Google+ is an often overlooked member of the social media community, easily forgotten in favor of bigger monoliths like Facebook, Twitter, or even Pinterest. But this is not to say that Google+ is not relevant or useful; in fact, with the rise of G Suite, Chromebooks, and the like, it will become ever more relevant in the education community. In Google+, look for communities (instead of Facebook’s groups) to join, in order to start connecting. A few other noticeable differences from what you’re used to may include:
- Using + to tag someone, instead of the @ used with Twitter handles
- “Circles” instead of Facebook lists – Circles are groups of users that you create within your account. These can be used to divide your “friends” or contacts, and makes it easy to share posts with specific users only, based on which circle they are part of (for example, Friends, Coworkers, PLN, etc)
- Hangouts – While Facebook has somewhat accounted for this with its messaging feature that now allows for video calls, Google+ Hangouts is more robust in that it includes all the features of chat, and video and audio calls, while integrating with the rest of the Google ecosystem
Here, several Google+ communities to get you started.
Amanda M. Orozco 