, or a YouTube video, or an event, or a link with your circles. Pressing each of these buttons lets you do just that that. Sometimes you can change how each of these shares look - and we'll discuss that in a later post.


Who?
Of course you're going to add who will see this. The easiest way is to start typing in a circle, person, or one of the special send groups such as "Public". You can also press the "Browse people" button to select circles or people you follow.

If you select a circle, hovering over that circle gives you a brief idea who is a member, plus it lets you send a notification to that circle. Use this sparingly! People get irritated if they get a notification for every post you make, but it can be useful to make sure your family sees when you've posted great new pictures.


Follow the Down Arrow
The down arrow on the side of the user/circles field lets you set some additional options (as illustrated).

If you "Disable Comments", people won't be able to comment on your post. Duh.

If you "Lock this post", then people won't be able to share the post. (But keep in mind that some people are clever and will get a screen shot, so this isn't perfect security.)

Both these settings can also be done after you make the post, but this helps you do it up front.


Conclusion
Take a look at the options you have when you post a message. They help you create quality posts that are perfectly tailored for your audience.

Blind Notification: G+ Emails & Mobile Notifications

Blind Notifications - How to Turn Them Off Without Pleading or Blocking


Google+ is new to more people than you can imagine.  
Whether they have been here a while and are now just beginning to get into it, or if someone has just joined, notifications can be strange and disconcerting. You are shared in a circle, or your post makes the hot list.  Guess what happens? You get new followers, sometimes a lot all at once.  Bless these people, because they know not what they do.  They are so happy to know you that they blindly notify you of all the interesting things they are certain you would want to know about.

What's wrong with that?  Well, it would be that bad if you just got a few more digits in your notification box, but it doesn't work out that way.  As it seems, when you first sign up for Google+, these notifications are also sent to you as emails.  Argh!  More SPAM!  Well, that's the way it feels.
But let's think about it.  Is it really spam? Or is the problem in notifications?  Well Google actually provides us a way to zero in on this particular issue and eliminate those emails without affecting any of our other notifications.

Here's how you can "fix" it:
1) Click the arrow next to your picture up there on the top right (see examples below).  Then click "settings."  That's where all your Google settings live.
2) On the left are a bunch of headings.  Click on Google+
3) You will see a list of notifications with two columns to the right.  One is labeled Email and the other is labeled Phone.
4) Scroll down to the setting for "Shares a post with me directly"
5) Uncheck the setting for Email.
6) That's it!  


No more pesky emails when someone "blindly" notifies you.  It won't change "Mentions me in a post."  That setting is for public notifications (+mentions). Trust me folks, this will change your life.  Enjoy.

- Written by +Jack C Crawford (Contributing Editor)


Post on Oasis in the Stream on Google Plus

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