google the missing manual

www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Google+ Kevin Purdy Beijing | Cambridge | Farnham | Köln | Sebastopol | Tokyo The book that should have come with the site ® www.it-ebooks.info Google+: The Missing Manual By Kevin Purdy Copyright © 2012 Kevin Purdy. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Published by O’Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472. O’Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use. Online editions are also available for most titles ( safari.oreilly.com ). For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: 800.998.9938 or corporate@oreilly.com . Editor: Dawn Mann Production Editor: Jasmine Perez Proofreader: Nan Reinhardt Illustrations: Rob Romano Indexer: Ron Strauss Cover Designers: Monica Kamsvaag and Randy Comer Interior Designers: Ron Bilodeau and J.D. Biersdorfer December 2011: First Edition. Revision History for the 1st Edition: 2011-12-07 First release See http://oreilly.com/catalog/errata.csp?isbn=9781449311872 for release details. The O’Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Google+: The Missing Manual and related trade dress are trademarks of O’Reilly Media, Inc. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and O’Reilly Media, Inc., was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. ISBN: 978-1-449-31187-2 [LSI] www.it-ebooks.info Contents The Missing Credits vii Introduction xi How Google+ Works xi What You Can Do on Google+ xii About This Book xiv The Very Basics xv About the Online Resources xvi Safari® Books Online xvii CHAPTER 1 Getting Started 1 Signing In and Joining Up 2 Fleshing Out Your Profile 9 CHAPTER 2 Managing Contacts with Circles 19 How Circles Work 20 Adding People to Circles 23 Creating Circles 30 Editing and Organizing Circles 33 Sharing Circles 35 CHAPTER 3 Streams, Sharing, and Privacy 39 Viewing Your Stream 40 The Anatomy of a Stream 40 Writing a Google+ Post 46 Choosing Who Sees Your Posts 52 Interacting with Posts 60 Editing, Deleting, and Controlling YourPosts 65 www.it-ebooks.info iv CHAPTER 4 Notifications 73 Where You Get Notifications 74 Controlling Which Notifications You Receive 85 Making Notifications Less Intrusive 90 CHAPTER 5 Sharing Photos and Videos 93 Viewing Photos 94 Sharing Photos 98 Getting Photos onto Google+ 100 Tagging Photos 113 Editing and Deleting Photos 116 Adjusting Overall Photo Settings 123 Sharing Videos 125 CHAPTER 6 Hanging Out 129 Starting a Hangout 130 Hanging Out 136 Hangouts on Mobile Devices 146 Tips for Better Hangouts 147 CHAPTER 7 Searching and Sparks 151 Searching Google+ 152 Getting Better Results 158 Saving Searches 161 Throw Your Post into the Mix with Hashtags 164 CHAPTER 8 Google+ Mobile 169 Getting Google+ onto Your Phone 170 Streams, Posts, and Circles 174 Viewing Photos 181 Starting a Messenger Session (AppsOnly) 183 Mobile Notifications 187 Posting to Google+ via Text Message 188 Sending Things to Google+ from Other Apps (Android Only) 189 www.it-ebooks.info v CHAPTER 9 Playing Games 191 Getting into Games 192 Starting a Game 193 Joining a Game 199 Index 203 www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info About the Author Kevin Purdy is a guy from upstate New York who some- how convinced the founding editor of software and pro- ductivity blog Lifehacker to take a chance on a young newspaper reporter with a secret geek life. He blogged at Lifehacker for over three years, and somehow man- aged to write The Complete Android Guide during that time. He now makes a living writing for whoever will have his words, and doesn’t make much of a liv- ing organizing TEDxBuffalo, obsessing over homemade specialty coffee, and hosting the In Pod Form podcast. He lives in Buffalo, NY, with his wife and two cats. Email: kspurdy@gmail.com. About the Creative Team Dawn Mann (editor) is associate editor for the Missing Manual series. When not reading about Google+, she beads, bikes, and causes trouble. Email: dawn@ oreilly.com. Jasmine Perez (production editor) spends her free time cooking vegetarian meals, listening to her favorite freeform radio station, WFMU, and going on adventures whenever possible. Email: jperez@oreilly.com. Cassandra Moffitt (technical reviewer) is the lead graphic designer at Going to the Sun Marketing (www.gttsmarketing.com), a full-service marketing agency with offices in New York and Montana. She enjoys car racing and all things tech and gaming. The Missing Credits www.it-ebooks.info viii THE MISSING CREDITS Nan Reinhardt (proofreader) is a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, who is also a writer of romantic fiction. Her debut novel is due out in February 2012 and she has two novels with her agent at Curtis Brown Literary Agency. In between editing gigs, she is busy working on her fourth book. She blogs thrice weekly at www.nanreinhardt.com. Email: reinhardt8@comcast.net. Ron Strauss (indexer) lives with his wife in northern California at 2,300 feet. When not indexing Missing Manuals, he moonlights as a musician (viola and Native American flute). Acknowledgments Editor Dawn Mann is a rock, and she knows how to roll with both a fast-moving subject and an occasionally sideways-running author. Cassandra Moffitt has the sharpest eyes around when it comes to catching buttons, clicks, and overly clever site designs. Web-syncing software Dropbox kept the book’s chapters and images safe and accessible at all times, and Snagit made all these screen- shots possible. The support, and how-to training, provided by Gina Trapani and Adam Pash were invaluable. And none of this would be possible without my wife, to whom I owe quite a few home-cooked meals. The Missing Manual Series Missing Manuals are witty, superbly written guides to computer products that don’t come with printed manuals (which is just about all of them). Each book features a handcrafted index and cross-references to specific pages (not just chapters). Recent and upcoming titles: Access 2010: The Missing Manual by Mathew MacDonald Buying a Home: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner Best iPhone Apps, 2nd Edition by J.D. Biersdorfer CSS: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, by David Sawyer McFarland Creating a Website: The Missing Manual, Second Edition, by Matthew MacDonald David Pogue’s Digital Photography: The Missing Manual by David Pogue Dreamweaver CS5: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland Excel 2010: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald Facebook: The Missing Manual, Second Edition by E.A. Vander Veer FileMaker Pro 11: The Missing Manual by Susan Prosser and Stuart Gripman Flash CS5: The Missing Manual by Chris Grover www.it-ebooks.info [...]... 9: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage QuickBase: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner QuickBooks 2011: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition by David Pogue Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition by David Pogue Windows 7: The Missing Manual by David Pogue Your Body: The. .. The Missing Manual by David Pogue and Aaron Miller iPad: The Missing Manual by J.D Biersdorfer iPhone: The Missing Manual, 4th Edition by David Pogue iPhone App Development: The Missing Manual by Craig Hockenberry iPhoto ‘09: The Missing Manual by David Pogue and J.D Biersdorfer JavaScript: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland Living Green: The Missing Manual by Nancy Conner Mac OS X: The Missing. .. X: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition by David Pogue Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual by David Pogue Microsoft Project 2010: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore Netbooks: The Missing Manual by J.D Biersdorfer Office 2010: The Missing Manual by Nancy Connor, Chris Grover, and Matthew MacDonald Personal Investing: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual by Lesa... Windows 7: The Missing Manual by David Pogue Your Body: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald Your Money: The Missing Manual by J.D Roth The Missing Credits ix www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Introduction Despite what you might think based on its name, Google+ isn’t a supercharged version of the search engine we all turn to for answers And it’s... create your Google account and your password, and then click the “Sign in” button This takes you to the screen shown here  Note  If you like, you can invite others to join Google+ The box on page 4 explains how • If you don’t have an invitation, simply head to www.plus .google. com Click the red Sign In button and, on the page that appears, enter the full email address you used to create your Google account... organization’s Google Apps setup (in other words, you sign into a site like www .google. com/a/ something.com to get to your email), you can sign in with that account— just enter your full name@something.com email address in the email field If you use an email provider other than Gmail, you’ll see the Join Google+ screen Click the red Sign In button to display the “Sign in with your Google Account” screen Enter the. .. Joining Up As is the case with most Google offerings (such as Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar), you need a Google account to use Google+ Most people get a Google account by signing up for Gmail, Google s free email service (if you use Gmail, hop to the next paragraph), but you don’t need a Gmail address to use Google+ As long as you have some kind of email address, you can sign up for a Google account... drag the file into the dotted-line box within the “Select profile photo” dialog box (If you use IE, you won’t see this dotted-line box.) If you use Google s Picasa Web Albums to store photos, you can click “Your photos” on the left-hand side of the “Select profile photo” dialog box and then pick a photo from your gallery The other, less convenient options listed there are “Photos of you,” which tells Google+ ... and the like on sites that use Google s ad-display services If the thought of personalized advertising creeps you out, then turn off this checkbox—and don’t click any +1 buttons you find around the Web The other caveat informs you that Google+ is in beta That just means that you’re a guinea pig and that some Google+ features may not work properly The paragraph also makes it clear that you, not Google, ... Editing Your Profile The section you care about right now is About, which is the first page people will see when they find you on Google+ If the word “About” below your name isn’t in red text, click “About” to select it and see the information you’ve already provided Then, click the blue Edit Profile button in the page’s upper right to get cracking A red bar appears near the top of the page to indicate . 2011: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Leopard Edition by David Pogue Switching to the Mac: The Missing. Investing: The Missing Manual by Bonnie Biafore Photoshop CS5: The Missing Manual by Lesa Snider Photoshop Elements 9: The Missing Manual by Barbara Brundage QuickBase: The Missing Manual by Nancy. Missing Manual, Snow Leopard Edition by David Pogue Windows 7: The Missing Manual by David Pogue Your Body: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald Your Brain: The Missing Manual by Matthew MacDonald Your